It’s no fun considering your limitations. But I propose it is great fun considering our limitations. I’m guessing you’ll feel better about yourself in just a minute.

We have two options: know everything or have faith.

The Know Everything Option

Most of us realize this is a non-starter but smart people get confused about it. Here’s a fun example.

The “No Pull” problem.

You would think that when you jump out of an airplane 5000 feet above hard dirt, considering the experience you’ve had with gravity since you were a crawler, that you would think about PULLING THE RIPCORD on your parachute, assuming you’ve brought one.

(Wait, I’m missing something! Did I leave the iron on when I left?)

But here’s the funny thing. Every single year people forget to pull the little handle that will keep them from unceremoniously burying themselves. And it’s not only the amateurs. It’s the experienced professionals.

Now, thanks to modern technology that automatically opens a parachute at a predetermined altitude, we actually get to interview them. We can ask the burning question their significant other asked while beating them over the head with a training manual:

“WHAT (thump) WERE (thump) YOU (thump) THINKING?!?” . . . (thump)

Before you expect a profound answer, please note, they did just jump out of a perfectly good airplane, on purpose, for the entertainment value. So, what is more important than saving your own life?

They got distracted.

The only difference between the seasoned professionals and rank amateurs is what distracted them. The pros were thinking about perfecting a new maneuver or how to set a new record while the amateurs were thinking, “I bet I look cool doing this!”

It’s the same thing that makes us drive like we’re legally drunk when talking on a cell phone. It’s a basic problem.

We can only think one thing at a time.

But, what about really, really smart people? Can’t they do better?

Nope. Einstein flunked math and couldn’t balance a checkbook. It wasn’t because he was dumb, but because he was human. His mind was on something else. Admittedly, a big something. But like the rest of us, it was still just one thing at  a time .

What this means is that no one, no matter how smart, can know it all. “It all” is simply too big. And we are too small.

See, you’re smarter than you thought. Or they’re not as smart as you thought. Not even that teacher, professor, dean, nutrition “expert”, judge, lawyer, celebrity, politician, king or Pharaoh. There’s an endless list of people trading on their ability to know more than you.

Just picture Pharoah trying to solve the world’s problems and run your life – while talking on his cell phone and checking his email – as he falls from the sky. If he could manage to remember to pull the rip cord at all, whose would he pull first? Yours or his?

Hint: an Egyptian Pharaoh’s tomb was meant to transport him to the afterlife. They built one each.

You don’t have to depend on Pharaoh. You have your own brain. And  when you add one small element, you know the exact amount necessary.

You know enough.

Next – The Faith Option