Tag: Christ

Life is tough, be tougher!


People who are survivors live through things that many of us would cringe at, accidents, war injuries, PTSD, cancer and chemotherapy, the list could go on and on.

My nephew is living proof of this and I feel that it is my duty to tell what I know of his story, at least to a certain point at least.

He was hurt in a four-wheeler accident about a month ago. He and two other boys were on the four-wheeler, which is not a good way to ride anyway, but they were being boys! Anyway, to make a very long story a bit shorter, a truck went to pass by them on the road and the driver of the four-wheeler decided that they should come back up on the road and they ended up in front of the truck. All three boys were hurt, but my nephew was hurt the worst, physically. He is still recovering in the hospital and he has only been in a room for about a week, the first three weeks he was in intensive care. He is strong, in his will and in his body, but it is God and many, many prayers that has brought him this far.

God has a plan for him…He has something to do in God’s Kingdom. I don’t know what yet, he doesn’t know what it is yet, but I hope that when he comes through this, he will find that purpose. I am not going to post pictures from his wreck or his recovery here, but I am placing a link to his prayer page on Facebook. If you wish to help in any way please visit this page. His family will need as much help financially as they can get due to the cost of the treatment that he has already had, but he will be going through therapy for the next year or so. Please, pray for him and if you feel that you can or should help contact them through this page.

He needs medical help, but God is in the help that he is getting. The doctors have been impressed with his progress, but I am not sure that they realize Who was doing the healing because it really is God working through them! According to the news that I got on the night that he had the wreck, the paramedics had to bring him back once or twice before they even made it to the hospital by helicopter. Our God is awesome and He is able to do exceedingly above what we think can be done in ANY situation.

I am not writing this to beg for money for my brother-in-law’s family, although the bills have already started coming in. I am writing this to let people outside of Facebook know that God is awesome and He still heals people today! They had to remove part of my nephew’s skull to relieve the pressure on his brain, although there is no brain damage today. As I said earlier, God has been guiding the doctor’s hands and their treatment of this young man, he is only thirteen years old.

Life is tough, and it is fleeting, his life could’ve been over that night if there had not been a helicopter team able to come pick him up. The other boys lives could have been taken, but they weren’t because God intervened in their lives at that time. I know that some won’t see it that way, but it is true! Even the person driving the truck was not at fault, because God had a plan and a purpose for this to happen. We may not know what His plan is yet, but He will bring it about one day.

Live your life for God. Wake up to know Him, read His Word, pray to Him to give you the understanding of His Word, because He is the only One Who is truly in control of this world, and the people living here and their lives, whether they have given their life to Him yet or not. God loved us enough that He sent His Son, Jesus, to die for us and to bring salvation to us, all that we have to do is claim it and realize that we can’t do anything to make our lives better, but He can.

God uses the foolish things…


“But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound
the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound
the things which are mighty.” 1 Corinthians 1:27

It is so true, God uses the simple things, the people who weren’t the most popular and the ones that nobody thinks will amount to anything,  and He will use them to do and accomplish the most in the world and for His Kingdom. Why would God do that? Because He is God and because He wants the world to see that He can do more with a little than anyone else can do with a lot!

I mean, He did create the world and our universe by speaking into the dark void, “Let there be light!”. The light that God brings into the world and the Light that He caused to shine forth in the beginning is alive! It is not just light like you get from a lamp or even the brilliant light that you get from our Sun, it was and is the Light from His Son! Light which can do more, Light which can cause things to change and people to change, Light which can bring life to a dead place. Light which will bring water into a wilderness or make “dry bones” get up from the ground and become people again!

The Light that God uses is more than just light, but it is also something which we cannot know until we have gained faith from Him and our souls have been revived to be “new creatures in Christ Jesus”! The Light of God also contains His love for us…each of us, because if He hadn’t loved us, then He wouldn’t have taken on the flesh of humanity and came down as a baby to be born into a world that didn’t know Him. A world that had mostly forgotten Him, like today’s world has.

God did exactly that and lived as a human for twelve years before he came to the temple in Jerusalem as a boy. Then He confounded the “wise men” of the day, by answering their questions instead of needing the answers Himself! After this, he spent eighteen years as a carpenter, learning the trade from his Earthly father (although He already knew) before He began His ministry in Judea. After His baptism by John the Baptist, He went into the desert and fasted for forty days before truly starting His ministry.

