It Doesn’t Just Happen

Life’s like a road that you travel on
When there’s one day here and the next day gone
Sometimes you bend, sometimes you stand
Sometimes you turn your back to the wind
There’s a world outside ev’ry darkened door
Where blues won’t haunt you anymore
Where brave are free and lovers soar
Come ride with me to the distant shore
We won’t hesitate
To break down the garden gate
There’s not much time left todayLife is a highway
I wanna ride it all night long
If you’re going my way
I wanna drive it all night long

Through all these cities and all these towns
It’s in my blood and it’s all around
I love you now like I loved you then
This is the road and these are the hands
From Mozambique to those Memphis nights
The Khyber Pass to Vancouver’s lights

Knock me down get back up again
You’re in my blood
I’m not a lonely man
There’s no load I can’t hold
Road so rough this I know
I’ll be there when the light comes in
Just tell ’em we’re survivors

There was a distance between you and I (between you and I)
A misunderstanding once
But now we look it in the eye

There ain’t no load that I can’t hold
Road so rough this I know
I’ll be there when the light comes in
Just tell ’em we’re survivors

Life is a highway
I wanna ride it all night long
If you’re going my way
I wanna drive it all night long

Yes, each day rolls around. Each night falls around us. It sometimes gives us an allusion that “our life” just happens. But the message today is that it doesn’t just happen. We make choices. We make decisions that lead us the next step down our road.

I like to tease my husband about traveling. He wants to know every detail on how we are getting from point “a” to point “b” to point “c” and the time table associated with it. Never mind that he can’t remember it and keep it all straight. He just wants to know. I on the other hand, given a choice, like to do what I call “fly by the seat of my pants.” If it is vacation, I want the surprise of it all. I want it to unfold before me. My husband would be rich if he had a quarter for each time I said, “What difference does it make?”

It may seem like I like to let vacation “just happen”. But that is the illusion. I make a choice to let life present me with vacation surprises and challenges. I deal with them as they unfold. I make choices. It is exciting.

That is what today’s message is about. We can throw up our hands and say “poor me, look what life does to me.” We can assume a victim or entitled attitude. But the fact of life is, we can not be a victim unless we choose to because we also have the choice to be a survivor. We are entitled to “work” our life purpose and earn its rewards.We can choose to assume gloom and doom. Or we can expect light and assume everything will work out as we take those steps down the road. We can choose to feel capable or incapable. We can expect joy or we can expect sorrow. We can assume a half full or half empty glass.

Life is a highway that we move on down. How we do that doesn’t just happen. We “choose” how we move down it. We choose how we participate.

That is the HOPE. And so it is.

-Meditate/pray……be up close and personal with your authentic self. Let it talk to you about your choices.

-Drink lots of water.

-Get outdoors and take in at least 10 deep breaths. We have a beautiful day for it here.

-Whenever you are felling “victimized”, take a step back….take a deep breath and assume control.

-I survived a 5th grade class. It has been a long time since I have come across a class like this one. I almost danced out of that school.

-Mary took me to dinner and then treated me to Dairy Queen. Fun, fun, fun.

-Alex….her story….her pictures.

-Sunshine.

-An early bedtime.

Rev. Chris