^“Some shouted one thing and some another. Since he couldn’t find out the truth in all the uproar and confusion, he ordered that Paul be taken to the fortress.”

Have you ever attempted to find hear what needs to be heard when too many people are talking at you at the same time, each with their own point of view and levels of emotions?  If you have, you’ll know that it is really hard to hear the truth when so many versions of what that might be is coming at you at the same time.  Feels a little like what we experience each day in the media, both from the traditional and social media outlets.  What works best in these situations is to calm everyone down and find quiet, letting one person speak at a time until the truth is discerned. With the quiet approach, not everyone will agree, but with everyone being heard, there will be a respect for the final decision.

We make bad, and sometimes very costly decisions, when we act while the tempers are boiling and the uproar is loud.  At the least, the confusion will cloud our thinking. Paul got caught up in this (more than once) and it reminds me that when all is swirling around us, that we are to remain calm, cool and collected up with Him, to find the best way forward.

Reference: Acts 21:34 (New Living Translation)