Choice.

I must share with you a true story. I was returning home from a business trip and as we were just lifting off I prayed to God to help me make some career decisions, as well as decisions on commitment to him-- particularity, as to what he would have me do in my ministry. I prayed that he would help me not waffle in the direction I was contemplating on taking. I pointedly and directly asked God for his Holy Spirit, who is indwelling in me, to personally speak to me clearly about what to do. After whining a bit more to God, I finished my prayer and picked up my magazine, Christianity Today and opened it to an article written by Barry Cooper called "Imprisoned by Choices". If I had been on a chair, I would have fallen off it. It was an absolute Ruh Rough Scooby-Do moment. I was dumbstruck by what I was reading(and I'm not making this up. Get the article, published Jan. Feb. 2013). Cooper wrote: "Where are you refusing to choose? Maybe you're refusing to commit to a particular relationship--perhaps even your marriage? Maybe you're not truly committed to work--you have Facebook open in one of your browsers, half hoping to be interrupted. Maybe your restless eyes are on constant alert for something or someone better. Maybe you're keeping your options open with God himself, not allowing yourself to become too committed. Elijah is speaking to you in 1 Kings, and he is say, "Make a choice. You have all the information about God you need. Enough of this noncommittal, risk-averse, weak-willed, God-forgetting immaturity. Or, as it probably says in some of the more modern translations, "Grow up." Wow. Did the Holy Spirit speak to me or what? He couldn't have been more clearer--and he answered me in a couple of minutes. As my friend Ralph would say, "Can you imagine what would happen if God was mad at you?" Pray. Believe. Listen!