The kids and I have a special spot we love to go fishing at. Every time we go, we come back with a ton of fish. And the fish we do catch are quite a bit larger than the ones we catch when we go elsewhere. The only problem is: this particular fishing spot is in a very inconvenient place. The path to get to this fishing spot is long and rough. We have to make a trek through grass that is taller than me, huge thorn bushes, lots of holes and huge rocks, and these gigantic ants that apparently live on this path. We always arrive at our destination worn out and beaten up a little, but it is worth it when we return home with more fish than we know what to do with. So when we are going fishing we have to decide… Should we take an easy path to a pond where we will catch a few small fish, if any? Or do we take the much more difficult path which will lead to plenty of big fish (and turtles…)? What road should we take?
Choices…Life is full of them. Some simple and easily made, and others extremely complex. One of my main “goals” with the kids is teaching them about the importance of making wise decisions. Whether it be a simple decision about wearing shoes or not while being outside, or a more complex decision about choosing not to fight when another kid is insulting them.  They’re all decisions. And each choice that is made reaps a consequence.

A few days ago two of the teenagers were fighting. One kid decided he wanted to pick a fight with another, for no apparent reason. It started verbal, but turned physical. I walked up just as they started shoving each other, and (by God’s grace) I separated them before things got out of hand. I pulled the kid who was wronged (and who would have without a doubt won the fight) aside and said “Hey…you have a choice right now. You can give into your anger and fight, which will solve nothing. Or you can calm down and take a walk with me and talk about… Your choice.” She was seething. It was almost like she was about to hyperventilate. I finally got her to look at me instead of staring down her opponent, who was in the background yelling insults at her, and I said again “It’s your choice…The Bible tells us to forgive. I know it’s hard. And I know you’re mad right now. But let’s go talk about it. You have the choice of walking away.” She fell into my arms crying and said “It is just so hard sometimes…”
She did walk away. She came with me and she told me that she has always had to fight (she was pulled off the streets a few years ago). She had to protect herself. And when she gets mad, the easiest thing for her to do is fight. But she doesn’t want to do that anymore. She wants to take a different route. She wants to be obedient to God. It’s the more difficult path, the more difficult decision, but it is the right one. She is choosing the right road…the road less traveled.

All the kids here will make many decisions in their life. Heck, they make many decisions each day. And I’m trying to teach them that sometimes, the best decision is the hardest decision. And sometimes the best decision, will cost you the most. But it is always, always worth it.

In Matthew Jesus tells us:
“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”

 Jesus was saying that HE is the only way to eternal life. Jesus is the only way to salvation. No good work, no religious ritual, no education, no man, no nothing can give us eternal life. The only way we are saved and will have eternal life is through Jesus. A life in Christ is not easy. It calls for sacrifice, rejection from peers, and discomfort. It involves taking a road that is less traveled.
I love how my old friend Robert puts it…

“I took the road less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.” –Robert Frost

So…what road are you choosing?

Love you guys,
Hannah

(Living in Ghana, West Africa)