Indecision

When a disaster approaches your home, what do you take when you evacuate? Remember, you can save only what will fit in your car. Millions of Floridians faced that decision as Hurricane Ian bore down on the Gulf Coast in September 2022. The following month, many residents fled Hurricane Nicole. Elsewhere, raging wildfires led local officials to issue evacuation orders in Washington, California, Colorado, and other states in 2022.

One Floridian said, “We’re a family of five with a pet dog. We took several non-electronic games, building blocks for our youngest child, and portable electronics for the teens. We also packed several pairs of clothes per person, toiletries, laundry soap (to minimize incidental expenses), work laptops, the dog’s bed, pet food, and nonrecoverable paper documents.”

A woman from Florida gave the following list: “My husband and I took our five guinea pigs and two cats along with their cages and a litter box. We brought our medications, clothes, pillows, blankets, and some food and sodas. I wish I would have taken my jewelry.”

Another woman wrote: “I didn’t take anything of sentimental value for a few reasons. Being a Navy spouse, I learned long ago to detach myself sentimentally from things (for the most part). Moving fairly often, you have to let go of stuff.”

Possible Preaching Angle:

This would be a good illustration for the Lenten season – what do you need to bring with you in this season of Lent, or what do you need to leave behind? What are your priorities when you are forced to look at your life and possessions realistically?

Watson Thornton was already serving as a missionary in Japan when he decided to join the Japan Evangelistic Band. He decided to travel to the town where the organization’s headquarters were located and to introduce himself to its leader. But just as he was about to get on the train, he felt a tug in his spirit that he took to be the leading of the Lord telling him to wait. He was puzzled but thought he should obey.

When the next train rolled into the station, Watson started to board but again felt he should wait. When the same thing happened with the third train, Watson began to feel foolish. Finally, the last train arrived, and once more Watson felt a check. “Don’t get on the train,” it seemed to say. Watson thought he had wasted most of the day for no apparent reason. Yet as he turned to go, he heard a voice call out his name. It was the mission leader he had intended to see. He came to ask whether Watson would consider joining the Japan Evangelistic Band. If Watson had ignored the impulse and boarded the train, he would have missed the meeting.

Possible Preaching Angle:

We can’t just live by our intuition, can we? We do see something like intuition at work in the lives of God’s people in the Bible. Paul tries to enter Asia and Bithynia but is “kept by the Holy Spirit” from doing so (Acts 16:6-7). We do not always get it right using either intuition or careful deliberation. God uses both to guide us. The art of being led by the Spirit is not a matter of waiting each moment for some mystical experience of divine direction. It is a matter of trusting God for the power to obey what he has already told you to do.

When was the last time you needed to use your cell phone as a flashlight, perhaps to look for something in the garage, read a menu at a darkly lit restaurant, or find something in the backyard at night? Why did you need it? Your answer probably includes some expression of dark or darkness.

As a sinner living with other sinners in a fallen world, you encounter darkness every day. While you may experience Instagram-worthy, sunny day picnic lunches, the reality is that life is more of a midnight walk through the woods. On any given day, you probably encounter more darkness than you do truth. So, to move forward without danger and get to where you are meant to go, you need something to light your way.

No passage gets at this need and God's provision better than Psalm 119:105: "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path."

Residents of McFarland, a small town in California’s central valley, are upset over potential plans to replace the town’s only library with a police station. The Clara Jackson Branch Library is only open Thursdays and Fridays from noon to six, because that’s how much the county can afford to run it. Still, librarian Frank Cervantes said that demand was so high when it reopened after an extended pandemic-related closure that “as soon as I unlocked the doors, so many people came in that they nearly knocked me down.”

Many express their disapproval of the plan. 11-year-old, Analuz Hernandez said, “We’re surrounded by a bunch of land! They can’t build something new on all that land?”

City Manager Kenny Williams also serves as Police Chief. He says the need for a library is eclipsed by other public safety needs. “It does provide some service, but sometimes you have to judge what’s most important. When it comes to the library and public safety and comparing the use of the library building, [residents] recognize we have an issue with crime. We would use that building 24/7.”

Adult resident Angie Maldonado says the library has been a staple in the community since its opening back in 1994. “We have nothing else here for kids. We have no theater. You take this out, kids either stay home bored or go out on the streets.”

Local pastor Phil Corr agrees. “It’s an injustice to go after a vulnerable place. It’s logically and morally wrong. The police do need a larger place, and this building is ideally located. But it’s also ideally located for kids.”

