There is a running joke in my house that I don’t get hurt doing stupid things, instead, I regularly get hurt doing perfectly normal and seemingly safe things. It’s actually pretty funny… once the pain stops. While there are many stories and examples of this, none of them can top “the porch.” In my early twenties, I was working for a low-voltage wiring company. We installed phones, cable, sound, security, etc. in homes. On this particular occasion, I was working on a new home that was under construction. It was a raised house which meant the main floor was above the garage and that was where the bulk of the work was being done. 

There were several other crews working that day and inside the house was kind of loud. I got a phone call and stepped out onto the porch to take it. The decking had not yet been installed so a few sheets of plywood were laid on the joists creating a place to stand. I finished the call and went back into the house. A little while later, I needed to make a call because I was running short on supplies. I stepped back onto the same spot on the same porch to make that call. This time the experience was drastically different. 

Once my weight was on the plywood I felt a sudden shift in the air and my stomach seemed to launch upward relocating itself to somewhere around my throat. Instinctively, I threw my arms out to the side trying to get some type of balance. Before I knew what was happening a wave of pain rushed through my body focusing on my hands, ribs, and armpits. It took me a few minutes to piece together what had happened. 

Between the first call and the current one, one of the other crews was using the porch to cut a few pieces of wood and had cut through the plywood. These cuts weren’t enough to break through the wood but were enough to weaken it to the point where that one small misstep caused it to snap sending the unsuspecting victim plummeting to the ground below. Luckily(?) I was able to catch myself on the joists and prevent a further fall. Unluckily, I still got hurt pretty badly. Nothing was broken or fractured, but I was in pain for a while. What made the situation worse was that I saw the cutting taking place on that porch but never gave it a second thought. 

Isn’t it easy to miss signs of danger? I can have these same blinders in many areas of my life. I can get comfortable with my leadership, my self-discipline, or my abilities and let my guard down. I can get comfortable with my relationships, and my emotional and spiritual health and completely disregard the fact that there are cracks in the surface that are one misstep away from giving way and causing me to fall. 

The good news is that there is an answer to all of this that can help us avoid those missteps and pitfalls. The answer is humility and trust. By the time I got assigned this job, I had gotten really good in this particular area of construction. I was fast, I was organized, and I was neat. All of that led me to believe I could just phone it in every time I stepped into a project. Unfortunately, it worked for a long time. My mind was on autopilot the day I fell through the porch. I wasn’t paying attention to the warning signs of danger around me and it cost me. 

When we put our lives on that kind of autopilot, we risk a major crash that can derail us and our leadership. But, when we have the humility to recognize that we aren’t invincible and trust others to speak into our blind spots, we can navigate dangerous situations and avoid such a crash. Do you have people in your life that are watching your back? Do you have people who love you enough to tell you that your life is in danger of getting off track? 

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 encourages us with this thought: 

“Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up. Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.”

Don’t do life alone. It’s way harder and more painful than it needs to be!