Choices

I know I haven't kept up with doing this once a week like I'd planned.   It's been a rough few weeks in the Mason household.  I've had to make some decisions here and there and the blog, sadly, has lost out a few times.  This got me thinking about how choices often times happen way before a decision is made. 

We make choices and decisions every day.  I choose to eat better than I used to.  I choose to excercise.  In an earlier post, I wrote that my kids were not going to be a statistic.  That is something that we have to choose now, not when they're 12 and experimenting with drinking or 14 and spending "alone time" with boys or... It happens now.  We choose now to do things to set our kids up to make responsible choices as they get older.  Because of that choice,  I choose to work at the job I do so I can be home at night.  I choose to put their well being and happiness above my self pride. Most importantly, I choose to put my faith and hope in my Lord, Jesus.  We have to make choices, drive a stake in the ground and say "this is how it is".  Once we do that, our decisions will follow those choices (most of the time).   

We have to choose to stop abusing our bodies with the plethora of crap the marketing firms we call fast food is dishing out.  (yes, I used plethora and crap in the same sentence... that's called talent ;-) ).  The time for that choice is at home when you're sure you can make that commitment.  Not when you're in the drive through lane at the golden arches trying to **decide** what is the least toxic on the menu.  Once we've made that choice we decide in the morning to have oatmeal or yogurt or eggs and toast rather than the doughnut drive through on the way to work.  Once we choose to eat better, we'll decide our kids don't need the kids meal with the choking hazard painted with lead paint in a cartoon box. 

This also applies to our spiritual lives.  One of my favorite verses in the Bible is Joshua 24:15.  Many of us know it says "as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord" and I like that.  I **LOVE** the whole verse though.  From http://www.biblegateway.com/ "But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD".  We have a choice in who we serve, but make no mistake, we will serve someone.  So, my challenge to you is a tweak to this verse.  If serving God seems undesirable in your sight, that's fine, but don't put it off, choose today whom you will serve.  Whether it be yourself, budda, mohamed, money, fame and fortune, or whatever.  Bear in mind, these are all temporal "little g" gods that will have no power to keep you from the gates of hell.  For me, Ginger, Natalie and Sarah, we will serve the Lord. 

Thanks for reading!!!

May He increase and i decrease,

shane