The Fix, sitting on the southwest corner of McKellips and Higley in Mesa, Arizona, is a simple shop – more closely resembling a stand because it has no indoor seating. There’s more locations than this one, but the McKellips and Higley one is my spot. There’s not much of a difference between The Fix and the other local joints, but one major difference is it’s farewell sign staring at you on the way out with your recently concocted Cold Brew, Americano, Latte, or Red Bull infused energy drink:
We know you had a choice
Thank you for choosing us.
When my eyes first connected with this catching slogan like
a freshman boy spots his high school senior crush at his high school dance, I immediately
time-traveled back to the years God placed a recurring thought in my brain that
I spent multiple decades finding the words to explain.
Growing up, I liked to call myself an observer of others,
staring intently at them as they lived their lives. I am too stubborn and
protective of my reputation to admit that part of me is strange and creepy, but
it likely was. Like a 10-month-old baby, I would stare probably too long as if I
was just learning to be human. Anytime I had a moment or two to myself, this
profound thought would enter into my mind like the sunset paints the entire sky
purple and shades of red and orange – it was an unavoidable, yet beautiful thought.
I began to wonder what it would be like for God to decide someone else would
fill my body, which meant my personality, hobbies, habits, downtime, and choice
of friends, religion, attitude towards school, and daily decision making would
belong to someone other than myself. Additionally, I would sit on the sidelines
waiting for God to choose me as bodies began getting filled by other identities
I had no control over.
If this explanation is too depressing, let’s focus on it
from another angle:
The internet says approximately 250 human babies are born
around the globe per minute. This means from the mere standpoint of how long
the Earth has been around and will be around compared to the amount of babies
being produced by eager and often surprised parents, there’s a pretty good
chance I’ll be in charge of one of those bodies in life if 4.3 babies are born
per second, and there’s evidence I beat the extraordinarily low odds of me
being born. However, the more you learn what God is capable of and can do,
especially in a short window of time, the more humbled you become that you were
not permanently put in the batter’s box or dugout watching others receive a
body to live in on Earth. You were chosen to play in the game.
While God had every right to create me to be controlled by
someone else (meaning, somebody else makes my friends, someone else makes my
decisions and chooses how I spend it, someone chooses my hobbies and how I
spend my money, etc.), he didn’t. He chose me to fill my body. The alternate
Josh, if he were born, might like hitting the greens with his golf bag, watch Tik
Tok videos with a 20 oz cup of Tapioca Boba Tea, while skiing on the water –
all things this Josh – the one who beat out all of the other sperm and all of
the other possibilities – does not like.
Even if God did have other possible Josh’s ready to exist
in my physical body, God only followed through with the Josh sitting on the
master bedroom bed writing this very paragraph. Better yet, God doesn’t bench
me because my batting average is low or I don’t hit well against left-handed
pitchers. He keeps me in the game of life as long as He wants to, and I am
grateful he chose me.
It's not an accident God chose YOU to be born for this time, for this moment, and for the daily situations you live through. At any moment, God could have decided he didn't need to share his creation with you, and pre-selected you to be on Life's team. But he wanted you. He wanted to draft you into this world, and nothing stopped him. He wants you to live it with purpose because he purposefully chose you!
This is why we worship Him! He chose us when he gave us parents or guardians to raise you, he chose us when he sent his only son to die for our sins, and he is choosing us now to be involved in what he continues to do through you and those around you.
What a blessing!
*See Genesis 1 & Psalm 139:14
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