The men whom He called to become disciples were plain men, not Pharisees or Teachers, but during the three years of His ministry, He taught them all that they needed to know in order to accomplish that which He called them to do. They didn’t need a degree or a paper showing that they were anything more than they were, just plain people who came to know Jesus through faith and to believe that He is the Son of God! During His ministry, He was challenged by the “teachers of the Law” many times, but He passed all of their tests and confounded the wise men. How? Because, He was God! They could not trip Him up! Yet, He allowed them to capture Him, scourge Him and hang Him on a cross so that you and I could have a chance at eternity! He didn’t have to do it that way, but He wanted to do it that way. Then, after three days from sun up to sundown, He came out of the tomb victorious over death and He taught them for an additional forty days before ascending into Heaven! As the angels told His disciples, “He will come again in like manner as you have seen Him go”, and it will likely be soon.

He can use each of us in the same way today. Just as some of the teachers today have gone to school and to advanced degrees to show themselves approved, there are some who are just plain folks like me. Yes, I do have a college degree, but it isn’t in religion or theology. Yet, God has taught me through His Word and through prayer, the knowledge which I need to be useful to Him! My skills are not accepted in the “great churches”, because I don’t have a “seminary degree”, I am just an un-learned man so what do I know? I know that God can take me, just as He did those fishermen, and use me and you to do far more than people think can be done by someone as simple as I am.

Seek Him out today, read His Word and come to know Him through it because He can make you into a giant of faith if you will answer the call on your life now while there is still time. Don’t put it off until tomorrow or next week, you don’t know if you are going to be here that long! While there is time, especially if God is calling to your heart now, answer Him. His disciples did, I did, and many others have over the years. Give Him a chance to be your Lord and Savior.

God’s plans…


We tend to make plans from the time we are able to play with other children, we make plans. Plans for forts, and rescues and wars and all sorts of stuff. When we get older, we still make plans, although we are making bigger plans at this point like what we will major in when we go to college or if we decide to go into the military then which branch and what specialty to follow. God’s plans are never wrong or come at the wrong time, He is never calling an emergency session of the Trinity and nothing catches Him by surprise. He knows what He has planned and that it will do exactly what He has purposed for it to accomplish, whether in your life while you are young or later in your life, His plans will always be done on time.

Just as His signs in the heavens happen at the time that He appoints for them to. The eclipses that we have seen of the “blood moons”, the solar eclipse that will happen next year along with the other signs that happen every day that people disregard or don’t recognize as signs from Him. Like the one that happened during the filming of a mini-series that will be released on Easter next spring. It seems that God is giving His approval to it. Of course there are many who will say that it is just a coincidence, but take a look at it and draw your own conclusion. As a verse in the Bible says: “I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke.” Joel 2:30cross1

There are very few times that a cross is formed in the sky, especially with no jets crossing paths to aid it along. God is the creator, and He can form anything wherever He wishes to, whenever He wants it to appear. Your life, your plans are part of His plan and if you will align your heart and your life with His, then you will see the difference that you can make in other people’s lives.

Give your heart to God and the rest of your life will fall into place just as it should. I never thought that I would be doing what I do, but He brought my life around to a point where I could be used in His Kingdom and for His Kingdom. My small church is small now, but it is possible that someone from my church may have an impact in the world one day. I don’t know God’s plans, but He does and He knows exactly how this will work out to His glory!

Honor, Dignity, and Commitment


The character of our nation’s heroes, its Veterans, is uncompromising commitment to their job, their duty, and to their country. We honor their commitment with dignity on this Veteran’s Day, but what about our commitment? Do each of us have a commitment that we are duty bound to honor and carry through? We all should honor our elders, our parents and grandparents but especially our Veterans, whether they are veterans of a branch of the military or of the police service or fire and ambulance services, we should honor them. Why should we honor people who aren’t putting their lives on the line for our freedom? Because they actually do put their lives on the line, every day. When a police person (man or woman), puts that uniform on, it means that they are taking their lives and putting them on the line, not just for a pay-check (which isn’t much actually) but they are putting themselves in harm’s way for us, each of us, every day. Yes, Veterans do the same thing in the line of fire on a battlefield wherever they are sent to defend our freedoms and the freedom of the people that they are sent to protect. The same is true for ambulance personnel or fire service personnel, they put their lives in the line of traffic, or in the heat of a burning house or apartment building whenever they are on their jobs. So, they are all veterans of their respective service, regardless of the field that it may be in.

