"I guess it comes down to a simple choice really.  Get busy living or get busy dying."
Andy Dufrense, The Shawshank Redemption

After reading that I suppose some of you are trying to figure out what you've been doing ... living, or dying.  At least one of you started singing the song "Live Like You Were Dying" by Tim McGraw ... or maybe that was just me.  Stop thinking or singing and re-read the quote again.  What's the most important word in that statement?  

I believe it's the word 'choice'.

What did you choose to do today?  I'm sure there were things that you had to do.  Maybe you had to get up and go to work.  Maybe you had to go to class.  Maybe you had a doctor's appointment.  It's no surprise to us that there are things that we just have to do.  We're used to it, and it's okay.  It's okay because it keeps us moving, and active, and engaged in our life and in the lives of others, but don't you find the feeling of doing something a little different when you make the choice to do it?

21 years ago I chose to turn my life over to God.  Nobody made me do it.  No one made the choice for me.  It was my decision, and mine alone.  It's a choice that I've never regretted or doubted.  19 years ago I chose to marry my wife.  Of course she had to choose me too, but she's the person I chose to spend the rest of my life with.  Not five or ten years, or for as long as it seemed to be working, but the rest of my life.  I've never regretted that either.  Over the years I've made the choice to pursue friendships with certain people and have had the pleasure making some of the best friendships I could have ever asked for.

Recently I made the choice to start living again.  Thankfully I made it before I watched the re-run of Shawshank ... otherwise Andy would have gotten the credit for it.  He was right in his observation though ... you're either living, or your dying.  Life really doesn't have a rest stop.  In spite of the popularity of the old saying, you can't "stop the world and get off".  Trust me ... I've tried many times.  I'm glad I made the choice to live.  I feel good knowing that each day it's up to me how I approach that day.  I almost slipped and said that each day it's up to me as to how I feel.  I'm not sure if that's true but I am in control of how I respond to how I feel.  Big words for such and emotional dude eh?  Maybe, but I guess we all need to start somewhere.

Jesus promised to bring us life, and that the life He gave would be an abundant life.  I hope you've made the choice to let Him bring it to you.  God bless and good night.