About My Choices

I will periodically think about the way my life has progressed and about the choices I have made during my brief stay of 40 some odd years on this planet. I think back to the foolish ones that to this day I regret making and I think of the ones that have given me the most joy. The ones that have given me the most joy were God inspired.

We make thousands of choices each and every day. Most are trivial (what to eat, where, watch, listen to, paper or plastic, etc) while others are milestones (what car to buy, where to work, buy or rent, whom to marry, to be spiritual or materialistic, etc). I said in a previous post that August was an important month for me...I have changed states of residents twice and was born in August. I forgot one that ties into a choice I will be making soon (followers of my geek web site will see that choice Sunday). I started a web site that I have been running in the same format (although with different looks) 10 years ago and now have come to a crossroads in my life. It is time to make a decision about my involvement in that web site and what the site will be used for. "Changes are a coming".

A couple of years ago I made a choice about what music I listen to. I have been a fan of rock (heavy, hard, guitar oriented stuff) for over 20 years and was in a place in my life that I needed to make a choice. I had a lot of CD's and cassettes (the cassettes were of my 80's stuff) that I had exported to mp3 to listen to on my PC or burn as mixes on CD's. I did not listen to them constantly, but I did listen to them exclusively. I did not listen to much (if any) Christian music. Up to this point, I had never heard any Christian bands that I liked. Well, somehow I was introduced to Pillar and P.O.D. and also began listening to Christian Rock Internet Radio and a local Christian Rock station, 89.7 Power FM. I was hooked. I was able to put away my secular stuff and not even miss it...well not very much that is.

After a few months of listening to Christian music, I got a hankering for some 80's hard rock. So I fired up Winamp and started blasting Def Leppard and Saxon, two of my favorite bands from the 80's. I then queued up a few Metallica songs and realized the messages and language were offensive to me. I was not able to listen long before I went back to Pillar, 38th Parallel, P.O.D., Third Day, Day of Fire, Disciple, and Mat Kearney.

I told the BiC that convinced me to go to Promise Keepers with him about my choice and he said that he liked Metallica too much to give them up. His statement bother me. He told me that even though they drop the F-bomb all the time, he pays no attention. I then realized that I thought the same thing until I took a break from listening to it.

This man (and his wife) I care greatly about. They too, have made choices in their Christian walk that puzzle me. They both listen to secular music (as well as Christian music), they go to comedy clubs (comedians are notorious for swearing during live shows), and even gamble in Las Vegas. The reason why I am concerned about their choices is that they have two children that they are trying to give a moral, Christian upbringing to. I wonder if this will send a mixed message to them?

Music is just one area I have had to make some hard choices. We have movies, TV, reading material and other forms of media that we must decide which we want to interact with. I know at least 2 or 3 Christian couples who have no problem with watching "Sex in the City ", "Desperate Housewives", or any one of a number of reality shows that are less than wholesome. While my choice of TV shows may not include family friendly ones, they do not glorify sex. My wife and I are big fans of "24" and all three "Law and Order" shows. I am a fan of Sci-Fi but the shows will almost always have some sexual content to them. I guess the only saving grace is that at least the show is not centered around that content. It is used as a "flavor" instead of a main ingredient.

Do I think less of my brothers and sisters in Christ if they view this things? No, but it concerns me. It concerns me because most of these couples have some issue that affects them and this just seems like a waste. While I will not condemn them, they are aware of my feelings on that subject.

That is only a small cross section of choices that I (and others) have made. When you stop and think about the choices we make, the numbers are staggering. As I finish this, I realized that at least two more choices were made. I chose to post this and you chose to read it.

Have a blessed day.