Written for a column in a magazine, January 2006.

It was almost precisely four years ago… the same boy, in the same room, was making a decision. Two ways were clearly set before me, set before me as the crossroads of my life. Which would I choose? Right or left? Up or down? I debated. Let me quote one paragraph which I read at that time, and that helped me to make the right decision.

You as a young man/woman stand in an awesome position. Your potential for success or failure is staggering. In the next few years, you will make decisions that have the potential to make your or break you. The effect of these decisions will follow you the rest of your life. You can’t afford to take the next few years lightly.

It put my choices into perspective, the importance of my decisions right now, as a teenager, are ones that will affect me for the rest of my life. Those words had a profound effect. Now, four years later as I near my 17th birthday, I reflect back on my choices, on the influencing factors of my life. I see the people, the authors, the things, the occurrences. I see God’s hand. When I stood here four years ago, looking out the window onto the bleak winter landscape, I was not ignorant that I was making an important decision. Now standing here again, with the snow swirling against my window and the full moon shining clear into the night, I look upon the same scene. Again, I realize how important that decision was, how important it was that I let God take my hand and lead me.

The effect of these decisions will follow you the rest of your life.

Those words have stuck with me since the time my eyes first fell upon them. At that point I made one choice, one particular decision. It was my choice to take the way that leads up—the hard way, yet the easy way. It was my choice to take God at His word, to make Him my all, my purpose in life.

My canoe was still brand new, still smelling of fresh varnish, I was going upstream. I had oars, strength, fresh resolve, solid goals. I would go on, I would conquer. My launch was right into some pretty rough water, and before too long I discovered how weak I really was. My strength was not sufficient. But His strength was there for me, I trusted Him to help me, to provide me with all I needed. And he did. In that strength I have made it thus far. And it is in that strength that we all can find joy in the Christian life.

In our own weaknesses we can rejoice along with Paul, because they give us opportunities to experience the power of God in our life. They are but empty flasks waiting to be filled. They are but candlesticks wherein Christ may set his light to shine. From our own infirmities, the Lord can mold and shape vessels fit for His service. His strength is made perfect in weakness; it is there that He finds place to do what he loves most—creating something out of nothing that the power of Christ may rest upon us. That we are weak we all know, but we know that we can say along with Paul, “for when I am weak, then am I strong”.

I won’t pretend to tell you my canoe trip was uneventful. I flipped my canoe many times. Yes, sometimes I let myself get swept downstream for a few moments, sometimes I fell on the shore in despair. But it was then that I realized that although I was weak, that although in my strength I could not go on, I would go on in the strength of Him who can keep our feet from stumbling. As my eyes lifted to the hills from whence came my help and my strength, I found where there was sufficiency, in trusting God to take me on. I could, I would sail on.

It’s easy enough to take our eyes off God and focus them on people. We naturally want approval from peers; most of us don’t have the desire to be the odd ball out. Although most of us are blessed to have human companions on the road traveling with us, every true Christian knows what it means to be going against the flow. Sometimes we struggle then with understanding the strength of our foundation. We wonder if God is really the answer to all we need. We wonder if we should have strength in other areas, we think that maybe with numbers we can do our work. No, I refute all else; strength is not in numbers, not in people, it’s in God. He wants to make our own individual lives tools in His service. He wants to use each of us, apart from what other’s do. He is all we need to be the majority, for when you add all with nothing what do you get? You still get all. When you add nothing with nothing you still have nothing. That’s why Jesus said, “For without me ye can do nothing.” Without him we are nothing. With him we have all we ever need, we have all comfort, all strength, and it’s in that strength that we can experience enjoyment; we can experience what the thrill is in the Christian life.

It’s that feeling of exhilaration, of making it safely through the rapids, over the mountains, or through the desert. It’s in knowing that you have gained ground, that you have followed God. In that we find fulfillment. It doesn’t compare with the most exciting ride downstream. To compromise what the Lord has asked of us because of ‘the flow’ or because of other people will never provide satisfaction. Why? It’s empty. It’s what so many people in this world are doing today, following others, following themselves, following their flesh. Those who enjoy their ride down the river can have it; they’ll go over the falls at the end. How much more I’d rather be able to say at the end of my life, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:”

His yoke is easy, His burden is light, not because we don’t need to do anything, not because it’ll be a cheap, quick ride. Not because of any of that, but because his strength and his grace is sufficient for me, and for you. Thus we can look at our difficulties, our mountains, our waves, our trials, our weaknesses. We can look at them, not as things to sigh about, but as opportunities to experience God’s all sufficient strength in our life. We can do hard things, not by our great strength, but rather by our Great God.

I look back again, I see the river stretching into the past, I see the rapids I’ve gone through, the calm spots, the hard spots. I see where I have come. I am glad, glad beyond measure that I put my faith in God. Come what may, I know there is nothing that will stand in His way. Through Him I have all the strength I need to take on the hardest tasks.

I think ahead now, another four years. I can only imagine what decisions they will bring. I will do hard things, for though I am weak, I am strong. I put my all into His service. Could there be somebody standing at the crossroads in their life? Could it be that you are trying to decide on the route to take? Could it be your day? Don’t spare yourself what appears to be difficulties; they are but experiences of God’s power. Take the path that leads up; not because it’s easy, but because it’s hard, because it’s the only way that has strength. There’s a race to be run, a crown to be won, a world to overcome.

“The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found hard and left untried.”—G.K. Chesterton

Why should we now stand afraid of tasks that appear hard, that appear difficult? How many people have accomplished the most grueling and challenging feats? Many people have put themselves into doing something difficult, something for the thrill. They work to a goal that would fulfill them and make them accomplished. They have done things without strength from above. How much more should you and I, who have unlimited strength, take what appears to our human eyes to be difficult, and do that, not because it’s easy, but because it’s hard. The Lord will use us, if we but give our empty vessels for Him to fill with His glory, His honor, and His strength. We have nothing to offer, nothing but our blank sheet of paper for Him to write upon, nothing but our heart and our purpose. We are unqualified, but God does not choose the qualified, he takes us for what we are, nothing, and asks us to put our faith in His ability to make us what he wants us to be—all. Let us render ourselves tools in His hands, wavering not at the highest mountains or the hardest tasks the Lord places before us. This we know, we are weak, but now we are strong.

© Copyright 2006, David Boskovic. [Published]—Request permission before re-publishing. Share freely, as long as name remains intact.