SECOND CHANCES

Life is full of second chances. (As a believer in Christ, God is full of second chances
actually.) You, yourself, have had
many. Have you seized them? (Sometimes I wish God didn’t give me second
chances to write blogs at 4:30 in the morning!)

I grew up in a small town.
I had a dream to play baseball for the St Louis Cardinals. (Actually I was pretty good.) But I lived in a town with no little league
baseball (most years) and with no high school baseball team. I played baseball when I could (gradually
that became softball). But the
opportunity never was there to pursue baseball beyond my dream (that was not
too realistic). So I had to make a
course correction in life.

In college, since I liked sports, and didn’t like many other
things (math, science, English, etc.), I majored in physical education. I would be a P.E. teacher and coach. So I studied (the math, and science and
English and other subjects in college) and received my degree to teach
P.E. I got a teaching/coaching job, but
realized in two years that I needed a second chance for vocation in life. Teaching school and coaching was not
me. (Some would say I “washed out” in
that attempt.)

During that time, I heard a missionary speak and I felt God
calling me (giving me a second chance) to serve in some Christian
vocation. Didn’t know what—but that
seemed right at the time.

I then received an opportunity to work at a Christian dorm
and with a Christian ministry that I had been part of in college. That seemed right, and when I attended a
conference, I felt God moving me to attend further schooling—seminary (education
about God and ministry).

After another degree, I came back to Illinois to serve for
19 years in Christian ministry to college students. It was an opportunity to serve God, to grow personally, to make a
difference in lives of students I worked with.
Many of those continue, even now, living out their faith in Jesus in
jobs, families, life. Some of them are
now vocational Christian workers—pastors, church planters, missionaries.

But as I got older and college students got younger, it
seemed another second chance was coming—another course correction—another
change—another leading of God. This
time to become a college teacher (I hoped), but alas, it did not happen. God led me to serve as pastor of churches—to
continue preaching, teaching, counseling in His Word, but with a more diverse
age group than I had working with college students. (Interesting though, that He also provided a chance to teach
college level courses for other pastors and others, though not
vocationally. The dream has and is
happening—another second chance.)

Over the course of my 60 years, I have needed second chances
from God while struggling with personal crises, ministry crises, financial crises,
emotional crises—yet all the while, God showed me another course—pointed me in
directions that were right instead of wrong or best over better. Life is also full of hard knocks, but God
wants to help us through those—in fact, would love to help us negotiate them
without the hard knocks--but so often we (let me confess my sins, not ours) “I,”
didn’t listen and did it “my way.”

But there were second chances, and third chances and fourth
chances. God is a god who cares for me
(and you) deeply. God is a god who
knows the right way and the best way always (even when we do not). And God wants to help us find the “best” way
over the “good” or the “better” way in life.

Through prayer and study of the Bible (and other devotional
reading), through listening to the advice and counsel of friends and my wife, through
being accepted and loved by others in life, I have found and accepted many
second chances.

At age 60, I could look back and ponder the “what if’s” of
life—what if I’d ____________? But that is not really beneficial. (The apostle Paul said, “Forgetting what
lies behind, I press on for the prize that lies ahead”—Philippians
3:13-14.) The “what if” did not
happen. Robert Frost’s poem, “Two roads
diverged …” is so true. We come to crossroads all the time. Which way to go? What to do? And we have to make decisions. But as the poem goes on to say, the road we
have taken “has made all the difference.”

I am who I am by the choices I have made. I have had opportunities by the decisions I
have made—by the path I’ve taken when the crossroads have come. For me, I am who I am because, at least at
times, I have chosen God’s way over my way.
And when I have gotten that choice right, God has made all the
difference! God’s way really is
best—best for God and best for me! (Maybe
I’ll really learn that one before I die.)

But when we head down the wrong path, God’s second chance

presents itself. When I have made a bad
choice, God has always provided for me a second chance. It was always there, if I was willing to
look for it and pursue it (and Him).

Where do you need God’s second chance today? Is it job wise? Is it in your family life or relationships? Is it in eating better or giving up a bad
habit? Is it in turning from some sin
and turning to God? Is it
_____________? (You fill in the blank)

I am so thankful God gives second chances! That truth, and mostly the loving God behind
it, for me, has made all the difference!
And then, when this life is over, heaven too. (The best is yet to come)

Pray—read the Bible—consult a Christian friend or pastor you
trust (sounds like, “ask, seek, knock” of Matthew 7:7). Accept the forgiveness—accept the second
chance—then pursue it and mostly, pursue Him.
And find your life changing and God making all the difference for you
and in you—for the best, not just the good or better.