'Sound Sources'

Ok, just for the record – for those of you keeping track - football players are NOT the only ones who FUMBLE. I did it again, just recently with something that I, one would think, should have known better not to.

Recently, I received that very popular email that is going around about Barack Obama. I received it from a friend whom I have grown to love and respect. A day or so later, I received another email – from someone on this person’s list who, very gently, reminded us all of the need to take these emails to another source to seek FACTS before we hit ‘forward’.

Now, I have known about these fact-seeking websites and have used them before – but did not do so with this particular email. In fact, I had had a discussion on this email before not agreeing but not disputing and failed to see the great fumble that I had gotten myself into. I say that I should have known to check out facts because this – of all things – has, yes, once again, been that soapbox of mine over these last few years (people will perceive what they want – without looking into the facts of something). Because my life has changed so much, I have been under much scrutiny for making certain changes in my life - for the way I now live my life – not many have come to me to find out the WHY’s of these things bit instead, have made their judgements based on the way they believe things should be rather than what they really are.

While I did not forward this email, I STILL fell back on old habits with even the smallest thing – like the LACK of looking into the SOURCE for my own knowledge. I took something at face value. I had done so, because a few weeks earlier – another friend of mine, someone who takes pride in finding out FACTS, had also passed this along. Because, again, I knew the character of this other person, I did not feel the need to check it out further and so my fumble really began back then – my how long a football field can really be.

We often place SO MUCH TRUST in a person or THING that we often become lazy in our efforts to seek TRUTH.

The kicker in all this (hey, just analogizing in the spirit of the football season) is that we don’t even know if those fact-finding sources are indeed factual.

So the question remains . . . WHO and WHAT do we ultimately believe?

I choose to accept certain pieces of information that I – MYSELF – have uncovered as truth, applying the principles that Scripture reveals and to do so with another underlying truth that there is ALWAYS more than meets the eye – there are always two sides to every story. And then, I need to continually REMIND myself to do these very things in each and every situation . . . perhaps the hardest part of all.

By the way, if you are interested, when I went to one of those sources – it paralleled Claims with Facts – ironically enough, most of the claims had included many of the facts. But the FINE DETAILS were different (we twist truths to SEE and HEAR what we want to see and hear in every situation).

Many of the facts used are slated as being quotes from Mr. Obama’s own book – his own words. Now the question is, ‘is that really what his book quotes?’ . . . I don’t know, I never read his book . . .

May your tools remain sound as you continue to dig . . .