When I was a boy we would take dominoes, set them upright, and line them up one after the other. Many times we would not line them up in a straight line; we would make curves in the line of upright dominoes. After spending a lot of time setting them all up we would push the first one down. The dominoes would then start to fall one into the next one until the long line of dominoes was all knocked over.

It was fun to watch them falling. It was as if they came alive. This childhood game has become so common that a chain reaction is often referred to as a domino effect. I have learned that most of the things that I have experienced in the past have some relevance in things that I deal with in the present.

A bad decision can start a chain reaction of bad consequences that will create more and more trouble for me. Just like the dominoes, situations and circumstances in our life can be knocked down. When one thing falls it can hit something else and it falls. For instance, if I spend all of my money on something that is not necessary and a bill comes in the mail that was unexpected, I have started a chain reaction.

To stop the chain reaction in the dominoes, all you have to do is to remove one so that the one ahead of it falls to the table without hitting another one. The rest of the dominoes will remain standing because the chain had been broken. Even though I can stop the dominoes from falling I still have the fallen dominoes down on the table. It takes much longer to pick them up than it took to knock them down.

Why is it that when things in our life are knocked over we expect to pick them back up as quickly as they have fallen? Or why do we expect to stop the chain reaction of our bad choices without taking something out of the chain? What do we do when there are many things in our life that have fallen?

These and other life questions will be addressed Sunday morning as “The Gathering Place Family” meets at 240 Courthouse Parkway in Washington C.H. for Life Groups at 9:30 and in the lobby at 10 a.m. for our Pre-Service Connection where we enjoy coffee, juice and donuts. Our Worship Service and Children’s Church then begins at 10:30. Come at 7 p.m. and be part of our Wednesday night Bible Study and Children’s Ministry.