Turns in the Road

I remember like it was yesterday.  It was my choice.  It was a big choice, though it didn't seem so at the time.  I was in college, my second year, taking courses for per-ministerial training and thinking I was headed for the Episcopal priesthood.  Only 19 years old, though, I knew I didn't know enough of what the world was about to move ahead with my career goal. 

Sitting one fall day in the south end of the campus enjoying the warm-cool weather, I decided to put my education on hold and go "see the world."  I didn't really know what that meant, but I knew I had to do it.  I had to go out and learn what it meant to live in the world by the people I would someday be ministering to in my church.  It turned out to be one of the biggest turns in the road for me.

I've always thought that life, and our living of life, really could be boiled down to just a few big decisions.  You know what I mean?  Those moments when we are pliable and open to new directions and possibilities.  Those times when we're able to shut doors behind us and move on without any sense of regret or loss.  As if all there was in life is what there was to be in life.  And all that really mattered was making the choice.  Taking the turn in the road.  Courageously and with assurance that whatever is ahead would be easily taken in stride.  All obstacles would be overcome - certainly and without hesitation.

Maybe is was just part of the whims of a starry-eyed teenager, but I think not.  I've always been most at peace with myself when I stepped out in life on faith, if you will, and just went for it.  Now, I'm facing retirement.  Forty years plus since that day on the south university campus.  And that feeling is in me again.  I believe a turn in the road is ahead, maybe like I've never experienced before.  So, be it!