Three most dangerous people.

"THE THREE MOST DANGEROUS PEOPLE IN THE WORLD"

Proverbs 21:16 "A man who strays from the path of understanding comes to rest in the company of the dead."

Some people are just flat dangerous. I am not talking about stalkers, murderers and borderline personality disorders. I am referring to people who get in way over their head.

In 1980 I took a trip with some college buddies to the state of New York to do some summer missions work on an Indian reservation. Our main job was to tear down an old barn to make room for a small parking lot. Throughout the project there was a former Eagle Scout who taught me how to tie knots in the two inch thick rope we were using to pull out the main supports. By the weeks end I thought for sure I was a master knotsman.

On the final day of our community service we were treated to a swim in the Niagara river. It wasn't a treacherous body of water, but deep and swift enough to thrill a few college sophomores. We all decided to jump from the bridge and let the current carry us between the shore and a small island off to our left. Off we went like horses released from a starting gate. The shoreline was only about fifty yards away and all but one of us arrived there quickly and safely.

As we stood on the shore we noticed that one of our team was still on the bridge. Then he jumped. He was no further than twenty five feet down the rapids when he screamed, "somebody help me...I don't know how to swim." A plethora of frustrating thoughts raced through my noggin, however, my sympathetic nerve system kick in, and I jumped in, grabbed him around the chest and let the current carry us to the island. As we stood on the shore I asked him if I could just swim him across the twenty feet to the other side. He was emphatic: "NOPE, I am petrified; I will only go across if I am tied to a rope."

No Problem...I was now a master knotsman. I yelled to one of the guys on shore to get me a rope and throw it to us so we could swim across to safety. In less than five minutes I had the rope and our not so wise friend tethered and ready. Into the water we went. A rope tied to his waist, my arm around his chest in twenty feet of rushing water. I screamed "Pull" and they did, so hard that my not so perfect knot came unknotted in a millisecond. I was now left with a frantic and panicked non swimmer in the middle of the den of death. I swam like crazy and in a few seconds we were on the other side. He was grateful and I was mad. Not because he didn't know how to swim and I nearly had a catastrophe on my hands. I was mad because my knot came out. I had personally assured him that I knew how to tie a knot and there was no way he was going to slip out.

For a brief moment in time I had become what I now term, "All three of the most dangerous men in the world." I had become a man "(1) who knew what he knew, but he didn't know much, (2) who was sincere but sincerely wrong and (3) who doesn't know what he doesn't know."

Believe me, I was sincere, I thought I knew how to tie knots and I was a good swimmer, but lifesaving was not my expertise. I am sure that most of us won't face life and death situations, but when get in over your head...call for the experts.