“A prudent person foresees danger and takes precautions. The simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences.” (Proverbs 27:12)
I got to go on my first fire truck ride the other day. Not only that, but the ride was done on one of the runways at the Des Moines International Airport. The driver, a very good friend, and I have a love-hate relationship and I am sure he took great pleasure in terrifying me to the point of screaming and squirming as he drove that truck taking extremely sharp turns and taking it up to 75 MPH before hitting the breaks. He and my husband thought it was pretty darn funny.
This fire truck was the neatest thing I had ever seen. It didn’t look like the normal one you would see driving down your street. This fire truck had a front end like it could be a boat and the hose on top of the truck could be operated from the inside. Basically, this truck was designed to be operated by one person, inside the cab, if need be. The truck also had this really neat feature where bells and whistles start going off inside the cab when a turn is taken too sharply. When I think on the couple crazy corners my friend took, and as I remember the bells going off, I am reminded of how many times I have gone ahead and made a bad choice with bells and whistles were going off in my mind.
I will admit that much of my life has been spent with my bells and whistles going off and my doing whatever I wanted to anyway. I even got to a point where bells and whistles were going off, there was something before me I knew was wrong and I didn’t want to do it, and I went ahead and did it anyway without any reason. So, I had to start doing something that I am not very good at: be quiet.
I had to learn to just be quiet and learn to just listen. Instead of acting on something right away I take a step back and try to keep my mouth shut, or my body still….my success rate is steadily climbing and you know what I have learned? It is not better to act first and ask for forgiveness later and living in guilt and second-guessing is no way to live.
Do you have bells and whistles going off all the time? Do you listen or just keep going? Grab onto God’s Word and your decisions will become easier and still your self long enough to recognize His voice when He is guiding you.
“The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep recognize his voice and come to him. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.” (John 10:3)
