One of the most difficult tasks for men is admitting we don't really know how to do something – or just plain old not wanting to do it – like reading a map when we're driving, looking at the assembly instructions or measuring twice before cutting. 

I have to confess that I don't know as much as I used to, don't know as much as I need to and won't live long enough to begin to. 

For you English teachers, it is permissible to end a sentence with "to." My friend, Professor Ken Homer, told me it's usually better to than not to. I digress.

A book I skimmed through warns us that we are all victims of GNI or Galloping New Ignorance. This is not a new disease, but is tied to the way we get most information. People believe, says the book, that if something is electronic, on the Internet or televised, it has to be accurate, true and approaching gospel levels. 

The fact is that any of us – realizing, of course, that computers are demonic – can turn on one of those buggers, type in some stuff that your grandkids can teach you and get an article by a professor, fifth grader, grandma or conspiracy theorist. Caveat! If we're not careful, critical or alert, we can get anything from pure guesswork, opinion or a politician.

I will illustrate by using one of my famous (borrowed) stories. Bill and I went camping. Bill took a bathroom break and was bitten on the bum by a snake. I used my phone and type, "My friend has been bitten by a snake. What do I do?"

Answer, "Are you sure it was a snake? Need more detail."

I type back. "It is long-bodied, legless and has fangs. It has the markings of a coral snake. It bit my friend on the bum. What do I do?"

Answer, "Use your knife, cut an "X" on each of the fang marks and suck out the poison. Get your friend to the hospital as soon as possible."

Bill asks, "What did the phone say?"

"Bill, it said you're going to die."

While many of you may fail to get my hilarious humor, you may begin to realize that research must be in-depth, accurate and exact or it is nothing more than guesswork, speculation or flat out worthless.

If we do not realize and accept that so much of what we hear or read about is about on the level of playground gossip and believe some of this stuff is true, then we may take this empty talk and hot air and make some terrible mistakes.

I believe that God has given us an inquisitive mind and a capable ability to live and work in a complex and constantly changing world. The problem is – as I see it – that so often it is very difficult to sort out the trash from the treasure.

Let's move on. When I was a kid, sitting in a little church in North Carolina, a preacher told me – I know he was talking just to me – that I should read a Book that has some 2,000-plus years of information that is as true and accurate today as it was when it was first written. 

"You get it, come to our Bible study and learn how to read it, who wrote it, when it was written and why it was written. By the way, it was written for you!"

My first Bible was the good old King James Version with its beautiful poetic Elizabethan English. Eventually, I moved to the RSV because of the modern and scholarly style. I still use the KJV when I read the Lord's Prayer, 23rd Psalm and some other very treasured words. I'm sure you understand.

Allow me to end like I began. The Bible has many translations, languages and interpretations, but its message has never changed. The Bible's first words, "In the beginning God..." The very ending says, "The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen."

That's some knowledge and wisdom we all can live by.

Thanks, God!