What if...?

Homily preached at Eltham College on 3rd July 2007

You are standing at the desk
of Deal or No Deal.

You've managed
to whittle the number of boxes down to two.

In one lies 1p,
in the other a quarter of a million.

The banker offers you £50,000,
and then Noel Edmonds asks you the question
- Deal or No Deal?

So what do you do?

Take £50,000
and throw away the possibility
that you could have won five times that amount,
or do you reject that amount of money
and risk going home with only 1p?

What's your decision?

[PAUSE]


Decision making affects us all.

Would you rather have
a slice of chocolate cake
or a slice of lemon meringue pie?

A glass of cola or lemonade?

Would you rather go out on a date with
Keira Knightley or Jennifer Lopez?

Sorry girls – Dougie or Harry from McFly?

For the most part,
our decisions are either easy to make
or they aren’t devastatingly important.

It’s when the decisions
are potentially life changing that we start to worry.

[PAUSE]

The problem with big decisions
is that we think to ourselves
“what happens if I make the wrong decision?”
and here begins the dreadful practice
of what-iffing.

“What if I’m choosing the wrong university?”

“What if I find that I’m studying
the wrong subject?”

Of course, it’s a good idea
to get as much information as possible
to satisfy our doubts
in order to make a balanced decision.

But the what-ifs can get sillier.

“What if I don’t make any friends?”

“What if the drinking water tastes funny?”

“What if the room faces west?”

“What if I can’t get the Sci-Fi channel?”

University admissions teams
have heard all these including
“What if the Students’ Union building
runs out of beer?”

Actually,
as important as these questions are at the time,
they are largely irrelevant.

We are only asking them
because we are actually scared rigid
that we are leaving school for a new place
– a new phase in our lives.


This is a decision that
is approaching some of you
faster than others.

It is a decision
that you 11 year-olds have already had to face,
but you did not face it alone,
because you had your parents to help you
And they made the choice with you.

By the time you’re in the sixth form,
your parents can only advise,
it is only you who will have
to make the choice
and that is scary.

That’s when the what-ifs come in.

[PAUSE]

The job of the what-if is
to find an excuse not to change,
not to make that life-altering decision.

A what-if sneaks into your mind
like your little brother sneaks into your room
looking for something to pilfer
– your PS2 game,
your iPod
or your something
potentially embarrassing hidden under the mattress.

A what-if hunts around
looking for your insecurity
and when it finds it,
it plays on it undermining your confidence,
building your fears.

The end result is that
making that decision
becomes a source of anxiety and fear.

It is why some of us cannot face making that decision.

What can you do?

[PAUSE]

There is only one question
you have to answer with any decision
you have to make.

“Will I cope if it all goes Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston”

"Will I cope if it all goes wrong?"

The answer is yes. Always, yes.

If you make the wrong decision in life then,
admittedly, life will become uncomfortable
but you will be able to cope.

You will not face the consequences alone
—unless you choose to do so.
Christians look at the Saints
for their examples of how to live,
and it’s amazing just how many fail.

In fact all of them fail at one point or another.

St Peter denies that he ever knew the Lord
-wrong decision!

St Thomas doubts in the Resurrection
-wrong decision!

St Paul starts off
by making life unpleasant for Christians.
-wrong decision!


But their failure is only part
of their route through life,
and at the end of their lives
– and these three gentlemen
all meet violent ends –
they still shine for us today
from their place in Heaven,
just as God promised them.

We all make wrong choices.

We all embark on a project that is doomed to failure.

But that is life, an important part of life,
a beneficial and fruitful part of life.

Indeed failure is just as much
an achievement as success.

If you work hard and succeed,
then you achieve your goals
and get that high feeling of achievement.

However, if you work hard and you fail
then it is disappointing,
but there is much that you will achieve
through all that hard work.

The benefits of success are immediate;
the benefits of failure can only be seen after a while, but there are still benefits.

[PAUSE]

No-one likes to fail,
but we cannot let the fear of failure ruin our life
by preventing us from making
a life-changing decision.

In the end, it is all a question of Faith.

It is all a question of belief that somehow,
though life may get difficult or painful,
though the night be dark
and we be far from home,

we will be sustained and helped
and grow from our experiences
and find a greater,
more lasting happiness.

Christians believe that
this is one of the benefits
of having Faith in God.

What is the decision that you fear making most?

What will you do to overcome that fear?