The same can be said about Jesus and His disciples. They put their lives on the line for their beliefs and for the cause of Christianity, to further the Kingdom of God around the world. We are to do the same, if we are committed to the cause of Christ, to take the knowledge of Jesus to all nations and people. We are also in a battle against Satan and his forces of spiritual beings, demons, principalities and powers which we cannot see, but they are in the world fighting against us and God. They are trying to keep people away from Jesus and the knowledge of Him and His grace toward us. Our fight is with those enemies which we can’t see, but they are there regardless and they will try any form of deception to win their cause, any lie, any death that they can cause to bring our voice down to silence. This is the enemy that we fight as Christians, the ones that can take our loved ones from us and ruin our witness to others if we allow it to happen, if we give in to their forces.

But, we can’t and we mustn’t give in or give up. The time is growing short and the battle lines are being drawn. We have to stand in our faith, we have to learn from Jesus what it takes to be still and know that God is with us and that He is far more powerful than the enemy that we face here on Earth. The victory is already ours through Christ, all that we have to do is claim it in faith by His power and His name. Stand in honor and dignity and commit yourself to Jesus’ cause and ask Him to give you the strength to commit to His cause and to stick with it until the end. God loves you and will give you the victory in all things if you will only believe in Jesus and the sacrifice that He made for you.

Semper Fi!  Praise the Lord! Come Lord Jesus!! Amen.

This is the day


A verse in the Bible begins this way, “This is the day…”, but it is not the only verse that has those words as its beginning. One verse says: “This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.” Psalm 118: 24

Another says: “This is the day of your salvation”, (2 Corinthians 6:2) , maybe not in those exact words but the idea is there nonetheless. The Bible is full of verses which have “this day” or “today” contained within them and the meaning of them in relation to your salvation is that you shouldn’t put it off at all, not even one more day! God loves each of us, which is why He came to Earth in the person of His Son so that He could pay the price for our sins, not just yours or mine but for the entire world! Your sins have been paid for, you just have to accept it, believe it, and allow Him to change you into the person that He wants you to be.

There is nothing that you can do to add to the work that He performed on the cross for you, it has been done and it is finished. All that you have to do is accept it in faith and ask Him to forgive you for your sins, then seek Him out in His Word so that you can come to know Him better and more completely. It is not required of you to do this, but in gratitude you want to because of the grace and the love that has been shown toward you and the whole world. I did.

Oh, when I was younger I didn’t understand the Bible and I didn’t take the time to ask Him to help me understand it. But, later on I realized that I needed that wisdom, His wisdom for life, for living, for being a better husband and father, for being a better representative of His grace and mercy toward us, toward me.

I lived in a broken home for a long time and I blamed my life on God. I blamed Him for my parent’s divorce, and for the fact that I grew up without a father at home. I was a rebellious teenager all during my teens. I drank alcohol, I smoked pot, I ran around with a bad crowd. It would’ve been worse had I lived in a larger city, instead of the small town where I was. But, the worst of it was that I thought I had accepted Christ at the age of 13. I had gone forward and I did all of the things that you are supposed to do, like come before the church and get baptized. I went to Sunday school and church all during my school years from the seventh grade on, but when Friday night came around and I had my drivers license I went to town to get drunk. I didn’t go to watch the game, I didn’t care about the game.

I had some wrecks in my Mom’s car before I graduated, because of my drinking. But, I still thought I was saved. It wasn’t until twenty years went by that I realized that I had been playing a game doing all the outward things which looked like I was a Christian, but inside I hadn’t changed at all. Essentially, I had put on a coat that said “Christian” on it, and when I go ready to do something that I knew didn’t fit in that coat, I took it off and did what I wanted to do. It wasn’t until I became a father that I realized that I needed to change my life so that I could, at least, be a real role model for my child. That is when I became a Christian. I had been going through the motions for a long time, and it still took some study and some real, honest prayer between me and God before I truly felt Him touch my heart and my life and make me realize that I truly needed Him. That, I couldn’t be a Christian without Him and without giving up my “life” so that I could put His on.

