Known and Unknown

"we know that his testimony is true"

John 21:24

If you watched the news at all over the past week, then you probably know of the death of the U.S. Ambassador to Libya.  Christopher Stevens died last Tuesday, September 11, of smoke inhalation, when the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi was attacked.  Those are the facts we know.  The details surrounding his death are all conjecture.

As I watched the news last Tuesday, I heard from many different people.  I'm a bit of a policy wonk, so I like knowing what's going on in Washington, and I heard statements from our embassy in Cairo, which was also under attack, and from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and from President Obama, and from Mitt Romney, the man running against Obama for President.

And then I heard from analysts and commentators and anchors and a variety of people paid to give their opinion on political matters.  But I really didn't learn any new facts.

I also went to the Wikipedia page about Christopher Stevens, because I wanted to know his family information.  I wanted to know if he had a wife and children I should be praying for.  His entry in Wikipedia consisted of three sections:  Early Life and Education; Foreign Service; and Death.  Last Tuesday, the paragraph concerning his death was two or three sentences long, including the few facts that were known at the time.   On Friday, I looked again, and the section about his death was 15 sentences long, and the information was punctuated by words like "reportedly"... "apparently"... "reports differ...." and "U.S. officials believe..."

The article is even prefaced by the words, "this article is about a person who has recently died.  Some information, such as that pertaining to the circumstances of the person's death, and surrounding events, may change as more facts become known." 

We live in the age of the Information Superhighway, but there's a lot we don't know about Ambassador Steven's death.  Authorities don't know who, and they disagree about why.  All they know is that he died in a fire, but they're not even sure how the fire got started.

Make no mistake:  the existence of the gospels, and the fact that we can hold them in our hands, is a miracle.  Four different reporters ~ Matthew, Mark, Luke and John ~ human, flawed, biased, emotional, forgetful, selfish...

But the books they authored?  Fact.  Inspired and guided by the Holy Spirit and then written by men who were there.  When we study the gospels, we are privileged to study not conjecture, opinion or analysis, but fact. 

And not just the facts about His life on earth, but His actions, and His words.   I don't know about you, but I'm guilty of taking for granted the very existence of these documents, not to mention their availability to me. 

It's time for me to start my Bible Study class again, which I look forward to every year with eagerness and anticipation.  But this year feels different.  I find myself approaching it with thankfulness, and with reverence.   And I realize it's how I should have felt all along.

~ "it seemed good to me also, 

having had perfect understanding of all things 

from the very first, 

to write to you and orderly account... 

that you may know the certainty of those things

 in which you were instructed" ~

Luke 1:3-4