Have you ever tried walking across a balance beam? It seems easy at first when you’re just standing on the edge, but as soon as you begin to move, it becomes harder to maintain your balance. Last night, we were demonstrated with a little skit. Our speaker, Kristen Raine, called a camper up to the front of the Tabernacle and had them walk along a board set up sort of like a small seesaw. As soon as he began to walk, you could tell that he was concentrating on simply staying on the beam. When he began to feel comfortable with his balance, Kristen began to demonstrate how life throws us obstacles to try to knock as down (in the form of ping pong balls, of course.) When he was hit by the ping pong balls, he would fall one way or the other.
Every single day, we make choices. We decide what we are going to wear, what to eat for breakfast, what time to wake up. Our entire lives are based on a series of small and large choices, which all have a direct effect on our lives tomorrow and in the future. And our choices don’t always just have an effect on our lives, but those around us as well.
For me, I think that there have been so many moments in my life that have guided me to the point where I am today. And back then, the choices seemed so insignificant at the time. I was in 7th grade and I went to a Mid-Winter Advance Retreat at Keswick with my youth group like I did every year, and the team leading that week was from Eastern University. That weekend, I was so changed by the leaders that when it came time to apply for colleges, Eastern was where I wanted to go. A few years later, I decided to apply for summer staff here at Delanco in 2011. It was my first year I was ever on staff, and even though I grew up going to camp every summer, my love for this place changed. So when the caretaker position became available, I wanted to go back and serve based upon my first staff experience. So, I encouraged my Dad to apply for the job because of that first summer I decided to apply for my first summer job. I never would have realized that the decision to go on a retreat or apply for a job would have had the biggest impacts on my life.
It just goes to show that even seemingly small or obvious choices can effect your life five, ten, fifteen, even twenty years from now.
Going back to the fence analogy, we also make choices every day whether or not we are living for Jesus. And when you don’t fully invest our lives into it, we are walking on the fence: one step away from living for Him or falling off completely.
At the end of the demonstration, Kristen asked the camper to stand on one side of the beam, having them ward off the ping pong balls being thrown his way. He was able to defend himself when he was standing on God’s side.
And that’s what God wants from us, isn’t it? He wants us to make the choice everyday to be all in for Him. And our choices, no matter how insignificant they seem, have a direct effect on our tomorrow.
