Tag: fools

“Look Before You Leap”

When you want to cool off and a bridge looks like the perfect short cut, make sure to look twice and cannonball once…

Neal Pollard

In the summer of 2013, a 21-year-old swimmer, Corey Allen Hewitt, jumped off the Bandmann Bridge into the Clark Fork River in Missoula, Montana. Because he did not look upriver before his plunge, he landed on a man who was floating the river in an inner tube. The man, Andy Hill, suffered broken legs, torn knee ligaments, and other injuries. Alice Miller of the Missoulian wrote, “Hewitt slammed into his lap, chipping bones and tearing ACL ligaments in both of Hill’s legs and fracturing one of his femurs.” The jumper was given a two year deferred sentence and ordered to pay $22,500 in restitution to the victim. He knew that it was illegal, but he disregarded the warnings. Not only did he injure hill and get in trouble with the law, he was also injured. The worst part of this is how totally preventable it was, if not for a young man’s lack of discernment and discretion.

Hewitt is not the first or the worst example of the danger of taking a blind, impetuous leap that inflicts damage! In Proverbs, Solomon describes the fool as one who, lacking understanding, recklessly divulges his mind (18:2), proclaims the folly of his heart (12:23), and displays his folly (13:16). Solomon warns about being hasty or impulsive to bring up a matter (Ecc. 5:2). An abomination to God are “feet that run rapidly to evil” (Prov. 6:18). The one enamored with the adulteress “hastens to the snare” she sets (Prov. 7:23) and the intemperate “hasten to shed blood” (Prov. 1:16). 

Have you ever jumped to conclusions? Made assumptions? Perhaps you did not hold off and wait for information and confirmation. The damage can be costly and permanent, for yourself and your victim. It is seen by a heavenly judge who shall deal justly (Gen. 18:25; Rom. 3:5-6). Take some time. Be a conscientious fact-gatherer, and then triple-check. Give the benefit of the doubt. Seek counsel from the wise. Check your motives. There are so many steps to take before you take a leap. A closer look can change the whole situation and save reputations, feelings, and maybe even souls. 

Wisdom Taught By A Fool

Dale Pollard

In the ancient past, being called a fool held a lot of negative weight and it wasn’t something that was taken lightly. Today we may jokingly use the term, but not back then. It was both an insult and the description of someone you certainly didn’t want to identify with. So what would qualify someone as a real fool? Biblically, this is the one who lacks spiritual wisdom and tends to have an embarrassing lack of common sense. 

There’s a healthy emphasis placed on the fool throughout the Psalms and Proverbs and as you’d expect his time in the spotlight is far from flattering. He’s often used as a sharp contrast to a wise and intelligent person. Some of these passages concerning the fool may sting in a personal kind of way as they reflect our own occasional actions or inclinations. 

Perhaps the most impactful bit of wisdom taught to us by the fool is that our words don’t always reflect our beliefs, but our repetitive actions do. Psalm 14 begins by stating, “the fool has said in his heart ‘there is no God.’” Not all fools are atheists, but all atheists are fools even though the bulk of society doesn’t seem to agree. Today, atheistic minds that fill the roles of teachers, scientists, and authors are held in high regard. To some they are declared the brains of society or dubbed the pioneers of the future. 

Evolutionary doctrine may dominate classrooms and laboratories, but God calls them foolish. He doesn’t see them as “progressive” or “admirable” and that’s because they’ve missed something (or Someone) obviously crucial. To deny the existence of a God you’re surrounded by, alive because of, and will ultimately be judged by— is to lack sense. 

Like Snow In Summer

Neal Pollard

In Proverbs 26:1, Solomon writes, “Like snow in winter and like rain in time of harvest, so honor is not fitting for a fool.”  As you ponder the meaning of this proverb, let me share with you the aftermath of a volatile “Front Range Phenomenon.”  Denver and the surrounding areas gets more than its share of hailstorms. Nolan Doesken, state climatologist and Colorado State professor, reveals that “Colorado is one of the most hail-prone states in the U.S….destructive hail occurs most frequently on the western Great Plains” (www.cocorahs.org).  Anecdotally, a new roof sitting on my house is testimony to its destructiveness.  Last night’s storm was exceptional, even for Denver.  The hail and accompanying heavy rain and high winds caused flash fooding, but the hail itself looked more like a snowstorm.  Just southeast of the church building, there is accumulation up to six inches.  Just southwest of the church building, there are similar piles the likes of which longtime locals have never seen.  It looks for everything, in spots, like snow in summer.

It at least helps me appreciate how strange the sight of snow in summer is.  Growing up in south Georgia, snow in winter was almost as strange!  In this pithy poetry, Solomon is making a powerful point with the imagery of summer snow and harvest-time rain.  Some things do not go together.  Spiritually, a fool and honor are incongruous.  How fitted that is for contemporary circumstances.

In an age of reality TV, spawning garish characters shamelessly spilling every sordid secret and tawdry turn of events, we see foolish, dishonorable behavior.  In a time when people parade their sin rather than hide it in shame, we see foolish, dishonorable behavior.  Politicians, professional athletes, people in positions of responsibility (school teachers, civic leaders, preachers, corporate executives, et al), and others betray the public trust.  When they do, it is truly like snow in summer.

Influence is a precious commodity with which all of us are equally supplied.  What we do with it is very individual and personal.  We can be fitted for honor if we are good stewards of it, but how difficult it is to attain it when we act like a fool.  It’s like snow in the summertime.