CHOOSE OR LOSE

Hello fellow Choosers. What have you chosen lately? One of the beautiful things about being a human being...we were created with the capacity to CHOOSE. We are beyond ROBOTS...that are programmed to carry out every command that the creator of the robot desires...we are CREATED by the CREATOR of the universe...with VOLITION. Volition is what is known as FREE WILL...the power of CHOICE.

On a Friday night...when me and Sweet Brenda are hungry...we decide/choose to go out to eat. The conversation goes a little like this:

BRENDA: Where do you want to go eat?
RODNEY: I don't know...where to you want to go eat?
BRENDA: Let's decide before we start driving.
RODNEY: We can decide as we drive.
BRENDA: OK...let's see what we have down the road.

NOTE: At this point we start driving and begin to name the eateries.

BRENDA: Well...we have O'Charley...Corky's...Red Lobster...Outback...Hardees...Ryans...

NOTE: We will make a tour of Murfreesboro...and still have not made a CHOICE.

If we go to a Chinese Restaurant...if you don't get the buffet (with Crab Legs)...you have more choices to make...Column one...Column two...Column three...Column four...and then have to choose what kind of soup...Won Ton, Hot and Sour, Egg Flower. I can choose and have whatever I want...I JUST HAVE TO MAKE A CHOICE. Usually at every establishment we choose to eat...the waitress will come up for the order and ask..."Would you like me to give you a few more minutes?"

In real life...the choices that we make...have consequences. That is one principle that we have tried to impress upon our son Phillip...your choices have consequences. There is a thing called CAUSE AND EFFECT. What you cause effects not only yourself...but others also. Throw a stone into a lake...and there will be a splash at the epicenter where the stone lands...but the ripple effect shoots out in every direction. The bigger the CAUSE (stone)...the bigger the EFFECT (ripples).

"Therefore...just as through one man (Adam) entered into the world (disobedience)...and death by sin (cause and effect)...and so death spread to all men...because all sinned (ripple effect)" (Romans 5:12)

That does not sound very fair!!! Life is not fair. The devil does not play by the rules. "CAUSE AND EFFECT...rains on the just and the unjust" (Matthew 5:44-45 Ruminator paraphrase). The EFFECT (fall or stand) of the CAUSE(rain and wind) is different for different people based on the foundation (sand or rock). (Matthew 7:24-27) The choice is this passage is either Jesus is Lord or Jesus is NOT Lord....and LIP SERVICE is not an option. (Matthew 7:21-23)

One of my favorite Debby Boone albums is CHOOSE LIFE. You may remember Debbie as the oldest daughter of one of my favorite singers...PAT BOONE.

NOTE: Pat Boone financed Randy Stonehill and Larry Norman's first independent Jesus rock albums. Randy's album was called BORN TWICE and Larry's album was called BORN TWICE . Pat also formed a label dedicated to the new wave of Christian artists called LAMB and LION RECORDS with such artists as Dogwood.

Debbie had a huge hit called YOU LIGHT UP MY LIFE. It was a sugar sweet A.M. hit. Later she released an album called CHOOSE LIFE. It was a collection of songs by another of my favorite artists...MICHAEL AND STORMIE OMARTIAN (pronounced Oh Mar Tee un). Michael is a producer of some of the biggest secular hits over 3 decades including the T.V. theme to SWAT.

The album title is based on a passage in Deuteronomy 30:19:

"I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have SET BEFORE YOU...life and death, the blessing and the curse. So...CHOOSE LIFE in order that you may life, you and your descendants..." (Deuteronomy 30:19)

NOTE: You may be asking yourself...who in their right mind would choose death and curse? Well...look in a mirror and ask yourself why you choose the things that you do that are not good for you. I may wrong choices based on what I want versus what is good for me. Before I was Christian...my CHOICE PATTERN was even worse...because my choices did not have the compass of the Word of God. There were NO ABSOLUTES in my life...so everything was relative to my selfish desires.


Larry Norman...hit the streets in L.A...gave up fame and fortune (he had a million seller hit and album with his group PEOPLE...with their hit song I Love You)...and took his music and message to the common man. As the Jesus Movement grew around the world, Larry become one of the spokesman for the group. One symbol...attributed to Larry was the ONE WAY SIGN. That is where you took you index finger and pointed up to the sky. This represented heaven...and the ONLY WAY to heaven...JESUS CHRIST.

When Jesus was talking to his followers about going to heaven to prepare a place for them...he made a startling statement to Thomas who asked..."Lord, we do not know where You are going...how do we KNOW THE WAY?" Jesus responded matter of factly..."I AM...THE way...THE truth...THE life...NO ONE comes to the Father...BUT THROUGH ME." Well....all roads may lead to Rome... but ALL ROADS...do not lead to the Father in heaven. In the words of George Harrison..."Isn't it a pity." In John 101-10...Jesus talks about doors of thieves and sheep. "Truly, truly, I say to you...he who DOES NOT ENTER by the DOOR into the fold of the sheep...BUT climbs up SOME OTHER WAY..he is a thief and robber. But he who enters by THE DOOR is a shepherd of the sheep. " (read the rest of the verses but skip to verse 6 as Jesus explain his figure of speech of doors) "This figure of speech Jesus spoke to them...but they DID NOT UNDERSTAND what those things were which He had been saying to them. Jesus THEREFORE (in reference to verses 1-5) said to them AGAIN...Truly, truly...I say to you...I AM THE DOOR OF THE SHEEP. All who came before me were thieves and robbers; but the sheep did not hear them. I AM THE DOOR...IF ANYONE ENTERS THROUGH ME...HE SHALL BE SAVED...and shall go in and out and FIND PASTURE."
The THIEF comes only to steal, and kill, and destroy...I CAME THAT THEY MIGHT HAVE LIFE...AND MIGHT HAVE IT ABUNDANTLY." Many people choose to try to climb over the wall versus going through the door/gate.


Robert Frost and Larry Norman speak of CHOICES...choices of ROADS. In the movie Back To The Future...Doc Brown comes back to pick up Marty to go to the future. The DeLorean time machine use to need to reach a certain speed on the road to trigger the jump to the future. Marty asks the Doc if they didn't need more ROAD. The Doc responds with a smirk..."Where we're going....we don't need roads." Then the machine begins to fly.

Well...the ROAD that we need to get into the presence of the Father....is JESUS. Larry and Mr. Frost said it correctly:

ONE WAY...ONE WAY to Heaven...hold up high your hand
Follow...free and forgiven...Children of the Lamb
Two roads DIVERGED in the middle of my life...I heard a wise man say
I TOOK the one LESS TRAVELLED on...and that's made a difference...every night and every day
So I say...ONE WAY...one way to heaven...hold up high your head
ONE WAY...free and forgiven...children of the sky.

It all comes down to CHOICES. Choose death...choose life...choose blessing...choose curse...choose the road to heaven...or as AC/DC recommends...choose the highway to hell.

Lord...help me to make better choices.

Love and Kisses from Column A
Rodney "Taking The Less Travelled Road" Boyd