Questions about what I've learned!

I read a number of church newsletters each month, most of them from churches I served as a pastor during bygone days. Sometimes they are just advertising, but sometimes they print something that really gets my attention. So it was when I read the newsletter from the First Baptist Church of Augusta, Kan., this month (There was no credit given for the article).

I suspect that since the church has a Christian Counseling Center, and since it was on that page, it came from them. It was simply entitled "Always Learning." I have copied it with no editorializing.

• I've learned that no matter what happens, or how bad it seems today, life does go on and it will be better tomorrow.

• I've learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way they handle these three things: a rainy day, lost luggage and tangled Christmas tree lights.

• I've learned that regardless of your relationship with your parents, you'll miss them when they're gone from your life.

• I've learned that making "Living" is not the same thing as making a "Life."

• I've learned that life sometimes gives you a second chance.

• I've learned that you shouldn't go through life with a catcher's mitt on both hands. You need to be able to throw something back.

• I've learned that if you pursue happiness, it will elude you. But if you focus on your family, your friends, the needs of others, your work and doing the best you can, happiness will find you.

• I've learned that whenever I decide something with an open heart, I usually make the right decision.

• I've learned that every day you should reach out and touch someone. People love that human touch; holding hands, a warm hug or just a friendly pat on the back.

• I've learned that I still have a lot to learn.

• I've learned that sometimes people need a little something to make them smile.

When I was graduated from college, I really felt that I knew almost everything there was to know. That's when people should have asked me questions, for I thought I knew it all. I entered graduate school pretty well puffed up with knowledge, but it soon came to an end.

The first month of graduate school was a complete "downer." I learned that while I had accomplished some things in life, I really knew very little at all. It took me most of that semester to get back on solid ground and start learning all over again.

It's been all downhill from college. Sure, I do know some things, but the reality is I have far more questions than I have answers.

For instance, why do people think their God is greater than someone else's? Not only must I ask how God created the world, but I must also ask how He holds it all together. I know something about the "Big Bang" theory of creation, but need I remind you that someone must have made the first "firecracker?"

If there is really dark matter and dark energy out there in space where I was taught there was only a perfect vacuum, what's that all about? And, if the known universe is something like 12-14 billion light years across and is ever expanding faster than the speed of light, would someone tell me just where it all is going?

If it would take someone travelling at the speed of light (186,000 miles per second) to travel across our own Milky Way galaxy over more than a 100 years, why are we experimenting with space travel? Maybe we should be experimenting with "time travel."

These are just a few of my questions. What about all of the questions you have that you have never dared ask for fear of offending someone? It's a new year with many unanswered questions about the future. Stay focused upon Him who is in charge.

* * *

Box is the chaplain for the Bella Vista Police and Fire departments. The opinions expressed in this column don't necessarily reflect the views of the newspaper.

Editorial on 01/14/2015