Good news for ALL people!


Our God and our Savior loves you all and you have an appointed time with Him! It is not a judgement time, if you just come to believe in Who He is and what He did for you!! This is a simple message but a powerful one, so powerful in fact that after the dream that I had of Him this morning (it is 3:12 a.m.) I had to get up and write this to tell all of you the good news!!!

God truly is NOT dead, He is alive and Jesus is coming soon to claim His Bride for His own. But that news alone is not the GOOD NEWS, it is that if you truly believe in your heart and confess Him before men then you will be saved, that’s it! We are not required to do anything or perform any “tasks” for Him, just believe as a little child that Jesus did what God’s Word, the Bible, says that He did. When you can come to that belief in faith like a child, then you will be changed into a child of God.

I am not saying that you will fly up to Heaven the moment that you are saved, but your soul, your spirit will be counted as a citizen of God’s Kingdom and from that moment on you are not the same! He loves you and wants to bring you into knowledge of Him, a loving knowledge of Himself, like that of a toddler to your Father! That is the kind of relationship that God wants to have with you from the moment that you believe and on into eternity!

Isn’t this AWESOME, the Creator of the universe wants to know you personally, every day. Not just at Christmas services and Easter, but every day. He cares for you like nobody on Earth can, just because He is God! You don’t have to do anything to receive this blessing, except answer the call in your heart, in your soul that you may have felt before, but you didn’t know what it was or even why you felt it. Yes, the emptiness that you have felt is telling you that something is missing, and that something is Jesus! Nothing will fix the feeling, nothing else will work in that spot in your heart. It is a place that only one Person, only one relationship will be the right one and that is the relationship with Jesus that needs to begin today!

Don’t put it off until tomorrow! Now is the appointed time to be saved and to come to know Him for Who He is, He is your Lord and Savior and He has always been waiting for you to come to Him. He doesn’t force you into a relationship, forced servitude is not a loving relationship. You have to be willing to come, you need to learn of Him and about Him, because only in Him and through Him can you be saved from the fate that awaits Satan and his demons.

Why would a loving God do that to you or anyone else? Because, if you have rejected His offer of grace and mercy through the belief in Jesus and His sacrifice, then you are no better and no different from Satan, who wanted to place his throne above God’s throne! You are rebelling against God when you choose to be separated from Him, but it is your choice, God is not the One who condemns you to hell, you are. By rejecting His grace and your salvation through Jesus, you are rejecting God Himself and all that He is offering to you, and by doing that you are no better than any demon or principality or even Satan himself. The “lie” that many people have believed is that they will always have the time to come to know Jesus. But, we are not guaranteed tomorrow. We have been given the grace and the ability to come to Him today and only by accepting that grace, by asking Him to come into your heart and change you into the person that God knows you can be will you be able to stand before Him with all of your sins covered in the righteousness of Jesus.

That’s it…that is all that is required or necessary. Just belief in Jesus and in His sacrifice and asking Him to change you into the person that you should be. Give your life to Him because He is coming…sooner than you think!

Grace under fire or not, we have it.


God’s grace is given to us by Him through Jesus. We can’t earn it, our lives don’t require it, but it is given to us because of His love for us. Why would God love the people who are actually responsible for His Son’s death on the cross? Because He chose to reconcile us to Himself by Jesus’ death on the cross long before anyone uttered a prophecy about Him. When God told Eve that one day a redeemer would come through the seed of the woman, He was speaking of Jesus then.  The actual wording of the text in Scripture was: “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel” (Gen. 3:15).

But, from that point on, the “seed” which God had spoken of was expected and looked for until His arrival. Jesus was born through the grace and mercy of God by a woman, but with the essence of God inside Him and not mankind. That is why He was able to be the “sinless Lamb of God” to be brought to the cross and give His life for all of us so that we could experience His grace and love through Jesus. The grace that humanity has enjoyed these past two thousand years is particularly and specifically for those who will come to Jesus and ask Him into their lives and into their hearts.

It is God’s grace!

By definition it is many things: skills that are needed for behaving in a polite way in social situations; disposition to or an act or instance of kindness, courtesy, or clemency; a state of sanctification enjoyed through divine grace.

