Let me start with how the Lord gave me this topic.

As I write this devotional I am sitting in Cancun Mexico with my amazing wife and life partner, Jenna.

You might be saying wow these guys travel a lot!

You’d be right to think that. But it is a life choice that we made and most likely will continue to make.

The thing is that it doesn’t mean that if you never travel, or leave the state you were born in that you don’t have just as many adventures or fun times.

It simply means that we have made different choices in your life than we have.

And that is OK.

We all make different choices every day. And we all have different things that affect our choices.

Some of the things that help us make choices are:

Fear, Finances, Family, Work, Personal Beliefs, and many other aspects of life.

Today we are going to break down some of those things that help / determine the decisions we make.

Let’s start with Fear.

I’m just going to say this, WE ALL HAVE FEAR!

Some of it is at different levels and some of us have way more than others do. But we all have it.

Personally, after losing a close friend in a car accident I have a fear that I will lose Jenna in a freak accident. We miss you Heather, and we feel for the ones you left behind.

I also have a fear of missing out. Or in the business world as we call it FOMO. I am scared that I will miss out on some amazing opportunities to grow our business, share God’s word with people who really need it.

I have a fear that everything in our business will just vanish as fast as it came in.

Here is the thing with FEAR, it is all mental. What I mean is that we make fear as bad or as little as it is. It is all in our heads. We have CONTROL OVER FEAR!

Remember that, you have control over fear. You have the choice to be afraid or to be courageous.

Next, let’s talk about how finances help us make decisions.  When we don’t have any $$ in the bank we usually make decisions not to spend money.

Here is the thing that I have come to realize. And we have proven, especially with traveling.

You don’t have to spend a massive amount of $$$$ to go to amazing places.

In fact, the trip that I remember the most was our first trip to Yellowstone. That entire trip cost us less than $1000 for 7 days with 6 people!

We stayed on BLM just outside of the parks in a tent and cooked over fire what we ate. Our only cost was the food we bought, our gas, and any little extras we bought to remember the trip.

Of course, we could have made this same trip cost $$$$$, but we made choices that allowed us to go when we didn’t have much in our accounts.

Next, let’s talk about how the family helps us make decisions.

Our family always knows what is best for us.

Do you believe that?

As a parent, I am called to say yes, soon I am called to say HECK NO!

I am so grateful that our family realizes that we are not like them. Can you imagine my dad swimming in the ocean, surfing? 

NO WAY JOSE! He hates the water. So I’m glad that when I tell him that I am taking my entire family to San Diego for a week of fun in the ocean, he doesn’t go crazy and tell me everything that is wrong with that idea.

Now I am not saying that family won’t try to persuade you to do what they want you to do. I’m just saying that it’s our choice, not theirs. 

What about work, how does that affect how we make decisions?

A great example comes to mind here lately. 

And it is extremely controversial.

I’m just going to say it.

Ok here it goes

Can you tell that I’m stalling?

Alright, here I go.

Having an employer MAKE an employee get a vaccine!

Now I’m not going to go into the weeds here, what I’m going to say is that there were and are a TON of people who got a vaccine lately who probably would not have gotten one if their employer would not have encouraged it.

Now if you stopped reading after that last paragraph, I’m sorry. But it directly relates to our topic of what causes us to make the decisions we make.

Our work may not allow us to have to time off during a specific time of year. That would be another way that they influence how we make our decisions.

Here is a thing to remember, at any job, if you quit today they will start working to find someone new to fill your shoes tomorrow.

I beg of you please do not allow your work to determine your belief in God or your belief in him.

The last probably the most important thing that helps us make decisions is our personal beliefs.

If we believe that eating pork is against the bible, then we don’t eat pork.

If we believe that only the rich travel to exotic destinations, and don’t feel rich. Then we don’t travel to exotic destinations.

If we believe in Christianity, then we try to be good Christians.

Do you see what I’m saying here?

Our beliefs make a huge difference in how we make decisions.

I know that this devotion was a little all over the place today, so I really appreciate you sticking with me till now.

Just a little more I promise.

We get the opportunity to make choices and decisions every day.

We choose how we react to every situation, we choose where we go, what we eat, and who we associate with.

We chose where we live, where we work, and what we do for a living. 

We chose to believe in God and Christ.

Take Action

Now is the time to get off the bench and start taking action.

One of the things that I want to encourage everyone to do today is to make a decision!

Make a hard decision right now.

Take a deep breath.

Say a little prayer, God help guide me to make this amazing decision that I know you will bless!

Now make that decision. Go ahead and make another one too.