Everybody seems to have an opinion on Iraq, especially from the comfort of an easy chair and a look at the imaginary note on the calendar that says, "It's Monday morning quarter-back time!" Right now most of America, and for that matter much of the world, awaits the next stage of America's evolving sojourn in Iraq. Most of us wish with all of our being that it hadn't turned out the way it has. After all, it wasn't supposed to. Coalition forces were supposed to be greeted as liberators, and democracy was supposed to bloom and grow. The riches of the country's petroleum fields were supposed to be shared among all three major segments of the Iraqi population. But, but, but … For most of us there is nothing we can do about Iraq. So let's move to another theatre of operations. It isn't nearly as far as Iraq. In fact, it is in our own backyard. The bottom line is that you and I can make a real assessment of how life is going "on the ground" with the challenges facing us personally. Perhaps you think you're doing the best you can with what confronts you. But, just like America's best intentions towards Iraq, do many of your good intentions melt before your eyes like Hershey Kisses left out on a sunny porch on a summer's day. Instead of Sadr City, Kirkuk or Mosul, are your battlefields simply getting along with coworkers, finances, childrearing, marriage or how to relate to adult parents. Or maybe they are drugs or other chemical dependencies or just deciding what to do with the rest of your life—starting right now. It's been said that life is not made by the dreams you dream but by the choices you make. And yes, choices have consequences, some wonderful and some awful. I have never met anyone who planned to fail. Last time I looked at a college catalogue there were no classes offering "Failure 401," much less "Failure 101." Oh, no one steps out to fail. Yet, I've often been amazed at how many persons seeking to climb the ladder of success discover only when they reach the top rung that their ladder is leaning on the wrong building. Long ago, Jesus Christ strove to raise the level of His followers' principles of success awareness by presenting them a battle plan anchored to reality. He said, "For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it; lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, 'This man began to build and was not able to finish.' Or what king, going to make war against another king, does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? Or else, while the other is still a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks conditions of peace" (Luke 14:28-32). Right now, as President Bush is designing a studied approach whose results regarding America's involvement in Iraq could appropriately be titled A New Way Forward, perhaps its time we also develop a new way forward regarding the quagmires that beset us. We can't rewind our life's tape, but we can certainly put it on pause before taking the next step and count the cost regarding the decisions that are pounding on the front doors of our lives. Long ago, the poet Tennyson penned, "I must loose myself in action, lest I whither in despair." So what do we do? Yes, we need to step out! Are you ready to step out with a new way forward? Perhaps its time to start asking what is God's best for me? But how does one count the cost? Proverbs 11:14 explains, "Where there is no counsel, the people fall; but in the multitude of counselors there is safety." Yes, good counsel is priceless! And to help you count-the-cost with wise counsel please allow me to recommend a totally free booklet published by the United Church of God. If you are tired of worrying and being frustrated then this booklet is for you. Remember, the past is gone and the present is fleeting but the future is yours, one decision at a time. Learn how to make it work! Just request, read online or download our free booklet: Making Life Work.