Possible Preaching Angle:

It's important to keep the community safe, but we can't let the fear of evildoers prevent us from promoting communal flourishing. In uncertain times, communities should turn back to the old ways of trusting God for wisdom and guidance in decision making.

They say that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. But for one doctor, the cost of lacking such prevention is much more costly. In fact, it’s costing people their lives. Dr. Brytney Cobia is at Grandview Medical Center in Birmingham, and she’s been treating coronavirus patients, some who are vaccinated, and some who aren’t. The difference between those who make it and those who don’t is as obvious as it is heartbreaking. She said,

I’m admitting young healthy people to the hospital with very serious COVID infections. One of the last things they do before they’re intubated is beg me for the vaccine. I hold their hand and tell them that I’m sorry, but it’s too late.

As of July (2021), the state of Alabama had the lowest vaccination rate of the nation, with only about 33% of its residents fully vaccinated. Because of the rise of the virus’ Delta variant, Alabama hospitals are experiencing a dramatic surge in COVID-related hospital visits. And according to Dr. Cobia, deathly sickness in someone’s inner circle is the only thing that will get some folks to consider taking the vaccine.

A few days later when I call time of death, I hug their family members and I tell them the best way to honor their loved one is to go get vaccinated and encourage everyone they know to do the same.

They cry. And they tell me they didn't know. They thought it was a hoax. They thought it was political. They thought because they had a certain blood type or a certain skin color they wouldn't get as sick. But they were wrong. And they wish they could go back. But they can't. So, they thank me, and they go get the vaccine. And I go back to my office, write the death note, and say a small prayer that this loss will save more lives.

Possible Preaching Angle:

1) Lives are damaged and even lost when people choose a convenient untruth instead of an inconvenient truth. Some refuse to take heed until the danger is imminent, but by then it's often too late to do anything meaningful. The time to act with prudence is before the danger overwhelms. 2) In the spiritual realm people also procrastinate making a decision for salvation and it threatens their eternal destiny.

Leonardo da Vinci is widely considered one of the most diversely talented individuals ever to have lived. As an artist, he is known for The Last Supper and The Mona Lisa among others. However, his total output in painting is really rather small. There are less than 17 surviving paintings that can be definitely attributed to him, and several of them are unfinished.

The small number of surviving paintings is due in part to his chronic procrastination. He often required a sharp threat by his patrons that they were about to withhold payment to motivate him. The Mona Lisa took over 15 years for him to finish. Worse was The Virgin of the Rocks, commissioned with a seven-month deadline. Da Vinci finished it 25 years later. Da Vinci apologized on his deathbed "to God and Man for leaving so much undone."

Possible Preaching Angle:

God calls his people to build his kingdom--to transform people in the name of Jesus. However, many of us procrastinate. Other “more important” things get in the way. There will come a day when we may look back upon our lives with regret for the things left unfinished.

In October of 2019, Bert terHart boarded a 40’ ocean fairing sailboat and set sail from Victoria, BC. His objective was to become the first North American to ever circumnavigate the globe solo, using only a sextant, pen, paper, and almanac for navigation. On July 28, 2020, after 267 days at sea, he sailed back into Victoria having accomplished his goal.

While on the open seas, he faced extreme weather, regular 12’ to 14’ ocean swells, unforeseen ship repairs, and severe sleep deprivation. But in spite of these dangers, he was dubbed “the safest man on earth.”

When terHart set sail, we had never heard of Covid-19 (or words like "social distancing," "flatten the curve," "shelter-in-place,” or “self-quarantine”). And while he was on the open ocean, terHart was safe from all of it.

In a recent interview with Travel+Leisure, terHart described what he hoped to accomplish by his journey; “I wanted to inspire people to take that first step forward. … Once you take that first step, the next step is easier, and the step after that becomes easier."

Possible Preaching Angle:

Following God often means a journey into uncertain seas. This often puts us into a posture of procrastination. We delay for a season as we wait to feel more certain, and safer. Take the first step forward. The next step will be easier and the step after that easier still. You are never safer than when in the will of God, in fact, you are "the safest man (or woman) on earth."

Tess Brigham, a licensed psychotherapist, specializes in treating those in the millennial generation. It wasn’t her decision; they just came flocking to her practice. Brigham says, “Ninety percent of my patients are between the ages of 23 and 38. (The rest are usually parents of millennials).”

