I remember being fascinated as a young kid with “Choose Your Own Adventure Books” in which you’d flip to the next page depending on which choice you made. (They were like our dinosaur version of today’s handheld electronic devices, ha!ha!) One reason I loved these books was because of what I thought were imaginative stories involving time travel, dragons, pirates and other such topics that young boys tend to love. I think it was reading these books in the library that began my real understanding of how there are choices we make in life and there are consequences to those choices. Unlike these cute books for kids, however, we cannot turn back the page “and give it one more try”. And for those of you who are foolish enough to believe in reincarnation and a second chance at life, God has make it all too clear that that is nonsense and nothing less than a lie from the pit of hell! (Hebrews 9:27 as one quick example of God refuting this fantasy notion!)
Now that I’m older I realize (from Scripture) that life is kind of a mysterious paradox of man deciding his own fate but yet at the same time God controlling regardless of all the decisions and paths that man has collective made in God’s awsome display of Sovereignty. History is indeed HIS story! And I most certainly am not talking about the freaky king-of-pop so-called!) This is not to be viewed pessimistically as “fatalism” but instead should be peacefully accepted as a calming assurance that the good LORD knows what he’s doing, even when we don’t feel like we know what we are doing and despite all the bad choices we have all made on the journey of life. (“Every saint has a past and every sinner has a future“!)
I try to reflect on all that God has done in my life each birthday and as I now turn 38 I am reminded of the Israelites who wandered through the Sinai desert for 38 years before entering the Promised Land. Only 2 men (Caleb and Joshua) of the orginal group actually entered the land of Canaan while hundreds of thousands or possibly a few million died in the wilderness. 
Like a “Choose Your Own Adventure” page choice, the Israelites found themselves hopelessly wandering for years and most ended up corpses in the desert due to only one bad choice: the choice not to heed God’s voice and obey Him but instead to trust in themselves.
Today I consider and acknowledge that only by the grace of God have I survived (and even “thrived”!) in this wicked, perverted and twisted world. If it had not been for the LORD, I would have perished a thousand times over. The LORD has brought me this far and He alone knows how it will end. In the meantime, I’m going to trust that He knows what’s best for me. I’ll try to keep my (spiritual) eyes and ears open to see where or what He’s leading me to next.
As I celebrated my birthday on Wednesday with a gorgeous godly wife and a beautiful son (and countless messages that were greatly appreciated from family and friends across the globe), I realized that His plans are best and far above anything we could ever ask or think. (Ephesians 3:20) As James Hudson Taylor, the great Christian missionary to China once said, “God gives the very best to those who leave the choice with Him.” Amen! To God alone be the glory!
Andy in Oman 