Information "Under"-load

I love my job, I really do. I love the problem solving, I love learning something new every day. I love being surrounded by people who all have their own unique specialty, and they are always willing to teach you something. Very rarely do I leave in the evening and say, "I really don’t like doing this.", but (you knew that 'but' was coming), it does have its annoyances.

One of them is having to try and do something without having all the information you need. I understand that sometimes it's just not available, the information doesn’t exist, that doesn’t bother me. What bothers me is when I know someone, somewhere in the world, has the information I need, and I can't find. Here is what I should do when that happens:

1) Call someone who knows more than me.

2) Ask questions.

3) Use all my resources to hunt down the information

4) Use the information to make an intelligent decision.

Here's what I actually do.

1) Think.

2) Think more.

3) Wallow in misery.

4) Guess.

5) Pretend I have the answer

6) Hope I was right / No one finds out

I think we all do this, at some level, in our own lives. We know that we don’t have the answers, but we don’t search out the right answer, or more information so we can make a good decision. Sometimes the reason is pride, sometimes it is ignorance, or maybe selfishness, but whatever the reason, we seem to continually ignore the information that is so readily available to us, and instead we just pretend we know best.

We think that God's Word is unreachable, unknowable, confusing, or just plain difficult. Guess what, it is. It’s the hardest thing I have ever done to try and understand and follow it. But that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t try, that doesn’t mean I should just throw my hands in the air and say "I don’t know, so I'll do what I want!"

What we should do is sit down, take the time, and learn something. Let's go back to my first list.

1) Call someone who knows more than me.

If I need to know something, the first source I should consult is the Bible. It’s a 3 inch thick book without a good index, I know. But what you need is in there, trust me.

If I can't find it myself, there are a lots of people I can talk to that know much more than I do. I ask them what they think.

2) Ask questions.

If you're not sure about something, ask, it's just that easy.

3) Use all my resources to hunt down the information

There is almost certainly someone who has had your question before, and they probably found an answer, find them, ask them. They may have even written a book, read it.

4) Use the information to make an intelligent decision.

I should add, use all the information. Never nit-pick data, it never works out good. If you find something you don’t like, figure out why you don’t like it. Never ignore it.

Deuteronomy 4:29

English Standard Version (ESV)

29 But from there you will seek the LORD your God and you will find him, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul.