Choices

     I first heard this story a couple years ago at a school meeting. The speaker did an outstanding job in his telling, which I can in no way replicate here. I am thankful for the inspiration he was given and his willingness to share. It is not the intention to glorify war in any way.

    Choices. We all have an incredible number of choices to make every day. What we often fail to remember is that our choices are often made by our actions beforehand. Are we preparing ourselves in our daily lives to be ready for the responsibility of choice when it comes? One young man was.

    This event took place on November 26, 1943. It was night near the Gilbert Islands. The United States Navy was preparing for their first-ever attack launched from an aircraft carrier. The planes left the ship one by one, and begin their flight across the ocean. A young commander, Edward (Butch) O'Hare, was leading the formation when they were set upon by several Japanese torpedo bombers. O'Hare never hesitated and did not flee. Instead, he wheeled about and begin a counter-attack which resulted in five of the nine enemy planes being shot down before his own F6F Hellcat spiraled out of the sky, never to be found. O'Hare was the first naval recipient of the Medal of Honor of World War II. When his choice came, he did not hesitate. He was ready.

    Now let's travel back in time to the streets of Chicago. You could make good money there if you had the right connections, and Easy Eddie did. He was a lawyer working under the mob boss Al Capone. But there was a problem. He had a son, a very bright boy with the possibility of a good future. Easy Eddie knew that his son would have great difficulty living up to his potential when people realized to whom he was related. If only his son had a clean name! 

    Eddie recognized that there was a way for his son to get a clean name, but it would not be an easy one. In order for his son to have a chance in life, Eddie would have to make changes himself. He would have to quit the mob. 

    Quitting the mob was not something one did lightly. Eddie knew what happened to men who quit the mob. He had worked with Capone long enough to realize that. But what was worth more? His life, or the future of his son? He wrestled with the decision into the early hours of many nights. Finally, his choice was made. He gathered papers of incriminating evidence and handed them over to the authorities. Today, many people believe that without this important evidence Capone would likely never have been convicted of his many wrong-doings. Two days after Easy Eddie made his decision for the right irreversible, he was dead.

    This is the true story of the decision that gave Edward O'Hare the courage he needed to break up the attack of an enemy squadron. You see, the lawyer that chose to leave the mob? That was Edward's father.

    Let us strive to live our lives in such a way that we will be ready to make decisions for the right when those choices come our way. We cannot know how many people those decisions will impact. Choices in the things we say, in how we react to circumstances, in how we use our time, or choose to reach out to others. 

    Because we cannot predict what situations we will find ourselves in, we cannot plan every response. Nor are we always blessed with time to ponder before making a decision. But we can prepare. We can prepare ourselves by deciding every day to lean upon the everlasting arms of a Father in whom we can trust in any circumstance. In the words of of Joshua, we can prepare every day if we "Choose...this day whom ye will serve;...as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."

    If this is the earnest cry of our hearts, there will be grace to overcome. There will be courage to take a stand. There will be guidance to make the right decisions. May we live every day in preparation for the choices which we face.