What to Do When You Come to a Crossroad

When Hernando Cortez landed his troops in Vera Cruz, there was a definite threat of mutiny in the air. His crew wanted to go back to the ship and not on to Mexico. Cortez burned his ships in the harbor so there was no turning back. The only way was forward. Cortez didn't have today's technology to help him make a decision, but I feel sure that he studied the information that was available to him before he made a decision to explore an unfamiliar land.

American astronauts and technicians worked many years to make a rocket that could reach the moon. Their work and dedication allowed America to put the first man on the moon on July 20, 1969 and the American flag was planted there. From the moon came the announcement "the Eagle has landed". That was a crossroad for the American space program and that came from a decision that was made at the crossroad.

In the early church there were people called "pillar saints". They would climb a column,sit there and live there while they prayed. They would lower a basket for food donations from Christian passersby, but their whole life was just sitting on that column and passively praying with no further action on their part. There is a time for prayer and there is a time for action.A decision to move must be made.

Decisions are made from a combination of education, experience and plain old intuition. You don't always have time to get all the information you would like to have to make a decision. There are times when you have to make what has often been called a snap decision. At a crossroad like that, you may not have time to search out what lies ahead. You usually have enough time, however, to talk with people whose experience and education, when added to your own knowledge and experience, can help you decide to go ahead or not. Get all the information you can and try to look at what could happen down either road you decide to follow.

So what happens if you take the wrong road? Most mistakes can be corrected. You might take that into consideration as you make your decision in a "what if" kind of way. What if this or that happens - what will I do then? If you choose the right road, you have added to your knowledge and experience. If it is the wrong road, you have readied yourself to deal with the consequences and to build success.

When you are confronted with a crossroad in your life (and I can guarantee that you will be), pray, research, learn anything and everything you can about the situation, then move.