..a good motto..
November 8, 2010 (Monday)
Here in the midst of football season, we have become very familiar with what is known as the “two-minute warning.” When it’s time for the warning, play stops, time-out is called, and everyone gears up for two final minutes of play.
It occurred to me, as I recently watched a game, that many pivotal events in our lives come with much more warning and some come without any warning at all.
For instance, there is a warning on every package of cigarettes. If illness results from a lifetime of using tobacco, the victim no doubt remembers seeing the warning. Warnings of many kinds are issued every day against the use of illicit drugs, but people ignore them and use the drugs anyway. Other warnings are given daily against many kinds of dangerous behavior, but many choose to pay no attention. So, sometimes the warnings in life are given in ample time to make changes that will avert tragedy.
Many times, however, crises appear suddenly in life with no warning. A driver is being careful, but suddenly there is the awful sound of crushing metal and shattered glass. Seemingly the other car “came out of nowhere” and there is the accident that changes lives permanently. Every day people are handed diagnoses of serious illness that had no symptoms. There was no warning. Sometimes life takes a turn that we absolutely did not and could not expect. Such is life.
The next time you’re enjoying a game and the time for the two-minute warning arrives, ask yourself if you are spiritually ready for whatever may happen without warning. It wouldn’t hurt for all of us to remember the Scouting Motto: “Always Be Prepared.”