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Verse:There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death. —Proverbs 14:12, NIV
Everything had been carefully planned for a nice weekend together on Tangier Island, Chesapeake Bay, Virginia. Miriam Wells and John Wesley Taylor V anticipated a wonderful time with their son on the island.
On Friday morning, August 3, 2012, they passed through the Washington, DC, metropolitan area and then took a four-lane highway to the marina from which a boat would take them to the island. Since the highway was almost deserted, Miriam set the cruise control at 60 mph. The trip was going well until Miriam realized that the cruise control was stuck at that speed, and the brake was no longer disengaging it.
She tried different options, but nothing seemed to work.
John quickly suggested she safely pull the car over and turn the engine off. With the engine turned off, the car glided to a stop.
John phoned their mechanic to try to figure out what might have gone wrong with the cruise control. The mechanic gave him precise instructions on how to locate and deactivate the faulty cable. Even without cruise control, the family was able to arrive on time at the marina. There are moments in life when the only thing we can do is turn off the engine and stop. When moral issues are involved, for instance, we have to make a radical decision to stop the immoral behavior.
The decision may involve a short-term loss but could avert a future disaster. Other times, such as when we are diagnosed with a terminal disease, our only remaining option may be to calmly accept reality. In the words of Viktor E. Frankl, “When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.” Life is indeed a sequence of decisions. Some are easy to make, while others are far more difficult. Regardless, it is always helpful to remember Reinhold Niebuhr’s “Serenity Prayer,” which begins with the plea, “God, give me grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed, courage to change the things which should be changed, and the wisdom to distinguish the one from the other.” We can also keep in mind the anonymous prayer, “Lord, help me remember that nothing will happen today that we can’t handle together.”