Inescapable

InescapableSome things you cannot escape. The most popular examples are death and taxes. Over the past weeks here in Don Pedro the smoke produced by the massive Rim Fire has been inescapable. One smoky morning I texted my kids, “If this keeps up we will be permanently smoke flavored.  We will be the smoky people, a whole new ethnic group.  Then we will have to have a movement to be recognized as such.  That sounds like so much work and effort, but it will stand up in court because the judges and juries will be able to smell us plain as day.  Then being smoky will turn into a cool thing and everybody will want to be like us, which will spawn all kinds of commerce, smoky perfumes, soaps, air fresheners, etc. “Smoking hot" will have a whole new meaning, "Smoking someone out" will be insensitive, and "smoking" will have to be renamed.  When one of us becomes the pope they will no longer signal the decision with smoke, and one of us might eventually be president, "be smoked right into office.”I don’t know how I got so sidetracked, but let’s get back to things you cannot escape. How about yourself, like it or not you are who you are, makes no difference whether or not you like or dislike who you are. You also cannot escape the consequences of your decisions. In fact our decisions and their consequences shape who we are, who we are becoming, where and how we end up.Who are you today? And who will you be tomorrow? And how big of a role will the consequences of the decisions you make play in that process? Even more sobering is the fact that there are others who cannot escape the consequences of our decisions. Our lives always cast larger circles, the smoke of the fires we light never just stays in our own yard.Before he turned twenty he got both a raw deal and a great opportunity. His home and country was destroyed, he was separated from his family, and he was deported, exiled to another country. He had no rights, no recourse, and no resources. But he wasn’t dead, and he ended up at a special training school for government service. Most importantly he still was able to make decisions. He, Daniel, ended up as one of the most outstanding and influential people of his time. He became a man of sterling character, incredible wisdom, and remarkable faith in large part because from early on he understood the inescapability of the consequences of our choices, and because he lived with an active awareness of that truth.Daniel also understood that the consequences of our choices are governed by God. The principle of “You reap what you sow” (Galatians 6:7-10), has its origin in God. The reality that there are choices which result in blessing and choices which result in destruction, hurt, pain, and judgment  is also of God. And the ability to make good choices that have consequences shaping us for good, even you if get the shaft or much worse, is a gift from God.It is no surprise that the first significant thing God’s word highlights in Daniel’s life is both the choice he makes as a teenager and how the consequences of that choice shaped his life for good and God. “But Daniel made up his mind that he would not defile himself with the king's choice food or with the wine which he drank; so he sought permission from the commander of the officials that he might not defile himself.  Now God granted Daniel favor and compassion in the sight of the commander of the officials” Daniel 1:8-9 (NASB). To God be all glory, love you, Pastor Hans