Children and Fools

November 15, 2018

“God watches over children and fools.” Wherever I first heard that, I cannot say, but I do know I was no child at the time. That narrows the options considerably. Linda and I were students at Houghton College, and together we led a youth group at a small Evangelical United Brethren church in Salamanca. My roommate was from Corry, PA, and I had spent the previous weekend with his family. I had inadvertently left my guitar at his house, and only discovered it just prior to heading out for the evening’s meeting with the Salamanca kids. This necessitated a trip from Houghton, past Salamanca, down to Corry, and back to Salamanca. I couldn’t tell you how many miles that entails, but let’s just say it’s more than two hours from Houghton to Corry, and at least another hour back to Salamanca. 

Did I mention it was winter? And my car was a ‘67 Falcon? Rear wheel drive? And I was a dumb college kid with more enthusiasm than brains. We took that entire trip at speeds upwards of 65 mph on snow-slick roads and constant flurries. “What was I thinking,” you ask? Obviously, I wasn’t. As I said, God watches over children and fools.

I thought of that tonight, driving home from a funeral on greasy roads. I’m a bit less of a fool today; traffic was creeping along at a snail’s pace, which was a good thing. Two vehicles in the ditch on the way into town, and two on the way home was adequate reminder of what could have happened so many years ago. Wisdom may come late to this old soul, but I am thankful that it did eventually pay a visit and I am safely home tonight.