Proverbs 19:20 “Listen to advice and accept instruction, that you may gain wisdom for the future.”  The account is recorded about automaker Henry Ford asking the electrical genius, Charles Steinmetz to build electrical generators for his auto factory.  One day the generators came to a halt, shut down the auto plant and Ford’s repairmen couldn’t detect or solve the problem.  Ford called Steinmetz who tinkered with the generators for a few hours and brought them back to full operation.  Ford got a bill for $10,000 from Steinmetz which he thought to be much too high.  Ford was known as a tightfisted car manufacturer.  He inquired why the bill was so high when it took only a few hours to repair.  Steinmetz replied, “For tinkering with the equipment, $10.  For knowing how and where to tinker, $9,990.  So, Ford paid the bill and was back in operation.

Steinmetz knew where to tinker because he had built the generators and understood the manuals to make them run correctly.  What about us when we run into a problem in life, do we tinker ourselves or do we turn to the One who built our lives and has the answer?  His wisdom, instruction and advice are free for the asking.  A leader must seek these from the One who has all the answers and repairs.  God’s Word is the pre-eminent instruction book on each of these.  Like Henry Ford, we must go to the One Person who created us (like Steinmetz who created the generators) to find how to restore operation and move forward into the future.  We have much more at stake than building cars.  We have our life and the lives of those whom we lead to build.  And the profits are much more valuable and eternal.  It might cost us something, but the cost is well worth the future.