by Rev Douglas Brauner

…take it.”

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking on this SoundCloud link.

“I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, loving the LORD your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.”
Deuteronomy 30:19-20 English Standard Version

A quote often ascribed to the great Yankee catcher, Yogi Berra, states, “When you come to a fork in the road, take it.” At one point in his life Yogi embraced that quote saying he used it as directions to his home. This saying is actually found much earlier than Yogi, in 1913 when two newspapers made a pun out of the word, fork. “When you come to a fork in the road, take it.” “I will, if its silver.”

Buckskin Charlie Trail, Garden of the Gods, Colorado

There is a fork in at the bottom of these steps. Which way was I to turn to stay on Buckskin Charlie Trail? There was no sign at the bottom of the steps to tell me. By the look of the two trails, I made an educated guess that I was to turn right. I made the correct choice.

What choice would the Israelites make as they entered the Promised Land, when they came to the proverbial fork in the road? If their past dictated their future, they would choose both. They would obey God’s voice only to disobey him shortly thereafter.

Israel’s history repeats itself in our lives. There are days when we’re ready to serve and obey and others when obedience is the farthest thing from our minds.

Jesus was at the fork in the road when, on bended knee, he begged that the cup of suffering be removed from him. His Father refused and he chose the cross, and with that cross our forgiveness which keeps us on the right trail even when we sin. He chose the path for us and it the path to his Father’s heart.

Copyright Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado