In Asia in the 1970's, a group of Christians were meeting and their pastor was reading from the Bible. Armed communists broke into their home and told the Christians that if they would be killed if they did not spit on their Bible. If they did, they would go free. The pastor got up and reluctantly spit on the Bible, praying that God would forgive him. Another woman got up and spat on it as well.

Than a young girl got up, knelt down and picked up the Bible. She wiped the spit off with her dress, while praying that the Lord would forgive her fellow Christians.

She was then shot in the head.

Not many of us will ever face a choice that dramatic or life threatening. However, that does not mean choices are unimportant. They are crucial elements of all of our lives.

Everyday, each one of us makes choices. We make little choices, and bigger choices. As graduating seniors, we will face some of the biggest choices of our lives in the next few years. We have to choose a degree, a career and possibly a future spouse. These upcoming choices will largely shape each our future lives. Yet, all the choices we all make determine what we think, how we speak, and how we act among other things. In a large way, choices determine who we are.

People all around the world make great, amazing choices all the time. People choose to rescue other people, to fight for their country, or to volunteer their time mentoring a hurting child. Unfortunately, all of us also make many bad choices. In today's world, we see the results of these bad choices all around us. Abortions, unplanned pregnancies, murder, theft, the list goes on. It is not just 21st century that makes bad choices either. History is filled with violence, unimaginable hate crimes, and other evils that ultimately, all came from bad choices.

So what's wrong with us? If there were a good God who loves us, why would He allow all this unspeakable evil to occur? It's very difficult question, one that has been asked for many years - and I certainly don't have perfect answers. However, I do believe that God gave us free will and the right to make choices for a reason. He did not want a bunch of mindless robots that serve Him because they are programmed to. He wanted us to serve Him and follow His ways because we love and trust Him. As C.S. Lewis eloquently put it, God "cannot ravish, he can only woo." If you think about it, the right to have a choice – sometimes politically labeled, as "civil rights" is one of the things we fight hardest over. We clearly love our right to have choices and are willing to step out on a limb to protect those rights. Choices are valuable to us despite their inherent dangers.

Graduation is a time when many big, sometimes dangerous choices are made or are soon to be made. Graduation means you're growing up. For many, it represents taking that next step into adulthood and a life on your own. This prospect thrills some kids who cannot wait to get out of their house, and scares others. I find myself in the middle. I will be living away from home at a college dorm, which is exciting but I admit a slight level of fear as well – which will hopefully evaporate once I settle in at college.

Indeed, for many kids graduation is a turning point for better or for worse. The structure you have in high school is no longer there. In colleges, you are often encouraged to "expand your mind" and challenge your previously held conceptions of the world. Some would call this "learning to think for yourself." This is certainly not a bad thing.

Many young people's faith is strengthened at college. Faced with new challenges and without the support group they had earlier, many come to a place where they make their faith their own and begin living in earnest for God - pursuing His plan for their lives. Unfortunately, many more kids lose their faith in God in college. Particularly at secular colleges, there is a lot of anti-Christian sentiment. Christians in classes are often mocked as being foolish, bigoted or old-fashioned. Far too many young people enter college or a job unprepared to answer difficult questions about their faith, or to stare down tough doubts that meet them head on. As a result, many young people give up their faith. Other people join groups in college that have a bad influence on them and lead them into making choices they regret. Again, taking any of these roads comes about from making choices.

While graduation holds many big choices for us as seniors, I believe there is ultimately a more important one than anything we face in college, in the job market or with the opposite sex. This choice is found in the Bible, in Deuteronomy 30:19-20. God said to the Israelites, "This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob."

God here is calling us all to choose life. He sent life to earth for us in Jesus Christ. Jesus said in John 14:6, "I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me." That is a powerful claim and it doesn't leave any room for give or take. Jesus calls us to place our faith in Him and to accept Him as our Lord and Savior. All other decisions, and all other paths in our lives will lead to death and separate us from God for eternity.

Thousands of years ago, God gave a choice to the Israelites, He told them to choose life and blessings over death and curses. Today, He asks us to make a similar decision – to choose life through his Son Jesus Christ or death.

I ask that would think about choices today. Even if we will never have a choice that determines government policy or directly saves lives, our choices are still important. In Jesus Christ, God has given us with the opportunity to make the greatest choice of all. He gives us the chance to choose life over death, blessings over curses. In a tough world, what can compare to that?