I’ve been in the ER plenty of times. There were times when I had to have my bones repaired, head examined, and chest x-rayed, but through the tears and the embarrassing whining about the pain, I managed to come out of that same ER time after time, alive.

How many times are we reminded that we take our lives for granted? The one important thing that I somehow forgot was the fact that in that same ER as me, there were people who went in and never came back out. As long as it doesn’t concern us directly, death is a tactful and inevitable thief. It is also something that we are almost relieved to turn a blind eye to, and go about our business that only concerns us.

The Dorothy Kirby Center in Los Angeles is a detention center for juvenile delinquents. It houses over one hundred who have violated their paroles, and I visited this place twice to talk with some of the residents. I was encouraged with the presence of Steph, who serves in the student council, tries her best to be her best, and is constantly praised as a leader. She bubbles with life in every word she speaks, every smile she emits. Lisbeth is a tiny seventeen-year-old who is adored by the parole officers and is a heartbreaker by sight, constantly laughing and open to sharing with me about her life and why this is the third time she is in the Dorothy Kirby. Both these girls were incredibly sweet to me, and there are high hopes for their futures.

Death and broken lives. These things strip us of the “good” things in life. How many people dying everyday lose the chance to be married, the chance to receive a degree, the chance to make friends, the chance to start a family? How many of those teenagers in the Dorothy Kirby Center will experience the love of good people, feel safe in their own skin, or for many of them, learn to read and write? Will Steph and Lisbeth ever get to experience these “good” things?

The truth of the matter is simple, and here it is. We are so blessed, not because we have food, we seem to be far from death, and living outside of jail, but because God chose us. We are destined, no matter how much we may argue, to be where we are today. Ephesians 1:4-5 states, “For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will…”

Isn’t it amazing? Before we were even born into this world, God knew we would find him. He knew that we would be where we are today, romping through this tough thing called life, but knowing and acknowledging that He is real and very much alive in us. We celebrate because we’re chosen. We’re the Neos of the Matrix, we are the Simbas of the Pride Rock and we are the twelve disciples of the fallen world. We are chosen.

Do not ever be fooled into thinking life and what it may hand you can be a mistake. Also do not assume that I am remarking in any way that we are chosen while the others who suffer are not. Frankly, God can use the chosen to get to his chosen. When will we learn that we are to take care of each other, that we’re not supposed to fear each other, and that we are not only to love each other, but to choose each other as well? Steph and Lisbeth may be chosen by me, and as long as I do not forget them and move about my business of taking care of my own wounds, I am making a difference in this self-focused world.

Who will you choose today? Will you allow yourself to be chosen and to be shaped as well? While those of us who get to experience the “good” things in life are liberated from death and broken lives, these two will come. Then, will we look around desperately and find that nothing is there to hold us? We are family, you and I, and all the sappiness aside, we need to choose to make it together to the greatest life after this one, or to break it without each other and regrets deep within the dying heart. Choose wisely.