Second Hand Knowledge

All of us have played telephone when we were little kids and learned how a message get messed up when it is passed along.  We also know how the impact of a statement, saying, message, or event is diluted if were were not there....if it is second hand knowledge.  At the same time, since we were little (especially boys since I am one and have one), we always want to see want we can do.  We want to stretch our limits....prove ourselves.  This is normally self imposed with lifting weights, running, sports (I even had a friend one time bet another one that he could last longer on a tread mill and would do it until the other one threw up -- and he offered a garbage can).  

As we mature in the faith, God gives us opportunities to show our mettle and to get first hand knowledge of who we are and who he is.  We call them trials.  And, I think Job sums it up for us in 42:5 "I had heard about you before, but now I have seen you with my own eyes."  There are many things that we have all heard about God, but he wants us to have first hand knowledge.  Not all require trials but some do.  Let's see what God wants us to see today with our own eyes.   I know that as I do I will never be the same.