In her practice, she’s noticed a dominant theme when it comes to the clusters of problems about which these millennials keep coming to seek help. They say, “‘I have too many choices and I can’t decide what to do. What if I make the wrong choice?’”

Psychologist Barry Schwartz has a theory as to why this is the case. In his book, The Paradox of Choice, Schwartz argues that people are more likely to regret their choices if they have too many options from which to choose. They either make poor choices, make good choices but feel bad about them, or refuse to choose--which is, itself, a choice.

Brigham counsels her clients to practice self-awareness and to identify their options, especially zeroing in on the things they can control. It’s easier to embrace the uncertainty of the outcome if they can offer themselves grace and acceptance.

Potential preaching angles: Rather than being paralyzed by the prospect of too many choices, those who put their trust in Christ and abide in the Holy Spirit can make confident choices. They trust God to reveal His will through the Word and through discernment.

For those who had time to escape the wildfires in California, the question was what do we grab? As flames barreled toward their homes, devouring block after block, residents had 15 minutes—in some cases, 15 seconds— to grab what they needed.

A musician opted for the violin. A golfer grabbed his clubs. A bride-to-be remembered her dress. Many dived for the practical—toiletries and clothes. Others fumbled though boxes and old photo albums, desperate to save memories.

One woman grabbed diapers, wipes, and clothes for her kids, but nothing for herself. An 82-year-old woman grabbed her walker and—of all things—a hairbrush, but forgot her husband's thyroid medication. As Tonia Whitaker, 31, sat with her kids on a blanket in the corner of the Petaluma Community Center shelter, her voice quivered as she went down a list of things that could currently be in flames: sonograms, her children's first teeth, their umbilical cords, the new bike her older son recently got for his seventh birthday, and all of his unopened presents.

At least one man, 57-year-old Michael Dornbach, died refusing to leave something behind. "I'm not leaving without my truck," Dornbach told his nephew, who begged him to flee without the vehicle.

A clinical psychologist noted: "We're so used to being in control and so used to making decisions all the time. But in situations like these when our lives are reduced to what we can grab in 30 minutes ... and we have to live with the consequences with our decisions under duress, then we question ourselves."

At the end of 1901, the Wright brothers were frustrated by the flight-tests of their 1900-1901 gliders. The aircraft were flown frequently up to 300 feet in a single glide. But neither aircraft performed as well as predicted using the design methods available to the brothers. But when they flew their airplane in 1903, they knew it would take off. How did they know?

After building and testing a small wind tunnel, the Wright brothers completed a larger, more sophisticated one in October 1901. The wind tunnel consisted of a simple wooden box with a square glass window on top for viewing the interior during testing. A fan belted to a one-horsepower engine, which ran the machinery in their bicycle shop, provided an airflow of about 30 miles per hour. They used the wind tunnel extensively to carry out aerodynamic research that proved essential in designing their 1903 airplane.

Writing specifically about the Book of Proverbs, Ray Ortlund offers some words of wisdom that apply to the entire Bible: "This is what the Book of Proverbs [and the entire Bible] are for. We can explore a real-life situation within the virtual reality of a proverb [or the Bible]. We can know in advance what is going to fly and what is going to crash. Biblical wisdom [or the revelation in the Word of God] tells us what life is really life."

In his TED Talk, "The Paradox of Choice," secular psychologist Barry Schwartz claims that many of us live by this unspoken but "official dogma": maximize your happiness by maximizing your individual freedom. And according to Schwartz, "The way to maximize freedom is to maximize choice."

Schwartz points to his local supermarket as an example—a place that offers 175 different kinds of salad dressings. Even our personal identity has become a matter of choice. "We don't inherit an identity," he says. "We get to invent it. And we get to re-invent ourselves as often as we like. And that means that every day, when you wake up in the morning, you have to decide what kind of person you want to be."

Schwartz ended his talk by pointing to a picture of two fish in a fishbowl as he said:

The truth of the matter is that if you shatter the fishbowl so that everything is possible, you don't have freedom. You have paralysis. If you shatter this fishbowl so that everything is possible, you decrease satisfaction … Everybody needs a fishbowl … The absence of some metaphorical fishbowl is a recipe for misery, and, I suspect, disaster.

Possible Preaching Angles: This would also work well as an object lesson illustration with a real fish in a fishbowl.

