Choices | Wayne Stiles

Archives For Choices

The Jordan River—Your Place of Transition

Other rivers have more beauty. Many are longer. Most are cleaner.

But none has garnered as much affection as the Jordan River.

The Jordan River—A Place of Transition The Jordan River—Your Place of Transition

(Photo: The Jordan River, courtesy of the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands)

It wasn’t the beauty of the Jordan River that inspired centuries of psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to include it in their verses.

Its significance began as a simple geographic barrier, which—practically speaking—represented a border (Joshua 22:18-25). In fact, the serpentine river still represents a border between Israel and the nation of Jordan.

In Scripture, however, the river’s presence on Israel’s eastern edge stood as an enduring metaphor of transitions.

Significant transitions, in fact.

What if Your Busy Life Isn’t Productive?

I used to have an old car with a funny way of handling cold weather.

In the mornings I’d turn on the headlights, the heat, the rear defrost, and the radio. Everything was fine until I got to an intersection and turned on my blinker.

When I did, the radio blinked off and on.

What if Your Busy Life Isnt Productive What if Your Busy Life Isnt Productive?

(Photo by yellowj, via Vivozoom)

The small drain from the blinker was more than the power source could handle.

Many mornings I feel like my old car. Every ounce of energy is already being used, and if even one small additional drain is required from me, the overload starts shutting down my system.

We’ve all been there. A busy life means little margin. And often, little productivity.

Jesus told a story that directly addressed the busy life of a believer.

Being Better than Your Parents is the Wrong Goal

You can live better than your parents did.

Or you can live worse. It’s true.

Growing up in a godly home is no guarantee you’ll follow God. But it’s also true that a godless home doesn’t doom you to a failed life.

Being Better than Your Parents is the Wrong Goal Being Better than Your Parents is the Wrong Goal

(Photo by Design Pics, via Vivozoom)

I know of one young man who had as his goal to be a better father than his father was to him. And he did it.

But then he realized that wasn’t enough.

Being better than your parents is doable, sure, but it’s the wrong goal.

Why You Should Avoid the Path Of Least Resistance

Taking the path of least resistance is a fact of nature.

Rivers always flow around a mountain because it’s easier than going through it. Electricity will always move through a circuit along the “easiest” route. A car is designed aerodynamically for the least resistance to wind.

Human nature is no different. Unfortunately.

Why You Should Avoid the Path Of Least Resistance Why You Should Avoid the Path Of Least Resistance

(Photo by Perry from Ottawa, Canada. Fading. CC-BY-2.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

We tend to do that which is easiest, often to the neglect of that which is best.

It’s easier to read a magazine than to read your Bible.
It’s easier to sit in front of the TV than to spend time with your kids.
It’s easier to lose your temper with your spouse than to control it.

Following the path of least resistance can become a habit that guides our lives. We make choices based on what is easiest, most pleasant, or least painful.

But God has a better plan for you.

Listening to Well-Timed Words of Warning

Dark shadows had fallen over Jerusalem.

A lone figure knelt, weeping, agonizing in prayer, as eleven men slumbered nearby. While Jerusalem slept, the Lord Jesus endured anguish in the darkness of Gethsemane.

But He did not suffer alone that night.

Citadel of David minaret with full moon tb091103007 Listening to Well Timed Words of Warning

(Photo: The Citadel served as the residence of Pilate and his wife. Courtesy of Pictorial Library of Bible Lands.)

On the other side of Jerusalem in the luxuriant palace of the governor—perhaps even during the hours of Jesus’s agony in the garden—another figure writhed in agony.

The content of her nightmare was about Jesus. It caused her to arrive at a firm conclusion.

3 Promises to Help Your Fear of Change

Let me guess. You sit in the same spot in church each week.

You also drive the same way to work each day. You eat the same things for breakfast. And you pray the same way at meals. (It’s true. Just ask your family.)

3 Promises to Help Your Fear of Change 3 Promises to Help Your Fear of Change

(Photo by Copyright Design Pics, via Vivozoom)

You and I both are creatures of habit. We like the security of a predictable routine. And as long as nobody sits in our seat at church, life is fine.

Or to say it another way, we have a fear of change. Here’s why:

The only change we welcome is the change we expect. Like the seasons. We plan for it and can adjust accordingly.
We also like the change we initiate, like a new job or even a dry diaper, because it gets us what we want.

God, however, has a different view.

We have a fear of change, but He has a strange commitment to it.

Although God is willing to accept us as we are, He also loves us enough not to leave us that way.

Getting What You Want Out of Life

I always get a big grin when I’m driving on a highway and see the sign: “Freeway Ends.”

I get the mental picture of cars flying off the end of the freeway into a deep ravine. Or, perhaps, a calmer image might be all vehicles stuck at a dead end with nowhere to go.

If we knew that’s what the sign meant, we’d stop and turn around.

vivozoom 38849645 w Getting What You Want Out of Life

(Photo by iofoto, via Vivozoom)

Wouldn’t it be nice if we had a warning sign that gave us more important directions?

“THIS ISN’T THE ROAD TO GETTING

WHAT YOU WANT OUT OF LIFE”

If we had such a sign—and we believed it true—we’d immediately stop and turn around.

The Word of God gives us that sign. It tells us the results of a certain path. But it also gives us other directions.

It tells you the secret to getting what you want out of life.

God’s Pop Quizzes and Your Struggling Answers

God’s tests are most often pop quizzes. You don’t see them coming.

If you knew you’d have a flat tire tomorrow morning in order to test your patience, you’d have your jack and crowbar ready at hand.

But that’s not a real test.

Gods Pop Quizzes and Your Struggling Answers Gods Pop Quizzes and Your Struggling Answers

(Photo by Monkey Business Images, via Vivozoom)

A real test hits your blindside. It tests the mettle of your theology, and often, it even seems to contradict it.

You have walked with God, but a family member suddenly gets terribly ill.
Your integrity on the job has been stellar, but someone else gets the promotion.
You have worked hard on a project, but the doors for its success stay closed.
You get an unexpected phone call with news that chills your soul.

In the end, the pop quizzes we experience usually boil down to one thing.

How to Face the Future without Fear

My favorite New Years Eve happened before the infamous Y2K.

I pulled a practical joke that made the people in my grandmother’s house believe their fears about the future were true.

HK Lantau Island sunrise How to Face the Future without Fear

(Picture: By Flickr user: 29cm CC-BY-SA-2.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

My relatives had gathered to watch the televised countdown at New York City’s Times Square. Midnight hit America first on the east coast, so all eyes waited to see what would happen at midnight.

Would all power go dark in America?
Would computers suddenly stop working?
Should we stockpile more food?

While no one was looking, I snuck outside and found the breaker box to my grandmother’s house.

Twas the Night AFTER Christmas Poem

I’ve decided that during the holiday season we should change the mall’s name to “maul.”

I’ve never seen such mayhem—kids running, parents screaming, angry people in long lines—all to the music of “Joy to the World” in the background. Good grief!

86133588 w Twas the Night AFTER Christmas Poem

(Photo by Stephane Bidouze, via Vivozoom)

If you decide to head to the “maul” the night after Christmas, you’ll see more of the same chaos—a rush of returns in exchange for . . . even more . . . stuff.

So in honor of these days after Christmas, I’ve decided to try my hand at rewriting Clement Clarke Moore’s Christmas classic.

Here she goes. (Ahem.)