The Choice Is Ours

I spent last Friday evening at our church's youth and men's camp out. Since I did not want to fish all night as was the plan of most of the guys, I left when the Park gates were closing and returned home to sleep in my own bed rather than in a tent. After supper, when the first round of fishing commenced, I found myself in camp with our church's youth pastor, Joe Yosten. As the sun set, we were adoring the absolute beauty of the lake and sky and the beauty of the campsite and park. As we commented on the great job someone did in marking this spot for a campsite and also for making this park so beautiful, it struck us how important a role God gave mankind in fashioning this earth into a thing of beauty. It was a moment of relaxed enjoyment in the stillness and beauty of the night.
In stark contrast to this experience, a couple of days later I found myself watching a news video of several Chicago youth beating another youth to death. It was horrific to watch - the ugliness of the scene played out before the world thanks to us by a cell phone video camera.

Two experiences. One so beautiful. One so hellish. Both brought to us by the choices men made.

Everyday we have choices to make. And those choices will result in our creating a beautiful, desirable environment or a hostile, ugly environment. The choice of order or chaos. The choice of beauty or trashiness. The choice of peace or discord. On and on, each day presents us with choices. What will your choices today produce in the world around you?


On a different subject. I purchased a bike yesterday. Several men in our church are bike riders so I thought I might join them on a trek some day. One of the men told me I needed to get in shape and build up some stamina so I would not bail out after a quarter mile into our trek. So now I must start a conditioning plan. Here is my plan. Two miles down the road is the nearest convenience store and I figure if I make it that far I will reward myself with a double cheeseburger, fries, and a shake. After all, I do need calories in order to make it back home! After three weeks of this daily program I will be ready to go all out to the Pizza Hut!

Blessings