There's a trendy little acronym that's making the rounds in managerial circles—VUCA, which stands for volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity. The U.S. Army War College first introduced the concept to describe the new realities after the Cold War ended. VUCA refers to the perfect storm of circumstances of life that sometimes hit individuals, families, and churches. It's what happens when you face a string of complicated and ever-changing "unknown unknowns."

Or as an article in the Harvard Business Review put it, VUCA is a catchall phrase for "Hey, it's crazy out there!"

A few years ago, a researcher asked 100 American and Japanese college students to take a piece of paper. On one side, they wrote down the decisions in life they would like to make for themselves. On the other, they wrote the decisions they would like to pass on to others. The Americans filled up the side for decisions they want to decide for themselves. Where to live. What job to take. The other side was almost blank. The only "decision" they commonly wanted to hand off to others was, "When I die."

The Japanese filled up the back side of the sheet with things they wanted others to decide: what they wore; what time they woke up; what they did at their job. The Americans desired choice in four times more domains than the Japanese.

Based on this experiment, New York Times columnist David Brooks claims America is experiencing "a choice explosion." Brooks writes, "Americans now have more choices over more things than any other culture in human history. We can choose between a broader array of foods, media sources, lifestyles, and identities." In some ways this is a positive trend, but Brooks also cautions that it is "becoming incredibly important to learn to decide well."

To illustrate the paralysis of indecision, international speaker Michael Ramsden tells the story of three turtles who went off to a picnic. One turtle packed sandwiches, another provided the drinks, and the third one simply came along for company. As the turtles headed off into the woods, about halfway to their destination it started to rain so they took shelter under a large rock and began talking amongst themselves.

The first two turtles turned to the third and said, "Look, we made the sandwiches, we made the drinks, you brought nothing, so you should be the one to go home and get the umbrella's. Get some umbrella's, come back here, we'll go on into the woods and we'll have our picnic."

The third turtle said, "You must be joking. As soon as I'm around the corner you're going to eat the food, you're going to drink the drinks, and when I come back with the umbrella's there will be nothing left."

The first two turtles said, "We will do no such thing."

The third turtle said, "You absolutely will. There's no way I'm doing that." Eventually the first two turtles swear on their shells that they will not eat the sandwiches or drink the drinks until the third turtle comes back with the umbrellas.

So the third turtle leaves. Minutes go by. Minutes become hours, hours become days. On the tenth day the first turtle says to the second turtle, "Okay how about it, why don't we just eat the sandwiches and drink the drink?" As soon as the first turtle says this a voice from behind a rock says, "If you do I won't get the umbrellas!"

Possible Preaching Angles: (1) Leaders; Leadership; Decisions—Leaders who are people who need to make decisions. (2) Procrastination; Salvation—Perhaps you are putting off making an important decision, like accepting Christ, turning from sin, joining the church, and so forth.

Does anybody here ever feel indecisive? Let's have a show of hands. Just look around the room. Now, how many of you aren't sure? You're still thinking about it because you're always indecisive!

If you've ever felt indecisive maybe you can relate to this story. The world's longest engagement was between Octavio Guillen and Adriana Martinez from Mexico. Apparently Octavio popped the question and Adriana said yes. That was in 1902 when they were both 15-years-old. But one of them couldn't quite decide, so they kept putting off the wedding day. They finally got married in 1969 when they were both 82. It took Octavio and Adriana 67 years to decide to get married.

At a conference in Houston, speaker Marti Ensign, a missionary to Africa, told of bringing some African pastors to the United States for a big meeting.

During their free time, these Africans wanted to go shopping. Even though they were in a small town, Marti knew there was a chance someone might have difficulty or get lost. So she gave them her phone number for such an emergency. In less than an hour the phone rang and the African said, "I am lost."

Marti said, "Lay the phone down, go to the street corner, find out the names of the two streets at the corner, come back and tell me, and I will come and get you."

In a few minutes he returned to the phone and reported, "I am at the corner of 'Walk' and 'Don't Walk.'"

Sometimes as we seek to know how God is leading us, we feel that we are at the same corner.

He who loses wealth loses much; he who loses a friend loses more; but he who loses his courage loses all.

He who deliberates fully before taking a step will spend his entire life on one leg.

"It's Monty Williams. He wants to know if he can audit your discipleship class on 'Total Commitment.' "

On (Acts 26:28)--Almost persuaded to be a Christian is like the man who was almost pardoned, but he was hanged, like the man who was almost rescued, but he was burned in the house. A man that is almost saved is damned.