Carefully Consider Your Steps

Brett Favre. Just the mention of his name polarizes people. "He should never have retired." "He should never have come out of retirement." "The Packers were idiots to trade him." "The Jets were idiots to want him." The list of issues could go an on and on.....and I’m sure as the season progresses there will be pundits on both sides of the issue making their points - some of them quite loudly!

I’m not a huge Favre fan, nor a huge Green Bay fan. I’m not a big New York fan either. Hmmmm.......I just don’t follow pro football that much. Regardless, it seems to me that there’s plenty of blame to go around here.

Ultimately, though, I think it comes down to Favre not having a clear direction. He decides to retire. Everyone breathed a sigh of regret, but they plan a party. I don’t know when he began having second thoughts, but he couldn’t change his mind after the party was planned, right? So he retired. There was a party. Packer fans wept. Life went on.

Then he changed his mind. The rest was a public fiasco, and still is to a degree. But it bears out what the Bible says in Proverbs 14:15: The prudent carefully consider their steps.

I have a couple of thoughts here and then I’ll leave Brett to play all the football he wants:

1) While it’s impossible to know every detail of every situation, before you make a huge decision, be sure to consider it from every angle you possibly can.

2) If you make a mistake, suck it up and admit that you made a mistake. Then proceed to correcting that mistake.

3) You’re never going to please everyone. Even Jesus didn’t do that. So talk to God, consider every angle and then make the best decision you can with the information you have.

4) When people criticize you (and they will), know that your decision is the best one possible.

I’m neither "for" nor "against" Brett Favre or Green Bay or New York. His story simply illustrates an important truth: The prudent carefully consider their steps.

Let me wrap this up with a story adapted from Aesop’s Fables:

A miller and his son were traveling to market with their donkey. They had not gone very far when they overheard three women at a well. "Have you ever seen anything so strange? Two men are walking when they could ride. Why do people have donkeys?"

Responding to the women, the miller quickly put his son on the back of the animal and continued on the journey. Soon they met two men in the midst of a fierce debate. "I say the present generation shows no respect for its elders," cried the older man. Spying the miller and his son, he continued, "There, that prove what I am saying. The young, healthy lad rides while his old father is forced to walk."

Immediately the father told his son to dismount, and he climbed on the animal's back. They hadn't gone very far when they met a man and his wife walking down the road. "Look at that mean father," the woman exclaimed. "He rides while his little son has to walk."

Embarrassed, the miller took his son by the arm. "Come up here with me. We will both ride the donkey." Together they rode toward the market. Soon they met a group of men loading hay beside the road. "Shame on you," a fat man cried, "overloading the poor donkey. "Why, the two of you are strong enough to carry that poor animal."

Both the miller and his son quickly got off the animal and walked along until they found a large log. They tied the legs of the donkey together and slipped the log between the animal's legs. Then they attempted to carry it over the bridge that led to the market.

People on the other side of the bridge roared with laughed when they saw two men trying to carry a donkey. The noise frightened the animal that he kicked loose and fell into the river and drowned.

The prudent carefully consider their steps.