Choices

Last week, my sister called me to tell me that her son (my oldest nephew) is getting married, just weeks before he is being deployed to Iraq. Yes, a baby is involved -- though not the way you would expect. Long story short, my sister now refers to herself as "G.G." (Gorgeous Grandmother), and my nephew is the proud adoptive father of a beautiful baby girl, Bella.

The road Ryan has chosen is not an easy one ... and yet, I can't imagine being more proud of him. And from what I can see, in the grand scheme of things it's better to deploy a happy soldier, one with everything to live for, than an unhappy one who feels he has nothing to lose.

My nephew's choice was unexpected, yet noble and unbelievably courageous. And because of it, we now have a little life in our family that may well turn out to be the most beautiful thing that has happened to our family in a long time ... since my kids joined it!

Of course, not all the choices we make in our youth turn out well. Today at EMN, I posted an article that at first I hesitated to write. Not because it isn't true, and not because it isn't needed ... but because it's about a subject that not a lot of us enjoy thinking about.

It's about how the mistakes of our past -- even those for which we've been forgiven -- continue to have very real and lasting repercussions on the present. If God forgives us, why doesn't He wipe away all the temporal consequences as well as the spiritual ones?

Take a look, and let me know what you think. If it helps you, please feel free to reprint and/or link to it as you feel so led.