By James Chambless (AKA Old Hat)
My daddy taught me a lot of good things. He was a what we now call a bi-vocational preacher. That just means you have a regular job and preach as a part time job instead of making your living at it. I was incredibly shy as a boy. No really, I was. I asked him once how he could preach. I meant how can you stand up in front of people and talk at all. His answer went a lot deeper than that. He told me his speaking plan was always the same; stand up, speak up, then shut up. I still use that plan to this day. In fact, I probably ought do that right now.

My daddy died when I was still a boy. I always have thought there was a lot of good advice he would have given me if he was around for some of the challenging teenage years. He wasn’t though. That sure left a gap in my knowledge of what to do with the hard questions in life. As it happened, my best friend’s daddy was always willing to listen to my problems. Johnny Baker helped me with a lot of the problems that all young men face. I honestly do not remember a single word of particular advice that he ever gave me though.

He gave me something much better than that. He gave me confidence. He would hear me out. He would ask what I thought I should do about it. Then he would look thoughtful for a minute. When he turned to look at me, he would say “It sounds to me like you know a lot more than you think you do. I think you have the right idea already.” Mr. Baker taught me a lot about how to think through a problem in order to find a good solution. I needed that. I still do.

I may be reading too much into Proverbs 4:1

“Listen, my sons, to a father’s instruction; pay attention and gain understanding.”

I just can’t help but notice that Solomon said to listen to a father’s instruction. Not your father or my father or the father. But listen to “a” father.

I think there is a lot of truth and hope in that idea. I have not had my father to listen to for many decades, but I have listened to a lot of others’ fathers and benefited from their advice and instruction. I have actually learned to look a lot of places for good advice.

When I was a boy, the fastest way to make me mad enough to get in a fight was to call me a fool. I could never stand for that. In 1994 I ended up in an awful job that I never wanted, wasn’t good at, and despised. I’d had to leave the job I had always wanted and loved doing to go to this nasty job. I was feeling mighty sorry for myself, like my life was over. I was in a state of despair. Then I ran across this quote that contained some timely instruction for me.

“Despair is the conclusion of fools.” – Benjamin Disraeli.

Well, since I am determined not to be a fool, despair must be the wrong conclusion. I needed to think of some other way to make my dreams come true. In fact, I needed some better dreams. Despair was not an option, unless I wanted to call myself a fool. It really changed my mindset. If despair is not an option you allow yourself, then you just have to go ahead and find a way to succeed anyway. No matter what the odds are. I don’t know if my daddy would have ever given me that advice or not. I sometimes wonder if anyone ever gave that advice to him.

There are a lot of people around giving advice these days. Some of it is good. Some of it is terrible. You have to sort it all out and keep what is useful and throw away what does not apply to your life. You are in charge of your life and what you are going to believe. That is why Solomon was always saying to pay attention. You have to take good advice to profit by it, but you also have to discard the bad advice to keep from being hurt by it. That is what I think Solomon meant at the end of this chapter.

Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life. Proverbs 4:23

You can ask for advice in a lot of different places, and I hope you will, but you are the one that has to decide which advice is worthy of a place in your heart. I trust you with those decisions. I think you know a lot more than you think you do. I think you have the right idea already.

[August-31-2021]