Not So Fast, My Friend

During the football season, one of the staples of Saturday-morning television is “College Game-Day.” The show, hosted by Chris Fowler, features regulars, Desmond Howard, Kirk Herbstreit, and Lee Corso. “Game-Day” is usually a live broadcast from the college campus that features the day’s biggest matchup. Behind the show’s set, cheerleaders are lifted into view and students hoist signs with every conceivable message. Earlier this season, Vanderbilt and Duke, both noted for academic excellence but often poor football teams, were both doing well on the gridiron. One sign was almost scriptural. It had the names of Vanderbilt and Duke and this line beneath the names: “The Geeks Shall Inherit the Turf.” During the same show, another sign took aim at the slightly overweight coach of the University of Tennessee, Phillip Fulmer. The sign said, “Phillip Fulmer ate my other sign.”

All of this campus life serves as the perfect backdrop for the “Game-Day” crew who offer opinions and forecasts on the outcome of games scheduled that day. As the crew offers judgments and predictions, one of Lee Corso’s favorite lines is, “Not so fast, my friend.” Corso then goes on to give his own, often opposite, opinion. “Not so fast, my friend,” is a pretty good line. And it applies to a lot more than making judgments about football teams.

I once read an unusual list of ways to burn calories. Here is the list: Beating around the bush—75 calories per hour; Swallowing your pride—125 calories; Climbing the walls—150 calories; and Jumping to conclusions—175 calories. It’s been my observation that jumping to conclusions is one of our favorite forms of exercise. We reach sweeping conclusions based on very inadequate evidence.

B. B. Crim, an evangelist of an earlier day, went to serve as pastor of a church. After he had been there six months, he said that he turned half of the members out of the church. After six more months had passed, he said that he discovered that he had turned out the wrong half. Our judgments are often poor. We are quick to jump to conclusions. Somebody ought to walk up to us when we’re making such a hasty judgment and say, “Not so fast, my friend.”

Sometimes we commit the same error in our judgments about the varied experiences in life. We look at something and say, “That’s good.” Or, we look at something and say, “That’s bad.” Six months pass and we discover that we were wrong on both counts. “Not so fast, my friend.” Be careful about jumping to conclusions. Take the long view. Give yourself time before you reach a conclusion. Ask for God’s wisdom and guidance. Practice patience. Remember Romans 8:28, “We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him.” Be careful about jumping to conclusions. Not so fast, my friend!