Make Up Your Mind!

For several days now coming out of my driveway, heading down the hill, a squirrel (possibly the same one) has run out in front of my car, then reversed directions, then changes his mind again, narrowly averting his demise among the myriads of his brothers and sisters scattered across the road kills of this continent. Probably most of us have seen indecisive squirrels before, or their remains.

There is a danger in the inability to decide. Are you sitting on the fence? Make up your mind, and be willing to make a mistake if you’re wrong.

I learned this lesson through Apoena Meirelles in 1980 while on an expedition up the Rio Jamarí to contact the hostile Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau tribe. Apoena was the leader of the expedition and was a quick decision-maker. Sometimes his decisions ended up in a wrecked boat. We lost 4 out of 5 aluminum boats in the rapids (not always because of any wrong decisions he might have made – but because of the dangerous currents we faced.). But if we had not paid the price of deciding which ways to go – we would never have reached the headwaters of the Jamarí.

I have learned that if I am facing a difficult decision, and am in danger of “sitting on the fence” I can seek God’s answer and decide quickly, and even better when my wife and I pray together about those decisions.

So don’t be a squirrely decision maker!

Make Up Your Mind! 

Comments

Post a Comment

We appreciate your feedback. Thanks for commenting.

Popular posts from this blog

Go Ye Means ME!

Matt. 28:19-20 I’ll never forget the old missionary leader at that mission’s conference for collegians in the late 1960’s. Well, at least he seemed old to me, a 20 year old junior in college. He spoke with a strong Texas accent. When he started explaining Matthew 28:19 and 20 to us, he said, “Now y’all know whut that means? That word ‘Go Ye’ is the same word the farmer’s wife uses when she sends her husband down to the barn to fetch some eggs, and she says ‘bein’ how’s yer goin’ take along a bucket and fetch some water as well.’ ” “In other words,” he continued, “while you’re a goin’ you should be making disciples, teachin’, baptizin’. You shouldn’t wait ‘til you git to the mission field, but start right now wherever you are. Going to a foreign country doesn’t make you a missionary. Being a maker of disciples does.” I went away from that conference with a new zeal and vision. I was already trying to be a “missionary” on my campus but had never thought about it as such. Before ...
Read more

Car School

  Have you ever been to “Car School”? That’s the “school” where the Lord has taught us many lessons over the years. And I keep thinking we should be getting a diploma anytime now, but the Lord still has other lessons for us to learn. Most of those lessons were teaching us how to trust God and develop our character and patience. Our first car in Brazil was a 1968 Land Rover Series 2. How I had always longed to have a Land Rover. I remembered an ad I saw in National Geographic magazine in the early 70’s: “There are three ways to get to South America; boat, air and Land Rover!” I had learned to drive in my cousin’s Jeep in Virginia. My friend Tommy and I had built two dune buggies when we were in college. I never cared for beautiful, sleek, or fast cars; for me it was always 4WD, off road utilitarian vehicles. The muddier the better and the Land Rover was ideal for that! It got us the 200 kilometers from Manaus to where we were trying to contact the hostile Waimiri Atroari tribe in...
Read more

What I learned in the Bible study

Image
  I was into doing things I had never done so I joined a Bible study led by another student. I was a Freshman at the University of Wisconsin in Madison and although I had been to church most Sundays as I was growing up, I really couldn't tell you what the "gospel" was. Oh, I'm sure I had some vague ideas. Jesus dying on the cross. Good news, etc. But I had only heard Bible stories and parables, but never a clear presentation based on the Bible of why Jesus came to earth and why he had to die on a cross. As we went through the Bible study, I was more and more fascinated by what I was learning. The hardest concept for me to understand and accept was the idea that I was a "sinner." Of course I knew I wasn't perfect but I really did consider myself to be a good person. But then I came across verses like Romans 3:23: "...for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." And I realized that I was included in the "all" and that meant ...
Read more