Several
years ago, a friend of mine was watching his son play hockey at
the old Civic
Auditorium. Throughout the
game, fans
from both teams were yelling at one another until finally one of
them said,
“You guys think you are so tough!
Who
wants to step outside with me?” My
friend said, “I do!” and so they headed off to settle the score.
As
the
reached the bottom of the stairs, my friend stopped and said, “If
we go
outside, it is going to be serious, so here is what is going to
happen. I am going to buy
you a coffee and we are
going to sit here and drink them together.
After that, if you still want to go outside and fight, then
we
will!” Meanwhile, my
friend’s other son
heard what had happened, so he ran down the stairs to make sure
that his Dad
was not in trouble. Imagine
his surprise
when he turned the corner and found these two men laughing and
talking instead
of punching each other out!
A
bad situation
turned out for the best simply because my friend had the wisdom to
ask himself,
“How do I want this story to end?”
In
Luke
14, Jesus says, “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t
you first sit
down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to
complete it… Or
suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Won’t
he first sit
down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to
oppose the one
coming against him with twenty thousand?” (Verses 28-30). It is important to think
things though, because
the end of the story is the most important part.
People
spend
a lot of time thinking about new beginnings.
We often obsess about how we feel right now. Yet, we make the best
decisions when we think,
“Regardless of where I am now or what I am going through, how do I
want this story
to end?”
Jesus
encouraged
us to keep this long-term view in mind when he said, “My Father’s
house has
many rooms… I will come back and take you to be with me that you
also may be where
I am” (John 14:2-3).
That
is
the best ending of all!
Comments