Choose

Bert's sermon at HRBC this morning was all about relationships, prayer and choice. He focused on relationship with God, but the rules extend far beyond that to other applications. Prayer enables communication which enables relationship. With relationships and communication, we learn about each other. We begin to care, our emotions take over and we become passionate. The roller coaster ride of every relationship begins...Some days are better than others. Some things easier than others. With those relationships, and emotion comes personal risk as well as opportunity.

We choose how to respond. We choose whether or not to trust in a power greater than us. We choose to believe the best in those around us or dwell on the worst. Choosing God is not about making the easy choice. It is about making the right choice. That choice brings the refining fire, the pruning of our person.. and the intense growth thereafter. The refiner's fire purifies and positions me for the future, but it does burn. Pruning isn't pleasant, warm, fuzzy, or politically correct but it is necessary.

"Coming together is a beginning...
Keeping together is progress...
Working together is success..." Sermon:Dr. Bert Browning 1/29/06

Whether we are talking about a relationship with my next door neighbor, my life community, my choir, or my God. Those statements remain accurate. The coolest things about it all... God is always there waiting patiently for me to choose him...That isn't true of my earthly relationships, but God is always there, always loving me. Amazing love, how can it be...

"Now fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. 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." Joshua 24:14-15