Choose Wisely – June 23, 2022

Dear Reader,

My heart is heavy as I write this column today. A little while back a young man who attended our church was shot, and later died. A powerful verse in the Bible tells us, we become with who we walk with. Proverbs 13:20; “He who walks with wise men will be wise, but the companion of fools will be destroyed.â€

Every one of us must be wise in choosing whom we walk with; every single day of our life we’ll have choices, good or bad. An old saying, “Show me your friends, and I’ll tell you where you’ll be in five years.†Another powerful scripture in I Corinthians 15:34; “Do not be deceived; evil company corrupts good habits.†

How many people have been caught in a trap from hanging with the wrong person, many doing life in prison or even dead? Allow me to take you back to a time in my life, my husband at the time met a friend who asked us to go up to the top of Pikes Peak 14,000 feet high in the Colorado Rockies. I really didn’t want to go, I felt uneasy with this new friend of my husbands. But after a while I gave in and said, “Ok, I’ll go.†There were 6 of us all together, my husband’s new friend who was the driver and his girlfriend; they sat in the front seat. My husband and I, and another friend of my husband and his girlfriend, we four sat in the back seat. 

I was young and very shy at the time and really didn’t want to even be in the car. The driver, who was a bit wild, started smoking pot as he was driving up the top of the mountain. He started driving faster, laughing and within a moment, his mood changed. He and his girlfriend started to argue in the front seat, and the argument was getting more heated. Yelling at each other, he started driving faster. I asked my husband at the time, ‘Please tell him to slow down, he’s driving too fast and he’s scaring me.†That request went over like a lead balloon; in fact, it only fueled his anger and speed.

Scared, as we sped around every curve, I covered my eyes with one hand, braced my feet on the back of the driver’s seat, and held my balance by holding my right hand against the back of the driver’s seat. Then suddenly, the driver lost control, the car circled around and around, and then before I knew it, we flew off a cliff. Dust and glass were flying every where, the car rolled and then we were back top up, and then with a sudden jolt, we were stopped, we were smashed against a tree, the car tilting to its side with the driver’s car door open.

Long story short, the woman in the front seat, had broken her back, her face was completely smashed. The driver was thrown from the car, he went into convulsions. The young woman sitting next to me, her back was also broken; her boyfriend sitting beside her went into shock, having been in Vietnam, he pulled himself through the broken window, not knowing he had a large piece of glass lodged in his leg; he ran up the mountain in shock until someone who saw the car go over the cliff tackled him. My husband with his broken ribs, climbed out the side broken window to get help. I was trapped in the car, both my hips were broken, and my thigh and I dislocated my right shoulder. I couldn’t walk for one year.

It was a miracle any of us lived through that unnecessary car crash. Everyday lives are placed in danger, by a choice we make. Think before you decide what friends to choose it could cost you your life, or the life of another. Life is really very short so value everyday and cherish every moment.  And choose wisely who you walk with!   I love you.

Join me for a Sunday Church service @ A Touch From Above Prayer Mountain 16145 Hwy 67, Ramona CA 92065 (760) 315-1967, visit our website:  www.atouchfromabove.org

I Love you,

Dr. Luauna Stines