The Results of Decisions

Joshua 24:15 (New International Version)

¹⁵ But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD."

The Results of Decisions

The Bible presents a powerful, dramatic scene of the end of Josuah’s life. The aging leader faced the people and challenged them to make a decision. He told either to serve God or to serve the pagan influences around him, but that he and his family were committed to God.

Most of us don’t have those big decisions often. For most of us, it’s like the dancer and choreographer Agnes de Mille said, “No trumpets sound when the important decisions of our life are made. Destiny is made known silently.”

We make choices every day and most of them seem insignificant and perhaps trivial. Most of the time we have no way to foresee that those simple choices will alter our lives. For instance, when I drove away from the Trinity Pines Conference Center, I had a choice of which way to drive to reach Alvin, the Houston bedroom community I lived and where I was the pastor. I could have chosen Highway 59 and headed west. That was the way I had always gone. The other way was to take the Gulf Freeway I-45 to Houston. The distance was about the same.

I made a choice with no concerted effort and didn’t pray for guidance or hear a voice say, “Go that way.” It seemed like a simple decision. But after I made the choice, there was no way I could have known that an eighteen-wheeler truck would crash into my Ford at 11:45 that morning while I was on the middle of the bridge. Hundreds of times over the years, I’ve thought of how life would have been different if I had decided to take the other route.

I had made a decision. And accident was the result. Aside from the big choices such as a career change or getting married rarely do we realize the seriousness of our choices. Only when things go wrong do we look back and ask, “What if I had…?” “But if I had only…?”  We can’t undo those events, and we need to be mindful that every decision has consequences—even decisions as simple as choosing which seat to take on a bus or which flight to book to reach a destination.

Who would have dreamed of the results that would follow my simple option to take one road instead of the other?—But think of this: Who would have believed that I could tell my story and that lives would be eternally different? That people would make life-changing decisions based on listening to me share my experiences?

Next to my death-to-life experience, the one decision that most changed my life happened when I was sixteen years old. I accepted and invitation from three people I didn’t know. After that, I could never go back to my former way of life.

I lived in Bossier, Louisiana, a city across the river from Shreveport. One summer afternoon, the doorbell rang. My mother went to the front door and I heard her as, “Who?” Then she turned around and called, “Don, there are three kids here to see you.”

I went to the door and there stood a boy and two girls. They introduced themselves as Barry, Carmen and Jan. Because of those three teens, I began to attend church and eventually made a decision to become a Christian. But my salvation story started with the simple act of talking to three high school students. The decision at sixteen years of age determined where I went when I died in that car accident. There is another place people go when they die, and that could have been my destiny.

In the hundreds of times I’ve thought about my life, I can always see the loving hand of God stretched out toward me. God sought me and I surrendered when I had no serious problems. When the really big moment in my life came, I was ready because I had chosen correctly.

Let’s pray:

“God, I have no idea why some things happen or how minor decisions determine my destiny. But I do know you’re involved in my life, even in those dark moments. Remind me of your love, which never leaves me, and help me to make wisely decisions every day. In the name of Jesus I pray. Amen."

By Pr. Don Piper – He is the author of the book “90 Minutes in Heaven” where he tells us his story about when he was driving back home from a minister's conference, and his car collides with a semi-truck that crosses into his lane. He was pronounced dead at the scene. For the next 90 minutes, Pastor Don Piper experiences heaven where he was greeted by those who had influenced him spiritually. He hears beautiful music and feels true peace. While back on earth, a passing minister who had also been at the conference is led to pray for Don even though he knows the man was dead. Pastor Piper miraculously comes back to life... and the bliss of heaven is replaced by a long and painful recovery. For years Piper kept his heavenly experience to himself. Finally, however, friends and family convinced him to share his remarkable story in the book, we strongly advise you to read if you can.