David's Dialog for August

On August 11th, I will be attending my 30th year high school reunion. Yes, I graduated high school in 1977. In 1977, Jimmy Carter was sworn in as President, Fleetwood Mac’s Rumors was the leading selling album, and among many other events, on August 16th, Elvis Presley passed away.

As I look back over the past thirty years, there is no way I could ever have imagined that thirty years from my graduation in Evanston, Illinois, I would be a Unitarian Universalist Ministerial Intern in Escondido, California.

It is truly amazing to me where our journeys can lead us. On a daily basis we all make a wide variety of choices; should I check my email, should I have that extra piece of cake, should I look for a new job, should I say I’m sorry to my spouse, choices that take our life in one direction or another. In fact, if I have made just five decisions a day that ever-so-slightly or more-than-slightly changed the direction of my life since 1977, I would have made approximately 52,925 decisions.

Through our lives, we all have made really good decisions and a substantial amount of not-so-good ones, because after all, we are human and that is the joy and challenge of our lives. But whatever those choices have been, they are the decisions that have brought all of us here together and participating in this vibrant and growing community.

Thirty years ago I would never have guessed that all those day-to-day choices would have led me here. It is pleasure to tell you how grateful I am that they have. I wish you peace with where your journey has led you. As I said in my last sermon, choices do matter. So, as you reflect and as you consider decisions that may not always seem perfect or obvious, remember (as it has been said many times before,) it is about the journey. As long as we are on it, we will continue to have plenty of chances to decide. One last thing, (so we don’t take it all so seriously), remember the famous words of Yogi Berra, “When you get to the fork in the road, take it.”

Have a great rest of the summer.

David