Moments of Choice

Posted by Tia Ciferno and filed in Encouragement for Daily Living

Moments of Choice

 

 

The front page of today’s paper holds such a portrait of free-will. It tells the story of two men and their “moments of choice.”

 

James Cline, a man with almost a dozen DUI charges, was fleeing police in a town nearby. He went left of center and ran head-on into a car carrying three young college students. Grace was killed instantly, Andy died two days ago and Evan is still in critical condition. His choices led to the deaths of two souls who had their whole lives before them.

 

The day that Andy died, another drama took place a few miles from us at an intersection we pass through many times a week.

 

Michael Loparo was driving his semi truck up the hill when at the last moment he noticed the light was red and a car was stopped in front of him. He veered his rig off the highway to avoid crashing into the rear of that vehicle and headed straight for the heavy pole that held the traffic light. They say his cab burst into flames on impact and he died before he could be rescued from the burning truck. The fire chief commented that Michael gave his life to save the four people who would have been killed if he had hit them…He died to save a woman named Deanna and three young children ~Kandaze, Korri and Dezeree .  

 

These two stories are a dramatic snapshot of our lives here on earth. Lives that hold choices which can heal or harm.

 

The amazing thing is… we have been given this gift of free will from our Creator and it’s a gift that He will not take back, despite the consequences of its abuse. 

 

Our Father also knows that the use of this gift to choose love and sacrifice is glorious. Deanna and those children know that now. And we should know that too since Jesus, the Son of God, chose to freely give His Life to save ours.

 

When we had no clue that death was careening towards us, “He took the fall and thought of us… above all.”   Those four beloved human beings were just waiting at a stop light, expecting nothing of their day but the agenda they had planned.

 

Meanwhile, behind them, a drama of love was taking place. A drama of sacrifice.  A 50 yr old truck driver named Mike was making the choice to risk his life to save theirs.

 

How many people travel through life never knowing what Jesus gave to save them from certain death?  How many are missing the drama of love that took place 2000 years ago, “behind their backs” in a sense, but for their sake? 

 

I wonder how Deanna and the children will look at their existence now. Their lives are now imprinted, infused, with this stranger’s gift…a value he placed on their days on earth by the sacrifice of his own.

 

Those of us who have accepted the “freely-given” gift of Life from Jesus, the Son of the Most High God, know that we are now infused with His identity, and the value He placed on our lives by the cost of their redemption. We don’t want to waste a moment of our days or a drop of His Blood by living a life of compromise or mediocrity. 

 

One more thought. Jesus also “took the fall” for James Cline. Andy, Grace and Michael may be in His Presence today, but James still needs to hear about His Grace. He is still alive and able to have many more “moments of choice.”