LEARN FROM MISTAKES OF OTHERS TO FINISH WELL IN LIFE

It shook the ground like a sudden clap of thunder. Stunned, we stood silently near our car looking around for a few minutes — before realizing the sound came from nearby Fairchild Air Force Base.

It was Friday, June 24, 1994, and Lt. Col. Bud Holland had just crashed a B-52 Stratofortress bomber, killing himself and three crew members.

Holland was a skilled pilot but with a long history of pushing aircraft past their limits. There had been too many past complaints about Holland’s harumscarum behavior, but to no avail.

Within minutes, multiple sirens filled the air with an eerie wailing.

We learned later that the pilot had banked left into a 360-degree turn around Fairchild’s control tower at an altitude of 250 feet — and every rivet screaming. With a wingspan of 185 feet, the maneuver was too much for the massive aircraft at a 90-degree angle to maintain air speed. It slammed into the tarmac in a horrifying fireball.

Investigators noted that if the B-52 had maintained an air speed of 147 knots, Holland might have pulled it off. He might have escaped yet again. But not on that day. The plane’s airspeed was only 145 knots.

Anyone who has a pulse has made a dumb decision or two. I’ve lived and learned from more than a few myself.

I thought about that 1994 crash as I was reading through the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes a few days ago. It occurred to me that there may be some really bad decisions we can rebound from (thank God). But there are other choices that will put us into an irreversible dive ending in a fireball.

King Solomon comes to mind.

He started out in life exceptionally well. He had it all and then some. But somewhere along his life flight path, he made some careless decisions. He thought it would be an interesting experiment to fulfill every whim, desire and craving of his natural appetite. Because he could do it, he did. And those choices changed his destiny.

In his later years, he became cynical, dark and moody, when he should have reached a point in life where he was mentoring, helping, equipping and giving away all of the good and wise truth God had poured into him. The book of Proverbs in the Bible is a great place to encounter his early insights.

The only law higher than the law of flight is the law of gravity. That is true naturally and it is certainly true spiritually.

As Solomon aged he also soured, skillfully constructing a life without God, until the wine, women and wealth became “smoke” and “spitting into the wind.”

Intellectually brilliant, he deliberately acted the fool, and outsmarted himself. He knew what do, but didn’t want to do it. He had chosen to push the limits of life in an angle of extreme avarice and insatiable pursuits.

Face it, none of us live long enough to make every possible bad decision. But what we can do is learn from the poor choices, terrible ideas and bad decisions of the past, and not repeat them. We can learn from the mistakes of others, and avoid them — thereby saving the inevitable pain in life for something worthwhile and meaningful. We can make the bumps and bruises count for something.

Solomon at the end of life and near the end of the last page of Ecclesiastes did give us wise words in his conclusion.

Have a reverent awe of God.

Do what He tells you to do.

It’s still the best advice of all. Because God wants you and me to finish well.

Smith is president and founder of Global Gateway Network and author of “Heaven’s Heartbeat.” He wrote this for the Tri-city Herald in Washington state.

The only law higher than the law of flight is the law of gravity. That is true naturally and it is certainly true spiritually.

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