"If I had known"

I have a friend who is will be donating a kidney to another friend next week. This decision was made several years ago--when he had to have a kidney transplant he would do it. As the actual surgery has neared and more details have come out the donor told someone, "If I had known all this involved I might not have done it."

Many of us can look back and say "If I had only known". Many of us put off surgery for many years, only to after it's all done, say "If I had know it would be this much better I would have done it long ago". I know several who now wish they had become a Christian much earlier in life. There is much truth in the idea presented in several popular songs--"I hope you dance" and "The Rose"--that we should make the attempt since we don't know how it will out. You don't know until you try.

But on the other side I believe the Lord protects us from the future, knowing that many times we wouldn't know what to do with it. If you had told Dana and I that we would lose 2 houses and everything in them, I don't know if we could have faced it, but we have. If parents knew they had a genetic disease that they would pass on to their children, would they have children? And yet, not knowing, they do and they all make it. Like the Apostle Paul who was able to overcome his thorn in the flesh, with the Lord's help, we too can overcome the obstacles in our lives with His help.

At times we tend to not do anything for fear of doing something wrong. How mad do you get when the car in front of you can't seem to make a decision--changing lanes, slowing down to 10 miles an hour, etc.? Everything about their actions says they don't know what to do, so they do nothing. My favorite refrain in such situations is "Do something, even if it's wrong". We don't know the future so once we have gathered the facts that we can and prayed for guidance we need to take action.

Tol