Week 2 of Lent

Choose your god --or choose God
by Carl Bergeson

I have always been a Christian.  By that I mean I was born into a Christian family.  My parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. were all Christians.  I cannot remember not attending church and Sunday School.  My friends came from Church.  I was active in our youth program, attended Bible camp every summer, memorized Bible verses, and eventually attended a Christian college where I met and married my wife, Stella.  I can’t remember a “time” where I made a decision to become a Christian—I just always was.

After graduating from college, marrying and starting my career, this identity began to shift.  As I began getting raises and promotions, my job became my priority.  Eventually I found myself travelling more than 100 nights per year.  Church involvement became less important.  I stopped singing in the choir, stopped teaching and serving on committees and I settled on attending Sunday morning services.  Eventually, Sunday service gave way to golf or just sleeping in. 

While all of this was happening, I realized that the money and the promotions were not making me happy.  In fact, I found that I really hated my job and should be doing something else, but I was unwilling to let go of the financial security it offered.  Unhappiness is contagious, though, and it began to spread throughout my family, so when I had the opportunity in 1996 to take an early retirement, Stella and I decided to change our lifestyle and make it work.  I remember the joy and relief I felt on that first day…

One of our first decisions was to reconnect with church.  Stella’s parents went to First United Methodist Church so, almost by default, it is where we decided to join.  We learned about Methodism and John Wesley and began to understand that Christian faith is not just professed, but practiced. We realized that Christ needs to be the center of everything.  In a fairly short time, I was involved in Missions. 

Today, I am a different person than I was when I was working.  I am happy and feel that what I am doing is relevant.  I am a better husband, father, brother, friend.  I have joy.

Whether I was ready or not, retirement emptied me of those things that kept me from God.  I look back and realize how screwed up my priorities were and how much it cost me and those around me. I wish that I would have done the emptying earlier.  I know that if I had kept Christ as the focal point of my life, I would not have lost so much time or missed so much of the joy that Jesus offers.

I am glad that I learned this—even though it was late in my life.  My advice to those who are just starting out is this:  No matter what your career path is, do not let it be your god.  Do not let it become your number one priority.  As a Christian, you choose where Jesus fits into your life.  He can be number one—the one we go to for answers in everything we do—or he can be relegated to sitting on the bench, called only emergencies.  Take it from one who has been there, life is better with Jesus in charge. So start now. Let go. Empty out everything else.