Several years ago, there was a news story about a man named Don Wyman. He was muscular and worked for a mining company. One day about 4:00 p.m. he was alone in a forest cutting down a tree when the tree snapped back in his direction and knocked him to the ground. The massive oak landed on hi left shin – shattering his bone and ripping his flesh.He tried to free himself, using his chainsaw to no avail. He did everything he could think of, but still he couldn’t get free. He realized that unless he got help soon he was going to bleed to death. He knew it would be hours before someone might figure something had gone wrong and come looking for him. So he made a courageous decision. Pulling the starter cord from his chain saw he tied a tourniquet to his leg, shutting off the blood flow to his shin. Then somehow, with his pocket-knife, he proceeded to amputate his lower leg, just below the knee.Now, on one leg, he had to find help. He crawled 135 feet uphill to his bulldozer, climbed in, started it up and drove that extremely slow machine 1/4 mile to his pickup truck. The truck was a stick shift and he had to use a metal rod to depress the clutch when he shifted. He drove a mile and a half and came upon a dairy farm where someone called an ambulance. . Don Wyman survived the ordeal. --But only because he realized that being pinned like that under that oak tree, to keep his leg might cost him his life.
So he had a decision to make. --And he chose to live. Through the whole Bible --the invitation to choose to be wise or to choose to be foolish. The book of Proverbs is almost entirely devoted to the comparison between the wise person and the foolish person
How do you feel about tough decisions…I don’t mean the easy ones like where to eat this weekend or what breakfast cereal to choose. No I mean the ones that are vital. Who will your mate be? What is your mission? The most critical of all choices: Who will be your master. Listen to Moses near the end of his ministry to the children of Israel.
Dt. 30:19-20a –19 I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live: 20 That thou mayest love the LORD thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.
He seems to be saying make a choice to make wise choices…commit to making wise choices in several key areas.
Make Life a priority in a culture that is toxic and deadly.
Live in the Love of God and learn to love Him with your whole heart.
Remember to Choose blessing instead of cursing.
Always obey His voice as he speaks to you through His word.
Cleave to Him tenaciously.
Remember as you follow Him He is your life and can lengthen your days.After these basic life principles are in place. Spend your life studying these areas in the Bible so you can choose wisely in them.
· Marriage
· Relationships
· Finances
· Balance
· Attitudes
· Time
· Health
· Habits
· Work
· Study
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