choice and other universes.

I have had a lot of time on my hands lately, being in between jobs and such. So how does an intelligent person capitalize on all of that free time? You adopt a new TV show to watch. I have recently begun watching the show Fringe. Now Fringe is a somewhat Sci-fi-ish show about something called Fringe science and how this science has gotten into the wrong hands and a special division of the FBI has been created to stop these crazy events from occurring-riveting huh? There is an episode where they are discussing the existence of alternative universes and how people from other universes have come over to this one. (bare with me) These universes exist because of personal choice. What they say is that life is not linear as we suppose, but that every time we stand at a crossroads and make a choice we create a break off of that line, a sort of split, that creates two paths and a different version of you is now on that other path. For instance, in one episode the other universe contains the Twin Towers still standing because those people made a different choice. Essentially, no path ever dies based on our personal decisions.

Now, of course this is science fiction and isn't reality. We know that there is only what we do, not what we could have done. But it occurred to me the other day that maybe this idea is not entirely flawed. There is a song off of Hillsong's newest album called Arms Open Wide. A short phrase in that song pierces my heart every time I hear it. It says:

Take my hands and make them clean

Keep my heart in purity

That I may walk in all You have for me

It gets me because it reminds me that the Lord, in His infinite wisdom and mercy has gone before me and marked out a path for my life. He has prepared, in advance, things that He wants me to do and all of these things lead me to the person He desires me to be- the best version of myself. But He has given me choice. He has set before all of us life and death and urged us to choose life. In other words, there are 2 universes; the Kingdom of God and the world and we can choose which one we want to live for and in. One leads to life-the other death. One is a better choice than the other. We will still be us in both, but very different versions of ourselves. This song verse hits my heart because I realize the gravity of this whole thing and it makes me want to fall face down and beg God not to let me miss it. The thing about paths is that we only get to choose and live out one. Even in the show the characters are completely unaware of their "other self" in the other universe. They only get to live out their choices. I desperately want to be able to look back on my life and see that I chose the Kingdom instead of the world, the Lord instead of my own sinful desires, and that I missed none of what He had for me.