Have you ever had one of those conversations that you find yourself reflecting back on years afterward…?

I had one of those probably 4 years ago while talking with a Biker pastor friend of mine named Sid who has also been a construction worker for 40 years. I was at a dinner party with pastor Sid and began to convey to him a sequence of events that I was still highly emotionally attatched to. The night before, I was riding my motorcycle on the highway where a car had ridden 10 feet behind me speeding up and slowing down for over a mile, then swirved around me, pulled in front of me and slammed on his brakes. I was absolutely convinced that he was trying to cause me to wreck and I was FURIOUS! (If you are a biker, I know you are identifying with my emotion right now)

As I spoke with Pastor Sid, I made the statement, “If he hadn’t sped off I would have… “ and Pastor Sid very authoritatively said, “Aaron STOP…! Don’t even entertain that thought process! It doesn’t lead anywhere healthy and you can set yourself up for failure later if you continue to go there in your mind…”

I was a little taken back and said, “Pastor Sid, you know what I’m talking about…” and he stopped me again and said, “Aaron… Don’t allow your thoughts to go there!”

Since that time I have replayed that conversation over and over in my mind as it pertained to so many different situations. Pastor Sid is no Sissy but the wisdom that he was imparting to someone nearly 30 years younger than him was hard earned and priceless!

What I have come to understand is this, “What happens in the mind will happen in time” and I believe that this is what the bible is talking about when it says to bring EVERY thought into the obedience of Christ. Very little in life happens without a thought leading us into the scenario… Especially those scenarios that we regret!

The lesson I’ve learned in all of this is, I may not be able to control the initial thought, but I can absolutely choose what thought I continue to meditate upon… My encouragement to you today is when those circumstances come that evoke so much emotion in us that it is difficult to concentrate on anything else, redirect your thoughts to those things in your life that are blessings, thank God for what you DO have and what IS good…and intentionally think on those things…