Thought Before Choice.....

On April 26, 1986 shortly after midnight, there occurred near the Ukrainian town of Chernobyl a horrific event.  A gradual meltdown of reactor 4 at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant started as a result of unauthorized testing and a faulty reactor design.  It was by far the worst nuclear accident ever, which immediately sent a radioactive cloud across two continents.  Many suffered large scale involuntary irradiation due to extensive secrecy, as well as many types of cancer.  To this day the Ukrainian government maintains an 18 mile exclusion zone around the former bustling city, also known by people there as the "Alienation Zone".  In the neighboring town of Pripyat hundreds of on lookers watched in amazement on the day of the incident as graphite in the reactor fire burned as a bright rainbow hundreds of feet in the air.  Little did they know that this beautiful vision would also kill nearly all of them from acute radiation poisoning.

Why start out this post with such a horrible event in human history?  Simply put, this whole nightmare that I just recounted was initiated and played out through poor choices.  Reactor staff decided to perform a test involving the shut down of the reactor, one which was neither advised nor sanctioned through policy.  Their choice affected hundreds of thousands that they never even saw or met.  What choices do we make everyday without the thought of the repercussions or who we are affecting?  The intention is not to equate a nuclear disaster with that of many simple decisions made in our lives which turn out less than incredible.  Pay attention to the underlying principle of the event.  The staff at Chernobyl did what they wanted to with little or no regard for how it would affect those around them, or the possible dangers.  The growing trend in society is to act first and throw out the excuses and cover ups later.  Emotion seems to rule the thinking of many in society as they get "caught up in the moment."  So what is the lesson here?  Let's try the oldie but goodie, "Think before you act."  Every choice we make affects so many more people around us than just me, myself, and I.  I have sat in a room over the last couple of months on Sunday telling a group of teenagers three of the most important things they could do in their lives to pursue a relationship with God and maintain a feeling of  freedom in their lives.

1.  Be selfless in your actions.
2. Never do anything you would not be willing to post on the front page of the newspaper.
2. Learn to forgive and be forgiven.

Although their are so many other "life lessons" I truly feel that these reflect a base standard of what any human being should embrace, whether Christian or non-Christian.  

Psalm 15:        ¹ LORD, who may dwell in your sacred tent?  Who may live on your holy mountain?  ² The one whose walk is blameless, who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from their heart;  ³ whose tongue utters no slander, who does no wrong to a neighbor, and casts no slur on others; ⁴ who despises a vile person but honors those who fear the LORD; who keeps an oath even when it hurts, and does not change their mind; ⁵ who lends money to the poor without interest; who does not accept a bribe against the innocent. Whoever does these things will never be shaken.