That's how it works for me. This has been perking all week, the one word, "decision."

You know the routine. You're taken to your Greek Diner booth by the hostess who lays the menu on the table, tells you the name of your server (which you promptly forget), and walks away. Then you pick up this huge plastic folder which, when you lift it up and open it, you can no longer see your wife sitting across the table. As you leaf through the forty-four pages of this menu, seemingly from a distance, you faintly hear the voice of your wife saying, as she always does at this point in your relationship - "Decisions, Decisions."

That's the nature of life.

First thing in the morning when the alarm goes off, you have to make a decision - get out of bed or hit the snooze alarm. If you decide to take a shower, you then have to decide whether or not to wash your hair - you don't want to wash it every day because then all the oils will be gone. Then the question is, which shampoo should you use, the dandruff or generic? If you didn't lay out your clothes the night before, you have to decide what to wear, and if there is time for breakfast, the decision is whether you'll have cereal or eggs, and if cereal, will it be hot or cold, and if cold, will it be Cheerios or Wheaties, and if eggs, will they be fried, boiled or scrambled, and if fried, will they be sunny side up, easy over, runny or firm?

And that's the easy part of the day; if you're also a parent, you have a multitude of decisions to make for your children, to say nothing of all the decisions you will make on your job.

Heading out the door, after you decide between wearing a light or heavy jacket, you have to decide whether to take the main route or back roads, and which gas station to stop at. When you stop at Starbucks, you are faced with over 2,000 possible choices for coffee. If you stop to pick up a bagel, you must decide between a dozen kind of bagels and two dozen flavors of cream cheese. Finally, after deciding to park in the upper rather than the lower parking lot, and deciding to take the stairs rather than the elevator, you reach your desk - and it's all down hill from there.

How many hundreds of decisions do you make each day? "I don't know, I can't decide."

Of course, not everything is done by decision. For example, we don't decide to breathe, in fact if we tried to decide not to breathe, we would faint, and almost immediately the involuntary systems of nerves and muscles would take over and we would begin breathing again.

Then there are what we call "knee jerk reactions" when we react without thinking; like this week, when I pulled out onto Route 94, another driver got upset, blared their horn for a full minute, and when I looked in my rear view mirror, this person was waving a clenched fist at me. Instinctively, I slammed on my breaks and when they had to do the same, I sped off. A stupid, thoughtless reaction. This kind of non-decision reaction is often where our mouths get us into trouble; we "speak twice before we think."

There are survival mechanisms which seem to dictate our responses, and there are habits that have been formed so that we do many things without having to decide to do them. This can be good - like wiping food fragments from our mouths, or fastening our seat belts when getting into the car, or wrapping our arms around our wife to give her a hug each morning. On the other hand, habits can be not so good, like the habit of using offensive words when we become angry, or waving a finger other than the one which points upward in praise to God.

Furthermore, some choices are not ours to make. We may choose our friends, but we didn't get to choose the family into which we would be born. And at then end of life, we don't get to choose the time of our own demise.

In addition, decisions we make today have been conditioned or limited by decisions we've made in the past. When someone decided to be sexually irresponsible, they inadvertently decided to never be able to offer themself as a virgin to the one they will marry. When someone makes the decision to attend church services each week, they no longer have the freedom to choose staying in bed, or playing golf, or going to the restaurant for a 10:00 a.m. brunch. When someone decides to be faithful in giving their tithes to the local church, they eliminate other decisions as to what they will do with that portion of their income.

Even procrastinators make decisions - they decide not to decide. Perhaps this is a form of laziness; procrastinators want someone else to decide for them. Or it's a dishonest way of making a decision; in reality, this person doesn't want to do what someone is asking them to do, but they don't want to tell them, so they say, "We'll see" or "I'll think about it." Procrastination may even be a form of rebellion; the teacher gives an assignment to write a term paper - the procrastinator puts it off because they really don't want to do it.

In spite of all this, the fact is, the ability, and the necessity of decision-making is one of the most wonderful, awesome, and frightening aspects of our humanity - we have been given, by God, the element of free choice.

Adam and Eve had to decide which tree to eat from. (Genesis 2:16,17)

Moses had to decide whether to remain in the luxury and safety of his adopted palace, or identify with his oppressed people - thankfully he decided on the latter. (Hebrews 11:25)

Moses later told the people of Israel that they were faced with a death or life decision: "This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live." (Deuteronomy 30:19)

Shortly after that, Joshua made it clear what his decision would be, whether or not anyone else would join him: "But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD." (Joshua 24:15)

In an odd and somewhat troubling story about King David, he was given a choice of punishments after he had displeased the Lord by taking a census of his military strength. (I Chronicles 21:10)

Today, part of the message concerning decision-making is that we need to take responsibility.

we need to stop waiting for someone else to make our decisions for us,

we need to stop complaining about other people's decisions and how they have hindered and limited our own,

and we need to stop thinking that everything is already decided, that fate, or the gods, or genes or generational curses have set the events of our life in stone, not to be altered.

Today I'm inviting us to pray a different kind of "Serenity Prayer," one that would go like this:

Lord,

help me to make the decisions I can,

accept the consequences of decisions outside my control,

and give me the wisdom to know the difference.

"Love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked." (Luke 6:35)

"Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." (Romans 12:17, 21)

"Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else." (I Thessalonians 5:15)

Also, let's briefly notice that there are three main factors - past, present, and future - that enter into our decision-making.

As for the past, we often hear it said, "Experience is the best teacher." However, that doesn't mean that we can only learn from our own successes and failures, we can also learn from others. True humility says, "I am not the wisest person here."

Concerning the present, when we're faced with a decision, we can ask ourselves, "What am I feeling now?" "As I contemplate going in one direction or another, is there a sense of peace within, or is there a kind of check in my spirit?" Also in the present moment, "What advice can I get, both from prayer, and from a wise mentor who has always been known to give good counsel?"

Looking into the future, the question would be, "What will be the consequences, for me, for my family, for my church, and for society?" Some decisions only impact the individual, but most affect many other people. The ethical question for me as a Christians is not how the outcome of this particular decision can benefit myself, but how can it bring benefit to others?

Finally, there's one particular decision no one can avoid. It is a decision that the religious leaders of Jesus' own day wrestled with.

"But they [the Pharisees] were furious and began to discuss with one another what they might do to Jesus." (Luke 7:11)

The political leader, Pilate, also struggled with this decision. Finally he turned to Jesus' accusers and asked,

"'What shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ?' They all say unto him, 'Let him be crucified.'" (Matthew 27:22)

We are being asked the same type of question, "What will you do with Jesus?"

Jesus Himself framed the decision this way. He said there are two roads, one narrow and the other wide - the decision we must make is, which road will we take?

"Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it." (Matthew 7:13, 14)

Around 1920, Robert Frost published a poem that every high school student reads in their American Literature class. He titled it "The Road Not Taken." Let me read just the first and last stanzas of this famous poem:

If we are willing to choose the narrow way, the one less traveled, we have assurance that it will make all the difference - heaven will be the final destiny in this journey of life.

For many years, the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association has sponsored a weekly half hour radio program, calling it "The Hour of Decision."

No doubt this name was adopted from Joel 3:14, "Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision."

Joel was referring both to a contemporary event, as well as looking far into the future when the judgment day of the Lord will come. However, we can apply this to our own individual lives. Each of us is, even now, in the valley, a place where a decision must be made. It may be a decision about our life, job or career, our family, or recreational activity, or about our physical or emotional care, or a harmful behavior or habit that needs to be changed, or a relationship that needs to be altered or dropped.

Or the decision that needs to be made may be the most basic decision of all, which path to take - the one that will lead to heaven or the one that will lead to the eternal destruction of hell.

All decisions are not created equal - some will carry little clout, while others will determine whether we live or die, are saved or lost.

"Decisions, decisions."

1. Pastors create sermons much like a percolator makes coffee. What is the value of this meditative approach?

2. What are some of the mundane decisions we all must make every day?

3. What are some things we do which are not the result of a conscious decision?

4. When it comes to both acting and speaking, what is the problem with "knee jerk reactions"?

5. Habits are patterns of behavior or speech which happen without having to decide on each one - what are some good and some bad habits?

6. How should we respond to situations we find ourselves in when we are adversely impacted by other people's decisions?

7. What are some examples of past decisions which limit present options?

8. Why do people procrastinate?

9. Why do we say that our God-given ability to make decisions is "wonderful, awesome, and frightening"?

10. What are the Biblical examples of decisions by such people as Adam and Eve, Moses, Joshua and David?

11. What are some ways we try to avoid making decisions?

12. How do the past, the present, and the future enter into our decision-making?

13. What is the best answer to the question, "What will you do with Jesus?"

14. What two choices did Jesus speak of having to do with gates and pathways?

15. Which decision will determine where we will spend eternity?