Gotta Know What the Big Boys are Doing

I have a memory burned into the front of my brain that keeps coming out in my presleep dreams of when I was in the third grade at Drew Central Elementary. The picture I keep reviewing is of me (along with all the other boys in my class) standing with our noses stuck through the chicken wire fence that separated the 4th through 6th grade playground from our own. When the bell for recess or lunch would ring, we would all dash to the fence to see what the big boys were doing. Without fail, we copied whatever they were doing, usually with more gusto and energy than they could ever muster.
You see, third grade boys have no idea that they can control their own time and destiny. They must always look to the older boys for guidance. Then it is programmed into their brains that they must do whatever the big boys are doing better. Most are like me and can't wait to be on the other side of the fence.
I still have a knot on the side of my head to remind me of those days. One morning the trendsetters on the other side of the fence were playing dodge ball. So naturally we had to do the same thing. The only problem was that we didn't have a red rubber playground ball. Someone (thankfully it was not me) had the great idea that a baseball would work lots better. Our hands were smaller and we could throw a baseball a lot better! In the mind of the third graders this made perfect sense, so off we went. I was standing near the basketball goal, using the pole as a kind of shield and keeping my eye on the boy with the ball. I heard a noise and turned to look just in time to see clearly the stitches of another baseball inches from my head! When I woke up, amid teachers and nurses and blood, I asked what had happened. It seemed that the big boys had added an extra ball to their game and so naturally had we. The word of the new ball in the game arrived as it slammed against my head.
I've thought about that memory a good bit these past few weeks as I have watched our economy bounce up and down. I've talked with some friends who actually have money to invest and have been amazed to see them behaving exactly like my third grade friends. They stand in front of the television, with their choice of poison being displayed (CNN, FOX, MSNBC) and try to figure out what the "big boys" are doing. "Is the government going to bail this industry out?" "Is Obama going to do this or that?" They seem to believe that they must know what the big boys are going to do before they can act. Isn't it amazing that in many ways we never out grow the third grade!
Watching them has made the knot on my head ache! Because I know for an absolute certainty that such behavior leads to receiving a baseball between the eyes. Depending on others to set the course of your life always brings pain.
I wonder when we are going to cross that fence and become the big boys who are capable of making decisions on our own? I wonder why we all fall back to our third grade insecurity whenever times get tough? I wonder.
Let me dare to share some insight for your consideration. There is only one "big boy" that you need to be concerned about when you start making life decisions and you won't find him on CNN or other networks. Rarely will you ever make a bad decision if you take time to consider what God is doing and what God would want you to do in any given situation.
Instead of joining the crowd with your nose stuck through the fence to watch those you consider to be important, take time to stick it into the Bible and into prayer and meditation. I promise the guidance and insight you obtain will be of much greater value and almost always following it will result in less pain in your life.
Dream about it.
God's best,

Bill