Don’t Make Decisions When You’re TOASTed
For some reason I’ve been seeing a lot of crazy on-the-road videos pop up on my feed that have not-so-happy endings. I recently witnessed for myself a semi truck cross two lanes to make an exit, almost taking out a full-sized pickup truck. It reminded me of a message Pastor preached a long time ago, “There’s ALWAYS Another Exit.”
You’ve been there…you’re driving, you see that your exit is coming up and you’re not in the right lane, you look in your rearview mirror…or not…to see if you can make it and it’s sketchy at best but you go for it. At this point, you know it’s a bad idea, and you’ve probably caused some other drives to cuss at you, but hey…you made it…this time. There’s always another exit. Yes, it will take you a little longer to double back, but you’re better off and so are all the other drivers around you.
Of course, Pastor prefaced his message with a similar reality, but then made the connection to our spiritual life. When we’re faced with heavy decisions, it’s best not to rush into anything; our reaction could be rash and dangerous because we’re thinking with emotion and not with a sound mind. Sometimes we pull the trigger too quickly on a solution to a problem, but had we sought counsel or talked with a friend, maybe a more rational outcome could have been achieved. Let’s say you have a job, but you were offered a different job that makes a LOT more money. You jump on that chance, but after it’s too late, you found out you lost all your benefits, the job is a lot farther away so the gas and wear and tear on your car is too much, etc. You didn’t think it through or ask enough questions. Go a little further down the road, think about what you’re doing, make a U-turn if you need to.
Relationship issues, employment, depression…all of these things, among many more, could put you on an emotional roller coaster…the exact WRONG time to make any major decisions. We think we have all the facts we need; hurry, hurry, hurry…time is of the essence, but only God can see the big picture; only He can see how your plan will play out and who might get hurt in the process or in the end. Most decisions are not life and death, so take the time to consult with God, pray and ask for clarity to make right choices; ask for God to open and close doors as He sees fit. If God closes the door to your plan, that only means He has something better for you…it’s waiting at the next exit.