Truly in the sense of this writing, it is the unmerited favor of God toward each human being on Earth. We do not have to earn it, it is given by God to us through His Son, Jesus. Whether we want it or not is irrelevant, we already have it, it is the acceptance of it that we seem to have trouble with. Grace is God’s love shown toward us in that “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us”. (Romans 5:8)

The grace that we and the world enjoys now was given to all that day when Christ died for us, all of us. The part that many don’t understand is that it is available, freely, if they will accept it and give their lives to Jesus.

It seems that some think that they will have to give up much of their enjoyment of life and truly, they won’t. The difference that will be made in their lives by accepting Jesus, will change their joy and the things that they enjoy to be like the things which Jesus Himself would do. Granted, your “old friends” may not like the new you, but if the change was/is genuine then they will see a better person than they knew before. One that is more caring, more compassionate, more trust-worthy, more like Jesus Himself!

Would that REALLY be such a bad thing?

Grace is given to each of us by the compassion of God toward us because He cares for us, each one of us. Jesus told His disciples that God knows when even a sparrow falls to the ground. If God cares for His creation enough that He knows when a small bird dies, don’t you think that He notices you and your life EVERY moment of every day!? We are above the birds in His scheme of things, but God notices all and sees all of it from time past until the day time will end.

Your life and every breath that you take is important to God. Don’t you think that you should make Him important in your life too?

Think about it because time is growing shorter by the year and we are not promised tomorrow or next year to live it, so make sure that your eternity is secure in Jesus.

Life equals struggle but….


We all struggle in our daily lives at some point, but can we do anything about it? The people in marketing and finance say that we have to build up our portfolio and we will be financially secure. The so-called gurus on television or those who write self-help books point you toward believing in yourself and the goals that you set for yourself. Living your life daily is not hard to do, really, you just get up in the morning and go to work, right? Not everyone can do that though. Some are not able to make that drive or even to get out of bed, then what do you do? Complaining doesn’t help, getting angry at everyone and everything doesn’t help because anger just hurts you from the inside out. Resigning yourself to be the way that you are is like giving up and that is counter productive too.

There is something or rather Someone that can help more than money, power, drugs or anything else that man can dream up. It is turning your life and your heart over to Jesus. Following Him daily by reading and studying His Word. Listen to sermons, regardless of who may be preaching. Yes, times are changing and whether many people want to believe it or not, time is growing short. Yes, we have been waiting a long time…a little less than two thousand years, but the signs which point to the end of that waiting are coming faster every week.

It is a struggle sometimes to get through life on a daily basis and there is a strength that is available to you from your Savior, if you will seek Him out. Please don’t struggle through this life alone, seek out Jesus and He will give you the strength to get through your problems no matter what they are.

Daily living with Jesus


Do you get up wondering and worried about things which are planned for the day or do you rest in the presence of God? Do you realize that He is interested in your day and all of the happenings in it? It’s true, the Creator of the universe is interested in your life and in everything that happens to you.

I know, there are so many people who have said that “God, if He exists, is not interested in us nor does He care about us at all”.  WHY would you say this? God did not create mankind and the world which He gave to us for our life and our sustenance just to turn away and go to some part of creation and turn away from us! Of course, we don’t know that we are the only intelligent beings in the universe, but God told Moses how things were created and we should accept it as the Truth.

If there are others, we will find out when God is ready for us to find out. In the mean time, we should use each and every day as we were commanded to by Jesus Himself, “Go into all of the world, teaching and preaching the gospel of the Kingdom of God”. Those may not be His exact words, but that was the commandment that He gave His disciples and since we, who are Christians, are His disciples in this time, then we take up our cross, our mandate to tell others about Jesus.

Your day, like many others in this day and age, begins like the rest of us…by waking up. This act alone deserves our gratitude and thanks to Him! Then, if we are able, we get our coffee or tea and eat something to break the fast from the night before. If we are able, we get ready to go to a job which we should be thankful for as well to have one, and we work at that job until it is time to get off work and come home. All of this happens without you or me having to do much more than put one foot in front of the other. We don’t have to worry about our heart beating or our breathing, it just happens. God designed us this way, just as He did every other animal on Earth that breathes air, the big difference is that He gave us part of His life, our eternal soul.

