Choices, Choices, Choices! # 1

"On the wood of the cross the world was saved all at once, and whoever is lost loses himself, because he will not receive the Savior, because he falls again and repeats the fall of man."  Count Nikolaus Ludwig Von Zinderdorf

 "There Jesus was nailed to the cross, and on each side of Him a man was also nailed to a cross."  (John 19:18).

Hey Gang:  Let me share a bit of trivia that I ran across in my travels.  I love to read the short entries in magazines and I like to listen to the fillers on radio and television that give tidbits, that would otherwise go unspoken and not shared shared. 

Here is one that caught my attention while waiting to get my eyes tested. Edwin Thomas was a brilliant Shakespearian actor from the age of fifteen.  He also had a brother, John, considered lesser in talent but still very worthy of praise, who sometimes appeared with him on stage  

It is interesting to note that John had gained fame by playing the part of Brutus, who assassinated Julius Caesar, which was a harbinger of what was to come.  Two years later he, John Willkes Booth entered the Ford Theater in Washington and put a bullet into the head of Abraham Lincoln.   

Edwin was never the same and shame drove him into retirement and seclusion.  He might never have returned to the stage, if it were not for a twist of fate at a New Jersey train station. 

Edwin was waiting for his coach when a well dressed young man, pressed by the crowd. lost his footing and fell between the platforms and into the path of a coming train.  Without hesitation, Edwin locked his leg around a railing and grabbed the man and pulled him to safety.  After the sighs of relief, the young man recognized the famous Edwin Thomas Booth.

Edwin, however did not have a clue whom he had rescued. Later,iIn a letter received by Edwin, Gen. Adam Budare, chief secretary to Ulysses S. Grant, thanked Booth for saving the life of a child of an American hero, Abraham Lincoln.  How ironic - one brother killed the father, Abraham Lincoln, and the other brother saved his son, Robert Todd Lincoln.

·         Edwin and John, same mother, same father, same profession and same passion - yet one chose life the other death.   One wonders how this could happen.  Today we might even say such happenings occur much more frequently, as we see the continued breakdown of marriage and family life in our nation. True, this was a unique time in our history, we were engaged in the Civil War, where families were often split and one brother fighting the other.

·          

·         Is this a single tragic occurrence?  I  think not.  Cain and Abel had the same parents but Cain choose murder and God let him.  David and Saul were both Kings of Israel, one chose God, the other power and control, and God let him.   Peter and Judas both denied the Lord, one sought mercy and forgiveness, the other choose death and God let them.

Soooo, What is the point here?  In every age of history, on every page of Scripture, the truth is revealed.  God allows us to make our own choices.  Today by noon, you will probably make a choice that will impact, not only your life but also those closest to you.  A mother may choose abortion, the down and outer may choose to rob a bank, you may choose to go play golf instead of taking your family to church.  Something to ponder this day!

Blessings,

Gramps