I remember when I was in high school. I was very bored in a class called Driver Training. you see, I was raised on a ranch where we drove tractors, pickup trucks, etc. So, in this class I thought I was “tough stuff.” I knew it all, so this was just a review. There was nothing more I could learn here. How wrong I was!

On day as we sat in class going over our text books and listening to a lecture, the teacher made a statement that a driver has one-tenth of a second to go through the process of identify, predicting, deciding, and—most important—acting, to prevent a hazardous condition, accident, or even death. Wow, one-tenth of a second between life and death! He went on to tell us that we needed to train ourselves to know how to react to situations before we are faced with them. Before a car pulls out in front of you, even though you have the right of way, what are you going to do? Hit your brakes? Turn to the right or left? What is it going to be? You have only one-tenth of a second, so once you’re confronted with these difficulties what are you going to do? Once you are there, it is too late to decide!

Well, this farm boy learned a thing or tow that day. Be prepared! Once you’re in a situation, you often don’t have time to think, “What am I going to do?” What are you going to do when you are offered a drink, drugs, or an opportunity to compromise your moral standards? The time is now to make these decisions, now when we are faced with one-tenth of a second!