Even in the midst of bad choices

June 17, 2024

From Pastor Joseph Wamack

Hello MAC Family! I hope you are well this week. I hope you are living your best life and making choices leading to Godliness.

When my boys were 15 and 13, we lived in Dayton Ohio and had neighbors with a dog named Charley. Charley was a lab mix, a big yeller dog. The neighbors often traveled and discovered one of my boys-I don’t want to say which one-enjoyed caring for Charley while they traveled.

My boy-I don’t want to say which one-took care of Charley about 5-6 times; it was a good arrangement for everyone. They got to travel, my son made $20 or so and Charley didn’t have to spend the entire weekend at a vet or boarding place.

One time, they called on a Monday to ask my boy-I don’t want to say which one-if he would watch Charley the next weekend and he said yes. They usually notified me as well, so I was aware, but they did not this time. They also did not call on Friday to remind this certain boy-I won’t say which one-that he was on duty starting that evening.

They left and Charley waited in his crate for someone to release him. Friday night came, no boy, no food, and no potty break. Saturday morning came, no boy, no food, and no potty break. Charley waited-hoping someone would remember him and set him free, but this boy forgot. Saturday afternoon, Saturday night, Sunday morning, no relief for Charley stuck in his doggie dungeon.

But on Sunday afternoon Adam-I mean one of my boys-finally remembered-CHARLEY! He literally jumped up and we rushed to their house. “Charley must be set free!” Charley found sweet relief. How he languished in his cell, wondering if anyone would ever remember him and offer him the sweet trifecta nectar of food, water and a lawn. I felt bad for Charley.

Many times our lives are affected by other people’s choices. Have you ever felt like Charley? Something has gone wrong and affected you? You feel trapped? Waiting for someone to set you free? To find some sort of relief? And it wasn’t your fault, your doing, your choice? The waiting is the hardest part.

But perhaps God is in the waiting, perhaps God wants to speak to us there. Perhaps we can find God, in addition to learning and meaning as the result of a choice which turned out not as we would like. God walks with us in the midst of the unfair, the dark, the horrific parts of our life. If God is evident on our highest highs, then He must dwell with us in our lowest lows. God is BIGGER than any choice you or anyone around you has made. He causes beauty to come from ashes and resurrection to come from death. He has never and will never leave you-no matter where you are, even in the midst of bad choices.

Charley lived to run and play another day. Let’s make the best choices we can, and continue walking with God no matter what happens.