I may be leaping to conclusions here, but I believe that most folks want to know. We want to learn. We want to be able to go through life with enough information to help us achieve the future we hope for. We want to be able to hold reasonably intelligent conversations and understand our world. With all of today's social overwhelming opinions void of facts, getting the best information is almost impossible.

I believe that most of us don't like to make mistakes, so having a certain amount of smarts would prevent that from happening. I remember listening to a CEO of a large company who assured us that if we work hard enough, are responsible, show up for work on time and don't make mistakes, our future will be promising. Someone in the audience asked, "How do we not make mistakes?"

The answer, "By making mistakes ... and not repeating them!"

He should have added, "Admit you're messing up, correct the mess, don't try to make excuses or pass the blame to others, take your criticism and move on."

Come on, folks. All of us have made decisions on what we really thought was correct only to find out that we were wrong. It's embarrassing, but we won't die. I promise.

Watch the TV show "Jeopardy." Contestants have won a lot of prestige and money. Contestants have also lost because they just simply couldn't push the button fast enough, did not understand the question or weren't as smart as they thought they were. If I were on the show — and that's never going to happen — I would look like a complete idiot when it came to such categories as world history, literature, science, geology or even art. The winners can push the button faster than I can think, answer before I can get my mouth open and know stuff I have never heard of. Well, I do know the term used to figure the circumference of a circle. It's Pi R Round. (laughter)

Genius or not so genius, we all have the same thing in common. We all have to learn how to survive in this marvelous life. Perhaps your speech is more cultured than mine, but then again, maybe I can pick berries without catching poison ivy and even eat raw oysters. You might be comfortable with the subway system, but I can drive a tractor. You may know the mystery of the great cathedral, but I have seen the birth of a calf, the harvesting of a crop and the power of weather out of control and survived.

Someone said, "Knowledge is a dangerous thing." Maybe. The problem is that we can learn the wrong things, incorrect meanings, bad language, a distorted point of view and all the rest. It is as easy to learn the wrong as it is to learn the right.

When I was at my first church down in Florida, we were beginning to grow and had to make some critical decisions when it came to enlarging our present building, hiring a youth director, updating our equipment and just plain realizing that God was calling us to not be comfortable with the present but to be challenged for the future. 

Let me tell you that change requires the courage to realize that complacency won't cut it, stagnation is the result of comfort and the work of God never stands still!

The Bible teaches us, "Wisdom is knocking at the door."

Wisdom speaks to us. We cannot, we dare not, enter into the future unless we are committed to excellence when it comes to learning the truth, the rules of life and work and living the truth.

God has given us the future in Jesus Christ, the way, the truth and the life.

Thanks, God!