"Wish I could go back and..."

       Ever let those words fly out of your mouth? Ever realize that you made a bad choice and wish that you could just go back and have a do-over? So many times, I could have made better choices, but experience is gained from poor choices in order to reduce the amount of poor choices we make in the future. I heard that somewhere, but really doubt its validity. After all, we do learn from those choices in order to keep from repeat offenses, but there are so many different things, in life, that requires choosing that they are often unrelated and therefore the prior lessons seldom apply to the current situation, right?
       So I was lying in bed and my mind started with this thought barrage. If I could go back and change one thing in my life, what would it be? One thing led to another, and I realized that there were many things that could be listed. If I had the opportunity to go back and changes failures into successes, would I?
       I am a big fan of time travel movies, Back To The Future is one of my favorites. This past year, I re-read The Time Machine by H.G. Wells. I even spoke to my science class about the catastrophic outcome that would be the result if time travel was possible. If I, by traveling back in time, changed one single thing in history, the effect would be exponential. Here's an example: Let's look at a scene without time travel and then with. Your grandfather is walking down a city sidewalk. He spots a diner and decides that, due to the warm weather, it would be nice to pop in and enjoy a nice refreshing drink. He enters, sits at one of two unoccupied seats at the counter, orders, and enjoys his drink. A minute after he enters, another man enters the store and, seeing only one seat remains at the counter, decides to sit at a table. Half a minute later, a young lady walks in, sees an open seat at the counter and sitting down next to your future grandfather, looks at a menu. "Wow! What a looker!" Your grandfather (who is only 20 years old at the time) sees his chance and seizes the opportunity. He strikes up a conversation with the pretty young lady and the rest, as they say, is history. You know this story because you asked your grandfather "Grandpa, how did you and Grandma meet?"  Now, let's look at the alternative: I travel back in time and, as I walk down the street, I stop a young man and ask him for directions (it just happens to be your grandfather). This delays him for only a little over a minute; a fraction of time really. Afterward, he continues down the sidewalk, and enters the diner, a step behind another man. There are two open seats available at the counter but the man in front of him chooses one. To keep from crowding in, your grandfather chooses to sit at a table. Half a minute later, a young lady walks in, sees an open seat at the counter and sitting down, looks at a menu. Your great-grandfather (who is only 20 years old at the time) sees her, but also sees his choice of the table, with no crowding and plenty of room as good, and seizes the opportunity to read the newspaper, which he can spread out on the table. He strikes up a short conversation with the older waitress, and glancing back at the young lady, at the counter, thinks to himself "Wow! What a looker! If I were sitting next to her, I would definitely talk to her" and the rest, as they say, is history. You never exist.
       So if I go back and change things, then everything after that point is also changed. If I had not been in that place, at that time, then I would not have met my wife and... Sure I would have met someone and had kids, etc, but they would have been different kids. Understand?  Had I chosen to go to college after high school, instead of waiting until I was 38 years old...If, If, If. Had my wife's mother not died when Tammy was five years old, and she had not spent time in a children's home, and not been raised by her grandparents, and not been at that place and time...
       So, what is the point?  We look back on past mistakes and wish that we could have done things differently. That's normal. To wish that we had made better choices and said things differently, handled things another way, or acted in a more upstanding manner. The point is, we can't go back. If we did, we would foul things up even worse. Why worry about the past while navigating the future? Is there scripture, for this, you ask? Why of course there is. Here's one: Philippians 3:12-14 (New Living Translation)  I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.
       We should strive to make right choices; to pave a path that will take us forward, that will allow us to look back and say "Well done."