Pride Comes Before a Fall!

I’m back! You’re probably thinking… “Where’d you go, Todd?” or “I didn’t know you were gone.” Well, I was gone. I was on a two and a half week vacation in Austin, Texas and I loved every minute of it. Some of you will be happy to know that I actually got some sun while I was in Austin. So, now I’ve gone from a pasty white color to more of a slightly less than pasty white color! Exciting, I know.

My brother-in-law, Grant, and I were talking one evening while watching Jeopardy. On the final Jeopardy question the answer was, “What is the “Arctic Circle?”?” Grant laughed out loud at one of the contestants because the contestant spelled “Arctic” wrong. The contestant spelled it “Artic.” Grant, said, “Can you believe that this guy’s on Jeopardy and he can’t even spell “Arctic?” I responded, “Grant, maybe he’s nervous…maybe he just didn’t think through it.” Grant kept pushing the point, “Todd, come on. The guy’s on a show for really smart people and he left the “C-H” out of “Archtic!” How embarrassing is that?”

That particular moment had to be one of the greatest examples of irony and misplaced pride I could remember. I looked at Grant, “Grant, are you kidding?” “What?” he asked. “Grant, spell “Arctic” for me.” ““A-R-C-H-T-I-C.”” “Grant, “Arctic” is spelled “A-R-C-T-I-C.” There’s no “H” in the word.” Undaunted, Grant, refused to feel the full weight of his imminent embarrassment, headed straight for the computer and said, “We’ll see who’s right.” He proceeded to look up the word on dictionary.com. He turned around with a big smile revealing his embarrassment. “Well, nothing like a humiliating experience to put me in my place.”

I thought a while about the whole episode. Only one thing came to me after my reflection - pride certainly comes before a fall. (Proverbs 16:18). Simple enough.

Carpe Deum! (Seize God!)

Todd Phillips
www.toddphillips.net