ONE WRONG TURN

George lived 68 years. How much he must have learned over the course of all of those minutes and miles! Just think of it! 68 New Year’s celebrations to ponder over the events of the previous year, more than 3,500 Sunday afternoons to wonder about life, almost 600,000 hours and millions and millions of moments.

George was a farmer. How many things do you learn when you live the life of a farmer? He was well known in the community in which he lived. That’s a lot of living. He owned and ran a local butcher shop. I wonder if he ever cut himself? And he was a volunteer fire fighter. He would have known all about so many of the things that are dangerous in this world. He had a whole lifetime of learning.

But one day George made a mistake. He was riding his tractor in the merge lane and suddenly made a sharp left turn. He didn’t do a shoulder check before he cranked the wheel in that fateful moment of time and so he didn’t see the 18 wheeler behind him heading for the power plant at Point Aconi.

A whole lifetime of learning ended with one simple wrong choice in a moment’s time. George MacNeil from Big Bras d’Or was killed instantly and was pronounced dead at the scene on Friday the 19th of June, 2009 on highway 162 on Cape Breton Island. In the words of one reporter, “He didn’t have a chance.” Maybe he didn’t, but he did have a choice.

When I think back over my 50 years of living and all I have learned... I have distant but vivid memories (that serve me well) of pain from putting my fingers in places they shouldn’t have been, taking chances I shouldn’t have taken, making decisions that I would never make again. I have the benefit of all of that experience.

And I wonder. How is it that a person can live all those years and learn all that he would have learned and make as many decisions as he would have made and then, in a moment of time, make one simple, seemingly little, mistake and it’s all over! It hardly seems fair does it? But that is life, sometimes at least, just totally unforgiving.

And what about me? I still make my share of mistakes. And what about you?

It does point to one profound truth though. Life is often determined by the choices we make, sometimes in little gradual ways and sometimes in big sudden ways. But either way, God has, in His sovereign will, chosen to give us the power of choice. It is both an incredible gift of nobility and a terrifying prospect at the same time. What choices will you and I make today? Choose well my friend. Seek Him.