The other night I was sitting at home in sort of a fog not really thinking about anything in particular when I was startled by a bump around the corner in the hall by the front door. As I can’t see very much, I often don’t bother turning on the lights in the evening, and that night was no exception. I wondered what the sound was and was about to go investigate when the dog walked into the room, the source of the bumping.

Have you ever noticed that in a situation like that things rush through your mind at warp speed?  Someone’s in the house, someone’s on the porch, someone’s at the door, something fell, somebody threw something and hit the house, there’s another bat in the house, maybe it’s a mouse… Oh it’s just the stupid dog!  Of course all of this passed through my mind in a fraction of a second. When things go bump in the night, I suppose it’s natural for the most dangerous thoughts to rush to mind first, at least that’s how my head works.

Sometimes we hear things, news for instance, and all sorts of terrible things come to mind.  It might even be “news” about someone we know.

Aha! He must be having an affair! He’s lying and cheating!  They must be in bad financial shape!

Then it turns out that nothing of the sort ever happened; we just got suckered in by gossip and rumors, like I did when the dog popped off of the carpeted stair onto the wood floor and made a bump in the dark.

Gotchya!

No wonder the Bible tells us not to gossip or pay any attention to rumors.