Discernment

My wife woke me up snoring early Saturday morning. I am a complete insomniac anyway and couldn’t go back to sleep after being rudely awakened by what sounded like a jack hammer going off right next to my ear. I went ahead and got up around two AM and went over to my office to get a head start on the day.

I have a friend who is an early riser like me. He does all my computer graphic design work and we often talk beginning at three AM or thereabouts. This guy is very conscientious to the point of being like an old mother hen and he insists that every “I” be dotted and every “T” be crossed. He is perhaps the biggest worrier that I know. We are currently working on five different websites and he is so stressed that he appears to be approaching having a nervous breakdown.

I was in somewhat of a mood after my wife woke me up and I decided to play a little trick on him and have some fun at his expense to put myself in a better mood. I sent him a terse e-mail:

“CALL ME!
BIG PROBLEMS!”

I chuckled to myself as I hit the “Send” button. Knowing how much of a worrier he was I figured that message would put him into orbit and give him a jolt better than four cups of coffee.

After I sent the e-mail, I immediately became deeply engrossed in a project that I was working on and forgot about it. When my friend got my message,unbeknownst to me he immediately became frantic and began anxiously trying to get in touch with me. I’d left my cell phone at my house and I wasn’t monitoring my e-mail because I was working on sorting some photos. After about an hour, finally my office phone rang. It was my buddy and he worriedly asked what was wrong.

I laughed and told him, “Nothin’, I was jerking your chain this morning.”

“You are an evil person!”

Huh?

“I’ve been trying to reach you for an hour. At first I thought we had a production problem, and then when I couldn’t reach you I thought maybe something was wrong with YOU. I’ve been calling and sending e-mails ever since I got your message! I was just getting ready to get in my car and drive over there and check on you.”

“How sweet.”

“You’re an evil person.”

Later I went over to get my cell phone and discovered four voice mails. I laughed as I listened to each successive message becoming more and more frantic with the last one stating: “OK, I’m getting worried now. CALL ME!” Four e-mails were in my inbox that were equally hysterical.

By now you are probably wondering, (like me), why I would take such obvious pleasure in tormenting my friend.

Hmmm I really don’t know. Could it be that I am destitute of discernment?

Proverbs 15:21
Folly is joy to him who is destitute of discernment,
But a man of understanding walks uprightly.