Every afternoon Becky and I watch Jeopardy to see how smart we are.  Actually, it is confirmed on a daily basis how little we know.  I usually do best on the Final Jeopardy.  But yesterday was one of those days when my mind failed to key into an answer I should have known.  The statement was something like: “What Midwestern state capital is named after a man who was born 2,000 years ago in what is now Turkey.”

I flitted through Columbus, Lansing, Madison, Pierre etc.  At the end of thirty seconds the answer was revealed, “St. Paul.”  How could I have not got that?  I grew up only 90 miles from St. Paul.  Our grade school visited the capital.  Our family went shopping in St. Paul.  I went to school in St. Paul for three years. I’m studying St. Paul’s letter to the Galatians.

Which leads to another lapse of the mind.  Sunday, as we left Bunker Hill, Becky wondered why I didn’t tie Paul visiting Jerusalem three years after his conversion with Jesus’ resurrection after three days and the threesome we call the Trinity.  I could only say, “I never made the connection.”  For that matter in the Old Testament lesson, Elijah stretches out three times over the dead boy and then he is revived.

At least I’ll have an opening for Bible Class this coming Sunday.

The human mind is one of the greatest of God’s creations.  Our minds are gifted in a variety of ways.  I have little facility for mathematics.  But I like to play with words.  Give me a pile of lumber and I’m stumped.  Give me a pile of words and I immediately know what to make of them.  My wife can’t get too much of politics.  I can’t get too little.

The human mind is a one of those marvelous things in all its variety for which we do well to praise him with a new song.

And this afternoon at 4:30 we’ll have another opportunity to see how smart we are or how little we actually know.  Thank the Lord for “Jeopardy.”