rough patch

That Ol’ I-40 West

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / 2 Comments

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I’ve heard this one illustration from Pastor Mike Glenn quite a few times, but the impact is always the same.

If you get on I-40 West, you’ll end up in Memphis every single time. Unless of course you stop off at Jackson. But the point is that you can’t get on that particular interstate and hope to get to Chicago or New York. You’ll end up in Memphis (or end up passing through Memphis)– eventually. Ok, it’s not a perfect analogy, but here’s the point.

Uncle Mike says that some people will get on I-40 West and wonder how they ended up in Memphis. In much the same way, people will make poor life choices and wonder how their life ended up as such a hot mess.

I’m not here to judge people who are in a rough patch in their lives. I am saying that you can’t continually make bad and ill-informed choices and not have consequences from those choices. You reap what you sow every time. As another pastor said, you can’t sow wild oats from Monday through Saturday and pray for crop failure on Sunday.

The good news is that there is forgiveness from bad decisions. The bad news is that there are also consequences. Some of you (with me included) have found that out the hard way.

But some of you have found out that you don’t have to keep making the same bad decisions. You can choose differently. No matter how much of a train wreck your past has been, your future is still an unwritten page with unlimited possibilities.

And yes, God can take anybody’s mess and turn that into their message. He can take what was meant for evil and turn it into something good (just ask Joseph). He can work all things together for good.

I wanted to end this on a positive note. I echo the words of the old knight in the movie Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade: “You must choose wisely.”

 

P-R-O-G-R-E-S-S

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

I saw a church sign yesterday that read: “Change in inevitable, progress is optional.” That’s true.

You can’t avoid change. It will come whether you look for it or not, whether you want it or not, and usually when you least expect it.

That job you counted on ends and you get laid off.

The marriage you thought was such a sure thing hits a rough patch and suddenly, the future looks very uncertain.

That friend you thought was for life suddenly vanishes from your life and you’re left wondering what you did wrong.

Change will come, and not always for the better. You can’t control what happens to you, but you CAN control how you respond. You can choose to become a victim or circumstance and let that define your life, or you can choose to learn and grow from that experience. The old cliche is true: you can either become bitter or better.

Every moment is a choice. Every second is a chance to either do things the way you’ve always done them or to step out in faith. For me, most of the time I play it safe, but those moments when I choose to take that step, whether I succeed or fail, are always the moments that I remember where God changed me.

The only certainties in life are death, taxes, and change. And the love of God. That above all will never change.