By: Greg Arnold

The last word I heard was, “be careful”.  But that is what parents are supposed to say when you leave their presence.  Basically, what they are saying is “I trust that you’ll make a good decision, but I’m concerned that you won’t.”  I have used this phrase even for the shortest separations from my daughter.

I’ll never forget a warm, early fall evening at the football game.  I was in junior high school and my brother was on the field playing at a big stadium in Huntsville, Alabama.  It was one of those enormous concrete structures with the long metal benches stretching from one end of the stadium to the other.  The crowd was rather small… too small for the venue.

I had become quite bored with the game and told my parents that I was going to go “run around” for a bit.  They looked at me, paused, and said, “be careful”.  I rolled my eyes as all young Jr. High kids are trained to do… and set off across the concrete structure.

I’m not sure what sequence of events unfolded, but as I was running down the steep aisle far away from everyone… my foot missed a step.  The adrenaline began to flow, my eyes became wide open, and I prepared for a very bad fall.  I guess I bounced down the bleachers for 3 or 4 rows before coming to a stop.  Without regard to injury, my first move was to look around and see if anyone saw me take the spill.

I was more concerned with my pride than injury or pain.

God tells us in His word… to “be careful”.  He knows we are capable of making some pretty foolish mistakes.  I understand as a parent, where God’s concern for us is deeper than we could ever imagine.

I tell my daughter to be careful… because I’ve made some very poor decisions in my life.  And I know the pain that comes from them.  God suffered deeply by giving His son away to death. He endured the ridicule, beating, torture, and separation… He understands our capacity to harm ourselves and tells us to “Be Careful”.

After realizing that only one person witnessed my fall, I felt that my pride was relatively unscathed and then proceeded to assess my physical pain.  I didn’t suffer broken bones or flowing blood but certainly had some bumps and bruises.  I was fortunate.

God tells us to be careful and watch our step.  What he is saying is that “you are capable of making good decisions, but when you don’t, there is danger and pain to follow”.

It doesn’t matter what part of life you are participating in.  Even in the bleachers… far away from the action of living out our faith on the field… lies danger.  We are all very capable of making some very poor decisions… trust me on that one.

Be careful.
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