The Ride Of A Lifetime

The Ride of a Lifetime

Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see.

Hebrews 11:1

It was an ordinary Thursday evening on December 1, 1955, in an unhurried southern town. But what was about to happen that evening would change nothing less than the history of an entire country. A frail, middle-aged woman made a decision that few would have imagined in those days and in that place. After completing her workday as a tailor’s assistant at a Montgomery department store, Rosa Parks stepped onto the Cleveland Avenue bus to go home—just as she had done on countless other evenings. She paid her fare and found a seat as the bus lumbered on to make two or three stops until it ended up in front of the Empire Movie Theater. More passengers entered the bus at this stop. They filled the empty seats until one man, who happened to be white, was left standing in the aisle. That’s when the bus driver asked the four black passengers on Rosa’s row to move and give the man a seat. Three of them got up. But not Rosa. She made a decision to just sit there.

Unthinkably, the bus driver warned Rosa that he would have her arrested if she didn’t move. It was the law. “Well, you can do that,” Rosa replied, but she stayed put. And so did the bus. Two police officers arrived in their squad car in no time and carted Rosa off to jail.

Rosa hadn’t planned to make a point that evening, but her decision ignited the entire civil-rights movement. Word of this little lady’s decision spread like proverbial wildfire throughout Montgomery and beyond. The result? A little more than a year later, the United States Supreme Court finally ruled that the segregation of buses was illegal.

Talk about making a difference! And it all started with a decision. Our question for you today is, What decision would change everything for the better in your marriage? If today was to serve as a monumental day in the history of your relationship because the two of you made a decision, what would it be?

To accept the status quo is to resign yourself from making a difference. Why settle for the status quo in your marriage? Sometimes all it takes is one decision to change everything.

I have learned over the years that when one’s mind is made up, this diminishes fear; knowing what must be done does away with fear.

—Rosa Parks