CHOICE

So, today I am praying about "choice."

I have listened with my two ears and read with my two eyes a lot about "choice." I've seen a lot this past year and the Lord has broken my heart and I ask him constantly to keep my heart broken that it won't turn back into a heart of apathy towards those I have come to love. Those I love including the strangers I’ve met across the country on the streets and in homes bigger than my own.

My family and friends who know the Lord bring comfort to me as I know they alone have made the choice to live a life seeking the Lord first before every "choice." Praise God!

My beloved who haven't made that choice I constantly pray for~ that it will happen in God’s timing as every tongue will confess.
My beloved who have made that choice but aren’t walking the walk just hearing the talk I constantly pray for~
Narrow is the gate and few will find it.

Some have made the choice to be saved~ said the sinners prayer when they were six~ others have said it with eyes closed and head bowed down. It's for JESUS, not for me to know~ but oh how I long to know!

I think the choice God gives us shouldn't be hidden from others~ but rather shouted~ we talk everyday about things of this world unashamed or boldly~ why then should this choice be kept quiet?

Some believers tell me people living out on the streets are there by choice~ I totally disagree.
Do they not know that many of those people they are referring too are actually saved?
Many of "those people" are sisters and brothers in Christ who I have personally done nothing for except gone my way and chosen to left behind. I think too often we walk on by and use “it’s their choice” as an excuse~ that is NOT how Jesus sees them. If I am to believe in JESUS then it’s my prayer that I will follow his ways all of my days.

Some believe that Jose "chose" to be in the gang and therefore died because of his choice living on the other side of town~ when I read the local newspaper I was disgusted at the hatred and things of this world that were commented by my "neighbors." Jose didn't die because it was his choice to get shot in the head at 16 years old on a Thursday night driving in a car~ he died and it was my choice whether or not to tell him about the Lord before the enemy got to him~

I haven't seen Jose’s picture but wonder if he was one of many who came to know the saving grace of JESUS before that fateful night? Rudy said his face looked familiar. Deb said he looked like a typical good looking young man. My heart aches~ I have a 16 year old son.

I wonder this morning if Jose was the young man who I smiled at as I found myself alone in Apple Valley that Thursday night while the team went on to Roseland, Guerneville and West Ninth last week. There was a group of young men assembling and a lone police officer walking around Apple Valley and as soon as the RAVEN team left and I had finished loading beef jerky into Tonie's car, I noticed I was alone and that's when the boys came out of their doors and I caught one of their eyes as I made a uturn.

I remember wanting to stop to talk to all of them but didn't, knowing I was there by myself which wasn't what Rudy would have allowed me to do~ and when I smiled at the young man, his eyes caught mine and his face changed from mr tough guy to eyes sweetly bowed and a soft smile back. I wonder, simply wonder if it was him who was murdered or one of his relatives or friends just four hours after our eyes met?

I won't know until I go to the funeral~ I won't know until I see him again.

And I don’t know why there aren't more of us "I SURRENDER ALL" Chrisitans out there to spread the word alongside my daughters and Rudy and the RAVEN teams to our dying youth right now in Santa Rosa. There are so many choosing to let others die without doing anything about it except commenting on their deaths. I am pretty sure the song says, I surrender ALL~ I can’t help but wonder what the city would like if the body of Christ was more important in the news headlines for what they were doing rather than for what they were saying. Can we save lives? Could I personally have stopped the bullet from killing Jose? Well, I certainly could have done more to assure him a place in heaven where there are no more bullets. Forgive me JESUS.

Time is short here~ it doesn't cost much to get to the other side of the town~ and it's our choice to claim JESUS then it’s our obedience to love and follow the commandments~ "love your neighbor as yourself." CHOOSE LIFE TODAY.
Dear Jesus, I come before you pleading for you to have mercy on Jose’s soul. I come before you asking that the HOLY SPIRIT fill me up so as no more 16 year olds that I come into contact with will go without being fed the loving kindness message of salvation. Father God, I am determined to get rid of my reluctance to share you and I ask that the churches who are filled with Christians hearing the word would foster an environment not of eyes closed and heads bowed, but rather voices lifted unashamed to claim YES< I CHOOSE YOU JESUS so as to equip others to boldly in churches, on streets, in homes, online not feel reluctant to share your word! Come Lord Jesus! Let no more sons of mothers die across town while the rest of us choose not to go and love them. I thank you for your perfect will to be done. Merciful God, reign~ not religion, but only you JESUS, amen.