Tag: hasty

“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. 

The Shocking Truth Of The Alligator That Bit The Electric Eel

 

Neal Pollard

All puns aside, the event really happened in the Amazon back in 2010 and was captured on You Tube.  An unidentified Brazilian fisherman documents the rare, extraordinary event.  The electric eel can generate up to 600 volts of electricity.  A hungry caiman with a fatal appetite found this out too late to let go and live.  The best reports indicate that both creatures, intended predator and potential prey, lost their lives in the interaction (www.telegraph.co.uk).

While the fisherman had caught the eel and had gone to get a knife to cut the line, the caiman saw the eel thrashing and could not resist trying to make a meal of it.  Animals are instinctive creatures and thus such intellectual and emotional responses as lust, malice and forethought, or hostility did not drive its decision to dine.  Nevertheless, it was still a fatal food choice!

Think about the instances where we can get into even more serious, spiritual trouble than the aforementioned reptile.

  • The allure for a married person to have an affair or an unmarried person to have an illicit sexual encounter or relationship.
  • The decision to get drunk or high.
  • Provoked by the words or actions of another, unloading on the provoker with sinful anger expressed by ungodly words and/or actions.
  • Exacting revenge on someone, thinking it will be “sweet” and not “bitter.”
  • Sending that angry email without deliberating, praying, or consulting a trusted friend first.

Really, any impulsive reactionary word or act can create ramifications we cannot predict or anticipate.  So many, in a momentary heat of passion, have created longterm headaches and heartaches.  Before we give in to temptation, we need to give due thought to the consequences all the while appreciating that we cannot foresee them all or the extent of them.  Eve was the first to fail to do this (Gen. 3:6), but she was far from the last.  May we pray for and pursue the wisdom to mull before we munch!

 

The Price Of A Prank

Neal Pollard

A summer intern at the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) apparently thought it would be funny to “confirm” the names of the four pilots of Asiana Flight 214 to a TV station in the bay area where the tragic crash occurred less than a week before the prank was played.  An Oakland news anchor read the false, insensitive names as the names appeared on screen.  It was horribly offensive.

While the intern no doubt thought it was funny (and perhaps others encouraged him and thought it was funny, too), he (or she) may feel differently today.  The intern was fired and both the TV station and the NTSB have profusely apologizes for the error.  Asiana Airlines has been seriously considering filing a lawsuit against the station for defamation.  Though the story will probably contain further developments, the damage done is considerable.

David once prayed, “Teach me good judgment and knowledge, for I believe Your commandments” (Ps. 119:66). Would you agree with me that demonstrating poor judgment is an all-too-common frailty with which many of us suffer?  Whether a hasty word  (see Prov. 29:20), impulsive action (cf. 2 Tim. 3:6; Ti. 3:3), or snap judgment (Prov. 18:13), the moment of thoughtlessness is often followed by a mountain of regret.

So many areas of life require sound judgment and forethought, whether big decisions like finances, relationships, education, and career or “little” decisions like how to respond to a store clerk or customer service agent, whether or not to tell the truth in a matter, or how to react to something harsh or negative that somebody says to you.

We never know how costly our rashness will be.  Jephthah could write a book about it (cf. Jud. 11:30ff).  May our prayer ever be, “Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth; Keep watch over the door of my lips” (Ps. 141:3).