To improve efficiency, a company hired a consultant, who called a meeting of all shop personnel. Stressing the need to listen to experts, he said, "Imagine you're on the Titanic, and it's sinking. You climb into a lifeboat. Which direction would you row?"

Then he asked, "What if you had the ship's navigator with you? Now which way would you go? You'd row the way the navigator told you to, right?"

There were murmurs of agreement until one fellow in the back piped up, "Well, I don't know. He's already hit one iceberg!"

The book of Proverbs urges us to get advice from the wise (1:2-7). Wisdom in the Bible is the "skill for living." The Hebrew word translated "wisdom" is the same word that's translated "skill" in reference to the detailed work of Bezalel and Aholiab in constructing the tabernacle (Exodus 31:1-11). God gave them and others skill for artwork, building, weaving, and carving.

Today, wise men and women have a valuable skill—"the skill for living." Don't take your lead from others until you take a look at their lives. If they have crashed into a lot of icebergs, they may cause your life to sink as well.

The "blessed" person delights in God's Word, "not in the counsel of the ungodly" (Psalm 1:1-2).  —HWR  — Haddon W. Robinson