Have you ever come to a place in your life where you had to take a risk?
Was it scary, or dangerous? Was there any other option you could have chosen? Sometimes life can bring you to a place where you must make a choice or take a risk, and the outcome could change your life forever. In our daily lives, in business and during our busy schedules we are faced with risky situations like driving in traffic, or taking the subway. As the school year approaches, many of our children will be faced with taking risks or making choices that they may be unprepared for.
What kind of risk, you ask? In business, a decision can be made that will make or break a company. In school our children may be subjected to peer pressure to take drugs or to cheat on a test. In our home life we take a risk every time we hand the keys to our teenager. So what is the answer to withstanding these risks? Give them the tools to make the right decision.
Every child should be taught the rules of the road in order to drive safely. In business, you must look at the pros and cons of a decision that is made, and the aftermath, if it doesn’t go as planned. Knowledge is the key to understanding and confronting any risk taking decision.
As parents we need to teach our children how Abraham did not question God about sacrificing his only son Isaac, but trusted God had a plan to minimize the risk of his obedience. Help them understand
that being a good Christian may not always be popular, but the risk of not following Jesus can be life altering, especially if they submit to peer pressure and do something foolish.
We as writers have the luxury of letting our characters take a risk or make a bad decision, like taking drugs, and with the stroke of a pen, can make it all better. If only it were that simple in real life.
And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.
And the angel of the Lord called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I.
And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.
And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son.
Genius 22:2, 11-13