GROWING SEEDS: "Life and Death.....It Depends On Your god"

 There's a story about a 33-year old woman named Samantha who went on a cruise to Mexico with her 3 girlfriends.  It was her birthday weekend...she thought one drink would be alright....but one thing led to another....and next thing you know, she's sitting on a balcony railing 10 stories up at 2:00 am....ALONE.....falls backward into the dark murky waters of the Gulf of Mexico.  The ship moves on....no one knows she fell.  

"Look at what I've done for you today;
I've placed in front of you Life and Good
Death and Evil......."

It took almost 12 hours before anyone realized what happened.  I keep visualizing her in the cold deep water of the Gulf of Mexico....imagining what that must have felt like......200 miles from shore and seeing the lights of her cruise ship as they moved away from her.  She knew her destiny.....she knew her life was over.  Now she had to wait for death.....

"And I command you today; Love God, YOUR God. 
Walk in His ways; keep His commandments....
so that you can Live...
REALLY Live...."

She had 4 children waiting back home for her.  They say the bartender refused to continue to fill her glass with her god......she got angry....her friends went to bed and assumed she did too.....she stumbled to the edge of the balcony.....and for whatever reason, decided to sit on the top rail.....angry, drunk and willfully serving another god....

"But I warn you;
if you have a change of heart, refuse to listen obediently, and willfully go off to serve and worship other gods,
you will most certainly die."

I don't know the state of Samantha's heart at that moment when she watched from the cold, sobering waters of the Gulf of Mexico as her ship moved out of sight.....I pray she knew God and felt Him next to her.  I can't imagine the fear....the loneliness....the reality of what was happening to her.  But I do know that her decision that day affected more than just her.  It affected those four children she had birthed that would never see their mother again....or the husband waiting patiently at home for her return....or the parents who loved her deeply....or the three friends who were on this trip with her who now have to live with this tragedy and will forever be a part of this story.   But most of all....her decisions that day may have affected her destiny.

Our daily decisions...our daily god; can mean the difference between Life and Death......Blessing and Curse.

"....I place before you Life and Death. Blessing and Curse."
Deuteronomy 30:15-20
(The Message)