Never Too Old To Listen

Since we had a laptop stolen from the church annex building right out from under our nose one day, I’ve become more vigilant to the traffic around our buildings during the day-time hours. At night everything is secure and locked down with an alarm back-up keeping watch when no one is around, but during the day things have had to change over the past year. Traffic alarms have been installed on exit/entrance doors that are normally unlocked during business hours just to monitor movement in and out of those doors. I have also gotten in the habit of locking doors behind me even if I’m only going to be out of the area for a few minutes. Failure to do this resulted in the theft I related to earlier. Fool me once; shame on you. I really don’t want to get fooled again. So, have you ever done something knowing it was going to result in your getting hurt or having to fix what just got broken because of your actions? I know you have because we’ve all done it. I took my keys out of my pocket, unlocked a storage door, leaving the ring of keys hanging in the lock and commenced to moving an eight foot ladder through the doorway into the room. While pushing on the door, armed with an air return closer, with the ladder, my brain pictured and warned me the ladder was going to snag on the ring of keys and break off the key in the lock. I hushed my brain, ignored the warning of experience and guess what happened? You got it! The ladder snagged the ring of keys and broke off the key in the lock! Doh! Now I can use my door lock changing experience to fix my mess up. Disassembling the lock gained access to retrieving the broken key and sending me to WalMart for a replacement.

[Ecclesiastes 4:13-16] The words of the teacher, son of David, king of Jerusalem writes: “Better a poor but wise youth than an old but foolish king who no longer knows how to take warning. The youth may have come from prison to take the kingship, or he may have been born in poverty within his kingdom. I saw that all who lived and walked under the sun followed the youth, the king’s successor. There was no end to all the people who were before them. But those who came later were not pleased with the successor. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.” Youthful successors to any leadership are generally welcomed because the followers are of like mind and willing to listen. The problem is, leaders get older and fail to maintain their leadership role because they think they already know it all. Experience is a trait that is very valuable for any organization. A person with experience in an area can usually do a job faster, easier and better than those without. But, there is a time when experience is wasted. Experience and position are not assets to those that think they no longer need to listen to anyone else. No matter how long you have been doing something and how good you may be at it, there is always something else you can learn. Those who “check out” and feel they “know it all” are no longer an asset to any organization or to themselves. I thought I had discovered a new thing in “ductless air conditioning” early this summer when we installed a unit in an office replacing a large non-repairable A/C unit. During our trip to Mexico I discovered ductless air conditioning everywhere in every building! I mentioned I thought I had discovered something new and unique but had no idea most of the rest of the world already knows about it. A younger, wiser brother-in-Christ reminded me, discovering Jesus as Savior is of like manner to the lost.