Helloooo!

"I don't think, therefore I am not."

-Anonymous

"A high IQ doesn't make up for a lack of common sense."

-Anonymous

"Genius may have its limitations, but stupidity is not thus handicapped.

-Anonymous

"Just because you can doesn't mean you should."

-Anonymous

"Listen as wisdom calls out! Hear as understanding raises her voice! She stands on the hilltop and at the crossroads. At the entrance to the city, at the city gates, she cries aloud, 'I call to you, to all of you! I am raising my voice to all people. How naive you are! Let me give you common sense. O foolish ones, let me give you understanding. Listen to me! For I have excellent things to tell you. Everything I say is right, for I speak the truth and hate every kind of deception. My advice is wholesome and good. There is nothing crooked or twisted in it. My words are plain to anyone with understanding, clear to those who want to learn.'"

-Proverbs 8:1-9 NLT

(June 1999, Delaware) Fifteen snakes were found in the vicinity of a decomposed body in Stanton on Tuesday. A neighbor complained about the smell, which led to the discovery of eight rattlesnakes, two cobras, and the 3-day-old corpse.

The 45-year-old owner of the reptiles was found 10 feet from the open cage of a young Diamondback rattler. Apparently the man was feeding the snake when he was terminally bitten. Residents of the apartments were evacuated by the Delaware Animal Rescue team while a search was conducted for missing serpents.

Neighbors said they had no idea that the weird loner kept poisonous snakes. One neighbor named Leroy claimed, "The snake was standing straight up as it turned toward me. It was a cobra."

(23 March 2001, Virginia) Brandon, 21, was driving to the courthouse to face charges of reckless driving, speeding, driving without a license, and failure to wear seat belts, when he lost control of his speeding vehicle. The Hyundai crossed the median of Interstate 64 and collided with a truck pulling a flatbed trailer carrying three cars. As luck would have it, Brandon had again chosen not to wear his seatbelt. He was ejected from the car, and died at the scene. (March 2001, North Carolina) Justin's tale is more complicated, but his fate is equally apt. A failure to wear his seatbelt led him to 18 days in a coma, after he crashed his car at 90 miles per hour and was ejected from a window. But that was only the first of his mistakes. One year later, Justin was riding with a friend, again with no seatbelt, when the speeding vehicle careened off the pavement. Once again he was involuntarily ejected from the window, only this time he was killed on impact.

Helloooo! Common sense is available to all. There's more than enough to go around. It comes with understanding, excellent advice, all right and true, wholesome and good, plain and clear to those who want to learn! Unfortunately many folks decide to opt out of the free offer of wisdom and common sense to take the foolish, more reckless routes through life . . . some shorter than others! That's undoubtedly why God ended this chapter of Proverbs with another commercial for free wisdom and a stern warning for the other guys!

"Happy are those who listen to me, watching for me daily at the gates, waiting for me outside my home! For whoever finds me finds life and wins approval from the Lord. But those who miss me have injured themselves. All who hate me love death" (Proverbs 8:34-36).

God make this offer to all people: "I call to you, to all of you!" It's one of those too good to be true offers that really is true! Where else can you get an offer life that? Nowhere else! "If you need wisdom--if you want to know what God wants you to do--ask him, and he will gladly tell you" (James 1:5). Just ask!

Doesn't take a rocket scientist!

Duh . . .