Often times on a Saturday I review the week I had. I think about what I might have done better. What went well. Even those “wow, where did that come from” moments. Most of those are good! Saturdays are often a day for me to reflect on my little pile of notes I accumulate, read through some things I want to cover and on most weekends plan on spending some time with a few grandchildren.

A lot of things get accumulated during a week. Some good. Some not so good. Feelings, thoughts, communications and such. What we do with these things often determines the course of our upcoming weeks and months. Let me simply say the things you do not “deal” with have a habit of coming back in to your life. Causing you issues, creating problems and some times upheavals.

Over the last few months I have seen some tremendous upheavals in people’s lives. Things soured, went bad. It often comes down to a choice. Tina and I have been married 20 plus years. We do not have it all figured out. Trust me. Some days just do not go the way you expected. You have to decide what it is you do with that and go on. We have not always made the right choice or even the right choices. (Maybe one day I will tell you about my Porsche purchase!) We have had some things that tested our love, our commitment. Stretched our faith. But overall our commitment to one another and our family have become a part of our legacy building.

I know a lot of people think about the things that don’t go well. I choose to focus on the things that have gone well.

I think it is “funny” to listen to folks who do not know us who think we have walked with out error, missteps or misunderstanding. You do not know. You would be wrong. I think the most solid people I know have weathered some storms of difficulty and troubles. And I am not so sure their stability happened during those times but appeared after those times.

This week I read about Tim Cook trying to give a portion of his liver to help Steve Jobs to recover from cancer. He was turned down, but as I read the story, I thought “wow, that speaks volumes”.

Then I remember Jesus gave His whole life that we might have a whole life.

Challenges will come. 1 Peter 4:12 Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.

Folks, I have seen a lot of “fiery trials”. I watched for months as my son wavered in a coma near death. I spent a year watching my daughter in a hospital, through glass, reach a “going home” weight of 5 pounds. Lost my home to a contractor’s wrongful work. Those are just some of the ones that were “beyond” my control. They hurt.

The ones that are the most painful though are the ones I had a “hand in” fueled by a bad choice or moment of impulse.

Choosing to drink and drive is dumb. Most of us agree. Fiery trial? Uhhh…no! I am not sure cheating on a spouse constitutes a fiery trial either. Or driving over 100 miles an hour and going to jail. Bad times maybe. None of those were tests. Moral failure perhaps. Dumb thinking. Bad choices. Less than fun consequences.

A lot of things people call testing or trials are really the result of their personal choices. Decisions they make. Long before my wife of 20 plus years I had the cheating spouse. I spent 3 plus years “waiting”. It was her choice to leave. (I chose to forgive and I was there at during her painful death to cancer.) I have fallen off roofs because I rushed a process. Crawled out of car accidents because of my choices. Lost relationships because of my choices.

Despite the losses my wife and I incurred over the years, the pain we have seen, (And yes some we had caused.)we made choices to love and to commit. We sacrificed for what we have. Others have more in terms of money or homes, but when my children gather and bring in their children, I know our pain, our troubles and our choices had and have value.

1 Corinthians 10:13 No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

We can not repair what we might have done. But today is the the day you can change and change for the better. Certainly it is about honor and love, but a lot of comes down to choices in the moment. For instance, what you post, blog or tweet has a habit of getting to you some where, some how. (Only this past week I witnessed a “what you say on Facebook can cost you a job”.) As I told an old friend I used to ride motorcycles with and race with, “I am so thankful there was no social media, dash cams or GoPro cameras when we were young”.

Nope, you can’t always fix bad choices, but you can sure choose to make good ones from this day forward. Today allow God to move on you. Not on someone else. You. Allow Him to change you. If you trust Him with heaven you can trust Him with today!

Today’s good choices improve your chances immensely for a better tomorrow.