No other created being has this! God wanted someone who He could have fellowship with, daily, which is why He is interested in you and me and the life that each of us has. There is no difference between a rich man or a person with little more than the clothes on their back. In God’s eyes, we are all equal and we are all guilty of being sinners unless we have accepted Jesus as our Savior. No amount of giving to the poor or volunteering for charity will give you an edge over someone else, if you have not asked Jesus into your heart then you are just as lost as the murderer on death row that has killed someone!

In God’s eyes, because He is Holy, even a sin like telling a lie is just as bad as killing someone in cold blood! But…if you have given your life and your heart to Jesus, your page which has recorded all of your sins is cleansed just as white as purest snow. From that point on, you are His and you are forgiven. Oh, you will stumble and fall just like the rest of us do from time to time, but the Spirit which lives in you will bring it to your attention and when you ask for forgiveness, it is gone because of the work which Jesus did on the cross.

Walking in fellowship with God and having the Spirit living in your heart is just a small taste of the Kingdom of God. Daily learning from Him, by reading and studying His Word, meditating on it during your day, praying about the day that you are having and then thanking Him for your blessings of your health, your family, your job and the salvation which was provided by Jesus..this is just a part of the daily life that we are to have in Christ. It is a way of life that needs to be embraced, especially now in the time that we are living in. Time is growing short for Satan and for the age of grace. I don’t know how long we have, no one knows that except for God, but according to the signs which are happening around us, it is likely that we don’t have very long until the proof that the world has been seeking will be revealed about Who God is and that His Word is true.

Think about it and look up, because He will come quickly when that day dawns and then the time is up.

Crossroad for hypocrites


“Thus says the LORD:
‘Stand at the crossroads, and look,
and ask for the ancient paths,
where the good way lies: and
walk in it, and find rest for your souls.’” Jeremiah 6:16-17

We are at a crossroad where our community meets and goes separate ways and yet also comes together as friends and family. God meets us here and in our everyday life at whatever crossroad we each happen to be on, whether we are starting out our life in school or college or maybe a new career. God is always there with us at the crossroads of our life and our faith.

What can we do when we get there?

a. we can choose to follow Him, whichever way that He leads us to go.
b. we can turn in a different direction and decide not to follow His lead right now.
c. we can turn back and leave Him at the crossroad and possibly miss out on something wonderful.

Crossroads in life lead us in directions that we may want to go in or they can lead us to something which may not be the best for us. It is our choice and God gives us each a choice so that we can make it, whether it is the choice which He wants us to make or if it is ours which may lead us down a long road which we will regret taking.

Our choices, good or bad, define us in this life. Whatever those choices may be, we should consult the One Who knows the end from the beginning because ultimately, He knows which choice is best for you.

As people do, we tend toward thinking that we know better than God what is best for us and we make our choices based on our own limited thinking. But, our thinking about us and about others is usually what gets us in trouble. We think that someone is too big or too “this or that”, we don’t agree with the way they dress or their ideology or which belief or non-belief that they might have. Isn’t that what makes us human? We all make mistakes in one way or another and nobody is perfect, but God wants to know us just the way that we are. Whether we are wearing pajamas or blue jeans or a three-piece suit or if we have sandals or beach shoes or the most expensive shoes in the world, God wants you as you are. He doesn’t need your money, just your fellowship and your love because He provided the way for you to have eternal life. All that you have to do to get it is to accept it in faith and believe that He really did it for you, that’s all.

God did this through His Son, Jesus, the name which causes all others to cringe in the world because of His name. God is not so bad it seems, but when you bring Jesus into a discussion then you have committed the ultimate jab at other religions and non-religious people. Why is that? Is it so bad that He gave His life so that you could have eternal life? What makes you so special that you think that you can get into Heaven without the forgiveness found only in Jesus’ sacrifice for you? It doesn’t matter what you have done in this life, no sin will put you into hell except the sin of refusal, refusing to accept the grace offered through Jesus’ sacrifice on your behalf. By rejecting Him, that is what puts your eternity in line with Satan and his demons simply because they rejected God and by rejecting Jesus you are on the same level as they are.

Yes, we have a choice and it is what we choose with that choice that defines us, now and into eternity as well.