“When the tide’s low, flounder get trapped in small pools of water on sandbars. Let’s see if we can drive the airboat close to the sandbar and gig some flounder,” my husband said.

The idea of trapped fish excited me. A captive audience. No casting into a giant sea and hoping to lure a random fish toward my line.

I stood on the front of the airboat, gig in hand, as my husband eased up to the sandbar. Pools of water were all over the place. He turned the motor off and gave instructions, “Now, remember, the sandbars were just underwater. They’re still wet. Be careful where you step.”

But it was too late. I had already stormed the beach. My leg was buried in the muddy sand up to my knee and every time I tried to pull it out, my tennis shoe pulled off with a suctioning sound down in the depths of the yucky mud.

Never once did I think about the ground being that wet. I was so focused on having a better chance at catching fish that the considerations for safety and efficiency never once entered my mind.

We often storm the beach in life, too, don’t we? We get so excited about the next step, new information, or new option we dive in headfirst, never thinking about the tiny details involved. When something is a good thing or catches our interest, we give it everything we have without considering what it will mean for our budget, time, family, or other commitments. Before we know it, we are knee deep in mud because we didn’t think things through.

Just because something is a good thing doesn’t mean it’s a God-thing. Take some time and weigh your options. Think before you leap out of the boat. And make sure to listen to the advice given from those who have been there and understand. I could have saved a lot of humiliation, and a pair of tennis shoes for that matter, if I had slowed down and listened before storming the beach.

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