picking out the places

I don't watch hockey. But even if I did, I can barely watch what happened the other night when a player's skate almost severed the carotid of a teammate. That was similar to an incident almost nineteen years earlier.

The player who suffered the earlier neck-slashing (Clint Malarchuck) describes the nightmares he suffered -- still suffers. "It's something that never leaves you," he states. He says further, "it can end like ... that. When God calls you, you're obliged to go."

The fear of death -- sudden or otherwise -- should stay with us. Our time here is already mapped out, and we do not know that final chapter. Sports accident, terminal disease, freak act of nature, natural causes -- all of these are options in front of us, except we don't get to choose.

That fear should stay with you, but it need not haunt you. Because how you go will still be unknown to you; but where you go afterwards is, in fact, still yours to decide. Only two options are available to you: eternal separation from God better known as Hell, or eternity by His side, Heaven. And really, you aren't choosing between Hell or Heaven, because that's an easy choice. You are choosing whether or not you allow Jesus Christ to take you to your destination.

Jesus says, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through Me." If you reject Christ as your Savior, He will take you to that first path without your consent. But if you ask Him into your life, He will hold your hand to the promised land. It's that simple.

Marlarchuk, and now Zelednik almost faced that forked road, but were given a second chance to make that choice of Savior if they hadn't already done so. When will you face that forked road? No one knows, especially you. When will you make that choice of Savior? Hopefully, soon. Hopefully, soon.