Making Decisions

 How do you make decisions? It probably depends on the circumstances.

Deciding to keep playing after power went out

What is the weight or significance of the decision? Does it impact lots of people or just me? How long will I have to live with the repercussions of this decision?  We make countless simple decisions every day with little significance, like what to eat for breakfast, what outfit to wear, what movie to watch, which route to take through town. We may not even consciously make some decisions, just going on auto-pilot and following routines.

Now, it is possible that even these small, routine decisions could end up having bigger implications than expected. Maybe what you had for breakfast or the way you walked home ends up causing a ripple effect that leads to a significant conversation or running into someone that leads to a meaningful interaction. Sometimes decisions grow in significance in retrospect. Then again they can also shrink. Maybe we took a long time figuring out what to wear to an event, only to realize that we could have worn anything and been fine.

But sometimes we come to a decision and we know it is weighty. It isn’t routine and the decision will take conscious thought and deliberation.

Deciding to watch the Arabic New Year parade from our porch

I have been reading the stories of Saul and David and there are a number of times when they have to make decisions about what to do. It is interesting to trace the patterns. The stories where they seek God’s guidance and obey that guidance go a lot better. The stories where it talks about them being afraid (usually of people, whether their enemies or their own people) and then deciding, things on their terms never seem to go as well. Listening to fear doesn’t usually end well.

How often do I let fear tie me in knots as I deliberate and ultimately let it lead me to the wrong decision?

We are not very decisive people. Sometimes we agonize over decisions, both big and small. I remember us walking through a foreign city for a good chunk of an evening, unable to decide where to eat dinner. We were riddled with the fear of making the wrong choice. It seems so silly in retrospect.

Deciding to hike up to our favorite waterfall spot

This past couple weeks we have been struck with a pretty big decision (or at least it felt that way), about whether Megan should pursue back surgery or not. We tried to actually learn from our reading of the stories of David and ask God for guidance, and after some days of prayer and asking others to pray, and hearing from different people, we found a peace in moving forward and talking to surgeons. Once we had peace, it was an easy decision. Easy doesn’t mean insignificant. But with guidance even big decisions become easy.  

We have more decisions to go— where, when, with whom to have surgery— and it is easy for fear to feed our mind and tie us in knots.  Maybe you can pray with us that we would remember from whom to ask for guidance and to remember to listen and obey.

PRAYERS ANSWERED
We thank God for His continued guidance and opening doors for us to make wise decisions.  We thank him for fun times with all three of our kids home for summer vacation and the chance to play games, go out, read books, etc together.  We are thankful for the safe arrival back of our teammate and for us to be all together again.  We are thankful for our new family teammates being in better health, and getting the chance to go and visit the place they will live, which meant we got the blessing of watch their kids for a day.  We are thankful for the ways our kids have grown so much and are now a real help around the house.

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Even though it’s still July, it feels like these summer months are just flying by.  Pray that we can make the most of these days, especially as August will be a very full month.  Tom’s parents and aunt are coming to visit in a few weeks.  Pray for their preparations.  Our older son is packing his things getting ready to join his sister at boarding school at the end of August.  Pray for all of us as we get ready for this big transition.  Megan’s surgery plans continue to develop.  Pray for wisdom, discernment, for healing, and for doors to open as we wait for all the details to come together. There is a big wedding coming up that most of our team will be attending— pray that amidst the many weddings this time of year that we would have the chance to share truth and be a bright light to our communities.