Know Too Much
I teach for a living, so it may surprise you that I write these words: Not all knowledge is good. There are some things that are better not to know. Take scientist Ron Fouchier, who developed a strain of the bird flu that could kill 60 percent of the humans it infected. His research was set to be published before the US government stepped in. Do we really want to give terrorists the recipe for killing us? Fouchier said he simply wanted to see what was possible.
No Expert
My daughter’s preschool teacher asked me to speak to the children about being a writer. Visiting parents were being presented to the class as “experts” in their professions. I agreed to talk to the children, although being an “expert” unnerved me a bit. I didn’t feel like an expert. That week, I’d been frustrated by a lack of good ideas and wondered if I would ever write anything of value again! I thought, You’re no expert. You’re not qualified to speak.
a bigger picture
My daughter posed an excellent question to me: What’s the connection between Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Job? The first two seem so . . . contradictory. And the book of Job is a saga all its own!
no lazy river
One of our favorite family vacation sites is a beautiful beach community located in an adjoining state. We like to go there during the “off season” when few tourists are around. Though the ocean water is a little chilly, we enjoy swimming in an indoor pool. Also, there’s a lazy river that surrounds the pool and holds a special appeal for our kids. They’ve tried to swim against its current over the years, only to be carried in the opposite direction.
what do you believe?
Near the climax of the movie Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, a villain shoots Indiana’s father to motivate the distressed son to enter a booby-trapped temple and retrieve the Holy Grail. “The healing power of the Grail is the only thing that can save your father now,” he said. “It’s time to ask yourself what you believe.” I deplore what the evil man did, but he was on to something: What we believe determines what we do.
out of sight . . .
Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 3:14-21 has been a blessing to me, but it’s also slightly confusing. How are we supposed to grasp the full measure of God’s love for us when it’s beyond our ability to understand? An experience with my son can help answer that question.
apathetic
In December 2011, USA Today ran an article that analyzed a group of Americans called the “spiritually apathetic.” Their attitude could be summed up as: “So what?” The article presented the following sad statistics:
heart condition
Every morning I pop a baby-strength aspirin. Heart disease runs in my family, and my doctor says it’s good for the health of my ticker.
named
After telling a Bible story, the teacher asked his Sunday school class, “What’s the name of the beggar?” Six-year-old Tommy confidently shouted, “Lazarus!” The teacher then asked another question: “What is the name of the other man?” Another student shouted, “Rich man!”
He knows you
He knows you. He knows every microcosm and nanosecond of your existence—every cell, atom, and molecule; every interest, weakness, and achievement; every hope, dream, and grief.
you choose Q: how do we know that Jesus and God exist, and where did that information come from?
Q: Recently I spoke to a friend from Germany, and that person asked me how do we know that Jesus and God exist and how we get this information and from whom? Because the Bible was written from prophets, how did they get this information all about Jesus and God? —Kofi
A: We can know that God exists because God Himself told us…
powerless and foolish
If a friend asked you, “Where can I experience the power and wisdom of God?” would you bring him or her to a college? The following saying would cause us to question this choice: The university has lots of knowledge. The first years came in with some. The final years left with none. That is how knowledge accumulates.
