A Choice for all
Daniel 6:24
I had grown up going to the Catholic Church and had a very shallow idea of what the church was really about or who God really was much less that Jesus was the Son of God. When it came to church and its greater meaning I was without doubt very ignorant. No one in my family as far back as I could remember went to Church every Sunday. I remember my great-great granny reading her Bible and I can’t recall too clearly but I bet she read some stories to me because I recollect sitting in front of her with her Bible on her lap with it open. My brother and I went to CCD on Wednesday nights and that was the extent of my church experience outside of weddings or funerals. There were a couple rare occasions we went to church and it was after my dad and mom had split a couple different times. Each time as part of the reconciliation my mom wanted us all to go to church as a family. My dad agreed to it and for a couple weeks or maybe even a month we would attend as a family and then things would return to the way it was. My dad lived the way he was raised and that was without God. My dad came from an abusive family and my poor father continued what his father had taught him. I received many lessons from my father but surrendering your life to God wasn’t one of them. My dad died when he was 44 years old and the pastor who led the funeral service told me my dad gave his life to Christ before he had died but at the time I still didn’t have a clue what that meant but I know it made feel good on the inside. I had many strong manly influences in my life but none of them showed me a path that walked with God on a daily basis. My mom and Aunt took me to church after my dad’s passing on a pretty consistent basis but I still didn’t have a clue where Jesus fit in to the story with God. I knew he was the Son of God but I didn’t connect with him being anything of great importance especially in my life. (That was difficult to even type, thank you for forgiving me Jesus!)
Building off what I had learned from the marriage I grew up watching, I got married when I was twenty-two for all the wrong reasons. I thought I was in love and we were expecting our first child. I had already gotten off on the wrong foot with doing things out of order and without God at the center of my life or at the center of this marriage. The marriage lasted a very tough nine years. During those nine years we had two wonderful children but as a couple we were going in opposite directions and leading us away from each other. I had been perverted by the devil in my lusts for other women and for that I take responsibility for destroying my family. I allowed the devil to consume my wants and desires. I never kept my vows or tried to be the strong leader I needed to be for my wife or my children. Finally after nine years we separated and then divorced a little after that. I wasn’t physically abusive like my dad but as far as mental abuse I had been really horrible in the way I treated my ex-wife. I was so in to getting what I wanted that I didn’t give my children the true amount of love they deserved.
I was staying at a friend’s house back in my hometown and one night while resting on the couch I finally came to the conclusion that I was partied out. No longer did I want to be alone and continue wasting this life I’d been given. I went to work and little did I know I was working at a table separating some belts with the very person God would send to be my wife. My wife and I got off to a rough start because neither one of us were attending church or had biblical teachings in our life as we were dating. We continued to date and went through some rough times but it was nothing we couldn’t work through. Once again I found myself in a situation that found my girlfriend at the time pregnant and a wedding date not yet set but there was one thing that was different. I was finally mature enough to know I was actually in love and wanted to spend the rest of my years on earth with this woman. We tied the knot and living a normal life or what we thought was normal to us from what we had seen and learned from our previous marriages but something was still missing. My wife had mentioned she wanted to go to church and the idea was stirring in my mind but I still had not responded. It’s funny how God works but God gave us a house with a church literally in the backyard. I had gotten invitations from one of my Jr. High football players, a hair stylist, and finally the pastor came by one day when I was mowing my yard and invited our family to attend but still I hadn’t really decided to go to church yet.
While all these events were taking place my brother in law was talking to me about God and what Jesus was doing in his life. I would ask many questions to my brother in law and he would feed the answers the Holy Spirit told him to tell me. It was Sunday afternoon my brother in law said the words that would forever shake me to the core on what I believed about God and who Jesus was to be in my life. He told me as the leader of my family that I could lead them to heaven or I could lead them straight to hell. I always had the idea that everyone was pretty much on there on when it came to spiritual things but now I heard it was on me. I sat there trying to let all this new information set in and try to formulate what I should do next. Through our previous conversations I knew it was all leading to somewhere and that destination was Jesus Christ. We continued to talk the rest of the trip but when the car finally parked in the garage, sitting in the passenger seat of the Toyota Highlander I gave my life to Jesus Christ. This was a decision I didn’t take lightly and I realized my leadership had a tremendous amount of responsibility. In the story of Daniel, where God protects Daniel in the lion’s den and then what happens to the people who were responsible for lying on Daniel in the first place. The decision those men made affected their entire families. Daniel 6:24 says, “And the king gave the command, and they brought those men who had accused Daniel, and they cast them into the den of lions-them, their children, and their wives; and the lions overpowered them, and broke all their bones in pieces before they ever came to the bottom of the den.” I wonder or considered the decision they had made would also affect the lives of their family’s lives. I’m thankful my brother in law listened to the Holy Spirit and shared the Gospel with me. As leaders, the choices we make affect us all!
