by CP Foster

My friend Gene, 84, was not very quick on his feet.

On a recent day, after several cows broke from the catch pen on his farm, he made the decision to enter the pen and push the bull toward the trailer. Although he had scratched the animal’s head in the past and thought he was friendly, he made a poor decision that day.

Had someone told Gene he would end up with the majority of his ribs fractured, a broken leg, a broken collarbone and two collapsed lungs, he would not have entered that pen. Unfortunately, Gene will never see another sunrise or hear the birds singing from his farm here on Earth. I was standing next to Gene when he was killed. I had told him, as well as did several others, not to go into the pen, but it was his decision.

We are faced with decisions all of our lives. We must remember our decisions have consequences, all of them.

If you are a faithful Christian, you know the consequences of not accepting God’s free gift of salvation. It is a decision each of us needs to make, no middle ground. It’s a decision that determines our eternal destiny.

Along those lines, it is our responsibility as Christians to tell people who Jesus is and the consequences of not accepting his free gift of salvation. We know the outcome if the wrong decision is made — an eternity separated from God. We need to tell people of the love of Christ and how to accept his free gift of salvation. People will then make their own decisions.

By the grace of God, Gene and I had several conversations about Jesus during our 20-plus years of friendship. We came from different theological backgrounds, but we both agreed that Jesus was the son of God, died for our sins and was resurrected.

Gene made the wrong decision while loading cattle that day, but many years ago he had made the correct decision to accept God’s son into his life.

My prayer is that we can help more people make better informed decisions, on and off the farm.

Foster is past president of Fellowship of Christian Farmers International. He lives in Westfield, Pa.