Years apart,

separated by time and space.

Lives unfolded in expected and unexpected ways,

the intermingling of sorrow and joy.

And in a chance encounter we come together

different and yet strangely similar to memory of the past.

Lives reconnecting. The old has become new.

Because of You, O Holy God, all because of YOU.

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On Sunday at Amberlea we had the very talented singer, songwriter, and inspirational speaker, Ali Matthews. What a pleasure it was to worship with her and, for me personally, to reconnect with her after so many years.

Ali’s husband was a childhood friend of Brian’s and Ali came as his “plus one” to our wedding, 32 years ago in December. Imagine that! We had a chance to sit down and catch up before the service and quickly decided that twenty minutes was not enough!

During the service, I was moved as she shared about her experience in Ecuador and her passion for World Vision. But I was truly convicted by one sentence. Ali simply said, “Everything we do is a choice”.

It’s amazing how six little words strung together can act as an arrow aimed straight for the heart.

Everything we do is a choice.

We make a million choices in a day. What we will wear, what we will eat, what route we will take to work, what we will say, how we will spend our money… the list goes on and on.

It seems to me that we are the sum total of the choices we make. We are the result of the choices that we've made in the past and it stands to reason that the decisions that we will be making today will determine who we become and what we're able to do tomorrow.

Everything we do is a choice AND our choices matter.

What will you choose to do today?

Will you choose kindness?
Will you choose to be the hands and feet of Jesus?
Will you choose to love like you have been loved by God?

But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods of 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. (Joshua 24:15)

Our choices matter.