When I used to ride motorcycles, I learned to discern the seasons. In the summer the pavement was dry and taking corners at higher speeds was possible. In the fall, especially after the leaves had fallen and the road was wet, the slippery leaves would cause a tire to easily break traction. A snow-covered road meant it was not time to ride. I had to wait for a change of season. Spring would require yet another level of riding skill because the roads were sanded over the winter and the remnants of winter sanding remained on each corner. The sand acted like small ball bearings under a motorcycle tire. 

Like it is when riding a motorcycle in varying seasons, wisdom requires that we take certain corners in a life of faith at different speeds in different seasons. We are currently riding our faith into a season that none of us completely understands where the condition of the road before us is uncertain and not fully assessed. Like I did all those years when riding motorcycles, we need to slow down and match our speed to the unknown condition of the roadway ahead.

It might appear brave and cavalier to enter the coming turns of culture and the Church without the restraining presence of wisdom, but in the end, it is a recipe for disaster. When I rode my motorcycle through the twists and turns of a mountain pass, I would occasionally see the skid marks of a motorcyclist who entered a turn too fast causing them to skid off the roadway, and sadly, in some cases, lose their lives.

The faith of some is crashing at this time in history not because the substance of their faith was faulty, but because they rode their faith with an assumption about the future. These crashes take place because people assume the riding style and speed used in the last season would safely take them through the twists and turns of the future.