What If?

​February 8, 2026
 
Reflections from the Heart of Allan Redenius
As I sit and contemplate the state of the world, I ask myself how things might be different if only, “What if?”
 
Recently in Minneapolis, “What if” Renee Good had just obeyed the ICE officer and had simply exited out of her car as requested?  “What if” the ICE officer who shot her had deescalated their encounter in a different manner?  I'm certain that neither of them anticipated the events that would happen to them that fateful day.  I am just as certain that both would change the outcome of their mutual tragedy, if only they could. 
 
Just as an aside, if ever we want to see the presence of Satan in a situation, we certainly see him here in Minneapolis at this encounter.  Renee Good was not without fault in that she disobeyed lawful authority.  The ICE officer had only moments to react to what he believed was a threat on his life, and his reaction resulted in the death of Renee Good.  If you watch and listen to the chaos surrounding that moment, there was cursing and confusion that only the devil could have perpetrated.  “What if” God had been present and not the devil?
 
What I have noticed about my “What if” scenarios, is that most of them end in tragedy.
 
“What if” President Putin really knew Jesus as his Savior?   Would he be raining down missiles indiscriminately upon the people of Ukraine?  “What if” any tyrant loved the Lord?  How much better would our world be?  We all know people who have met up with tragedy and we ask, “What if?”  “What if” they had only left five minutes earlier?  “What if” they had taken a different route?
 
Though we may all wish for different outcomes, we know that we can ask all the “What ifs” in the world, and still we cannot undo what has been done.  If you are an unbeliever and as you come to die and wonder to yourself “What if,” your outcome will end in the tragedy of hell.  You know the outcome of that scenario before you even wonder “What if.”  Why not ask, while you still live, “What if I give my life to the Lord?”  Do that and your life will not end in tragedy, but in glory.  
 
Love in Christ,
Pastor Allan 
 
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