Doug Van Pelt

Autographs for the sick

Proverbs 13 talks about the wise and the foolish (what's new?).
It gets into advice takers.

I'm always interested when someone comes to me for advice. When I come to others for advice, I am very conscious of the fact that I may ignore their advice, but hearing another perspective helps. Sometimes I forget this a little when someone comes to me, and I have this feeling of, 'Man! This person is really humbling themselves and putting me in a super responsible position of speaking into their life.' But when I have that thought I'm just forgetting that they may ignore any advice I give. I have one friend in particular that, when he asks for advice, he will often say, "What should I do?" That is a scary question to answer, so I usually answer it with a question, "What do YOU think you should do?" And often, when they respond to that thoughtfully, they figure out what they're going to do and I just act as a friendly sounding board to "bounce their ideas off of."

It is true, though, that someone coming to another for advice humbles themself to some degree. It's a cool thing. I think it does bestow a level of honor to the person that we come to for advice. This underscores the ongoing need and benefit of mentoring others and being mentored in your life. It doesn't have to be some "ooooh, they're better than me" or "they are so many rungs above me in the ladder of life." Mentoring is often just a friendship where each party is honest with the other and they help each other grow. It's a mutually beneficial thing. Sure, sometimes if one person has a great skill at something, like playing soccer or building computers; then the relationship is teacher and student, but most people like to share knowledge and build others up.

"...a mocker does not listen to rebuke."

By the time we need a rebuke, it is usually in the midst of or after folly. If we are in that position, often we don't want to be corrected. But the thing is: we're going to be corrected sooner or later. I think "sooner" is the better option.

And speaking of teachers and students...
It is so cool. Last night, on the way home from the cool Terminal, Code Seven, Acceptance, Saosin, and Anberlin show, I got a phone call from my wife (who accompanied me the night before to the Denison Witmer and Copeland show). "You won a Pepsi Yoda at Wag-A-Bag. You might want to pick it up on the way home." It's a talking Yoda action figure. Squeezing his hands toggles between 500 different responses, and his eyes open, his ears wiggle, and his hands go up and down. This is rad!

Posted by Doug Van Pelt at June 9, 2005 10:13 AM