Destiny Determined



     The young boy was only four years old when his parents began to notice that he was not as other boys. He was quiet, withdrawn, and had no interest in children his own age. He was moody, temperamental, and small of stature. Although he was the brunt of ridicule and aggression from the neighboring children, he never retaliated.
     His favorite activity, and it became a full-time passion, was make-believe military activities. He would spend hours alone in his parents' yard creating miniature battlefields with opposing armies of horsemen, soldiers, and artillery. His imagined military encounters would take days of creation and execution, and he would continually plot strategies and counter maneuvers.
     At the age of ten he was sent to a military academy with the help of a benefactor who seemed to recognize his latent talent. Being still small for his age and in his first year of school, he was constantly pressured and hazed by the upperclassmen. When he was asked by one of his instructors whether he needed assistance to counter the aggression, he replied, "It is of no consequence; some day I shall be their commander."
     Each of the cadets at the academy was given a plot of ground to grow vegetables to complement the academy's diet. Within three months the young man had gained control of the adjoining plots to his land, and, with the allowance sent to him by his parents, hired cadets to cut trees, plant bushes, and build a wall around the land controlled by him. The fortress was such that, in the words of a fellow cadet, "The domain was impenetrable and allowed him total seclusion for meditation."
     Upon graduation he was made a lieutenant in his country's artillery forces. Shortly thereafter he engaged in his first military action. A comrade wrote, "He relished the music of the roar of battle, the clangor of arms, the sound of the fife and drum, and the shouts of victory." Within six months, his brilliance on the battlefield and in strategic planning contributed to his being promoted directly from a lieutenant to a full general. Upon his promotion he said, "Thus my destiny begins, and Europe shall feel my hand." The year was 1793, and the young man was twenty four years old. His name was Napoleon Bonaparte.
     Have you realized your destiny? Do you know your destiny? What determines one's destiny? If we have been placed on this earth and made a part of the Kingdom of God, there must be a reason. How can we determine the destiny He has chosen for us? The answer lies in the study of His Word. We can seek His guidance through knowledge of the scriptures.

    Rev. James L. Creel clarified the matter in one of his memorable sermons:

What a man is taught determines what he believes.
What a man believes determines what he does.
What a man does determines his destiny.

    Our destinies are first created in our own minds. Proverbs 23:7 states, "For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he." Earl Nightingale, a modern-day motivator put it in more contemporary terms, "We become…what we think about." Give us the wisdom to discipline our minds and to understand even more the law of the harvest:

Sow a thought….. reap a deed
Sow a deed…..reap a habit
Sow a habit…..reap a character
Sow a character…..reap a destiny.