What's Inside

The theological ramblings of a simple man.

Wisdom

Because God is never cruel, there is a reason for all things. We must know the pain of loss; because if we never knew it, we would have no compassion for others, and we would become monsters of self-regard, creatures of unalloyed self-interest. The terrible pain of loss teaches humility to our prideful kind, has the power to soften uncaring hearts, to make a better person of a good one.

Dean Koontz

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

Jeremiah 29:11

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Thursday, September 7, 2006

What I Know and What I Don’t Know

The difference between what I know and what I don’t know is growing. The more I learn, the more there is to learn. The more that I understand, the more there is yet to be understood.

When I was younger I knew that if I dialed a phone number and someone answered we could talk to each other. I didn’t know how my voice was transmitted to the person I called or how their voice was sent back to me. It didn’t matter, what mattered is that I could use the phone to talk to some one far away.

Now I know that if I call my parents in Seattle there is more involved than just a couple of tin cans on a string.

When I dial their number a signal is sent from my telephone through a wire to a phone jack. Wiring inside the walls connects the jack to a box attached to the outside of my house. From there, my call is connected to the network that services my neighborhood. This is through a wire buried underground or an aerial wire suspended from the house to a terminal. Sometimes that terminal is on the ground and sometimes it’s attached to a telephone pole. The terminal connects my call to a local network and through an interface that services my neighborhood and several others. It is then sent through a larger network to an office operated by my telephone service provider. Inside the office, my call is routed through a distribution network; this is where my local line ends. Distrtibution leads into a switch that determines what office my calls need to be routed to, and then sends it to that office via a transmitter. Transmition could be done through a copper wire, fiber optics, or radio waves. Because my parents do not live in the same calling area (crazy geographical areas made up by the FCC that bear only minor relation to area codes and state lines) my call is then sent to a transmitter inside yet another office operated by my phone company. That office also contains a switch and a second transmitter that sends my call to my provider’s long distance office where it is received by a transmitter sent through a switch and another transmitter to the long distance carrier’s offices in my parents’ area.

From there the call travels in reverse order to my parents’ phone. Though a transmitter / switch / transmitter in the long distance office to the offices that connect the long distance network to the local network and another transmitter / switch / transmitter combination. It is sent to a transmitter inside the offices of their telephone provider, through a final switch and into distribution network that begins their local lines. Then, though the various networks and interfaces my call arrives in their neighborhood. It is sent through either a buried or aerial wire to the box on the side of their house, through internal wiring and a jack, where at last… my parents phone rings. Hopefully, they answer.

Before, there was only one thing that I did not know: how a phone call got from point A to point B. Now I know that one thing but by learning that one thing there is much more that I do not know.

I don’t know how my phone converts my voice into an electronic signal. Or how that signal is changed from an analog signal in copper wiring to a radio wave or digital on fiber optics. I don’t understand how the supercomputers inside the switches know where to direct my call, or why my call is sent through so many different switches. And I don’t know how that call is completed in less than a second.

The same rings true with ever other aspect of learning, in or out of a classroom environment. Music, history, science, careers, family, medicine, electronics, media, communication… the more you know, the more there is to be known.

The same is true of God. Your relationship with Him is an art of discovery. To know God is not about knowing every detail of His existence, but a continued search for things unknown.

Paul writes about the mysteries of God in many of his letters. In Ephesians he writes “With all wisdom and understanding, he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ.” He continues in Colossians, “My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”

It’s amazing to think that everything there is to know, all wisdom and knowledge, is hidden in Christ. It is there in Him for us to grasp hold of. But we have to know Christ Jesus to get it. You may know who Jesus is, but that doesn’t mean you know him. You can only know Jesus… truly know Him the same way you would get to know anyone else, by spending time with him. Learn from Him. There is always more to discover.

Learning is an ongoing process. It should be a lifelong quest. In ‘How Much I Don’t Know’ Scott Silletta writes “If You just keep opening doors, I promise that I’ll keep testing the locks.” We should always be exploring what life has to offer, opening every door… or at least trying. God opens a lot of doors in our lives; each of them leads to more. We should always make the most of the opportunities He gives us.

posted by nic @ 7:07 PM

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