Buffy

   Many years ago in a small seacoast town, in Maine a young Pastor was waiting to begin a service. The events that led up to that morning are ones that we will, never forget.
   It was early May, a delightful time in Maine. The flowers were beginning to bloom, the air was warm, and you could hear the sounds of children playing everywhere. A few weeks before, Easter Sunday, many new children arrayed in their Easter outfits had come to Sunday school. One little two-year-old, in particular, had won the hearts of everyone that morning.
   Buffy was so excited about Sunday School! She loved her new little Bible, the songs, the stories, and the coloring time. The next week Buffy was back in Sunday School (unlike many of the children who had come just because it was Easter). The teacher learned that in May, Buffy would have a birthday. She told Buffy that they would all sing Happy Birthday to her on her special day.
   The music was playing softly as the time quickly approached for the service to begin. Pastor began the service with prayer and then two young teenagers, twin sisters, began to sing. They sang "Jesus Loves Me" and a few other Sunday School songs that Buffy had come to love.
   The young Pastor, with great difficulty, began to speak. He said, "Buffy had a book, and Buffy's book says...” From Buffy's Bible, the Pastor presented the Gospel. He told the people about the Lord Jesus, that Buffy loved to sing about, and without this same Jesus they would never know the joys of heaven.
Buffy dressed in the same Easter outfit she had worn that first Sunday could not hear the songs or the message being preached that morning. Buffy would never reach her third
birthday. The other children would not be singing Happy Birthday to her on Sunday morning, for she lay silently in her little white coffin. Her short life had ended a few days earlier under the wheels of a truck.
   Her Mom and Dad, both overwhelmed with grief, could not find comfort in each other that morning. Buffy's Mom was sitting with her boyfriend, while Buffy's Dad sat with his girlfriend. After the funeral, Buffy's mother told the Pastor that she had accepted Christ as her Savior as a teenager but she had drifted away from the Lord. Perhaps Buffy's death would bring this broken family together again and this young mother would seek to live a life pleasing to the Lord.
  "Would you like to get things right with the Lord?" the Pastor asked. "No", she replied, "I'd have to give up too much." She knew that there were many things in her life that would have to change, and she wasn't willing to do that.
  Through the years, we have witnessed the devastating effect, when people choose to do their own thing. Over and over, we hear people say, "It's my life, let me do things my way!" Are we teaching our young people to seek God's will for their lives? Have we set the example for our young people? It is easy to hide behind the things we do that are good and still not be in God's will. You may be faithful in your Church attendance, teach, School class, sing in the choir, and many other things, BUT are you seeking God's will for your life?
   Romans 12:1 & 2 tells us: "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world; but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God."
   Buffy's mother made a choice just as we make our choices. We may not walk away from the Lord, but we may be living a life that is not acceptable to the Lord. The Lord allows many things in our lives to bring us to the point of submitting to His will, but ultimately the choice is ours. What choices are you making?