Considering Left Feet and Beasts of Burden

"Astronaut Neil Armstrong first stepped on the moon with his left foot." This was posted as a little-known and who-cares fact on Facebook by a friend. It was in fun and, as advertised, pretty useless as facts go.

As soon as I read it I could envision a fifteen or twenty minute conversation around the table at a coffee shop. You know the table, the one with all the old guys who gather every morning for coffee. We... er, they get together and wax eloquent on topics about which they fancy themselves familiar. Often the boundaries of actual knowledge are "expanded" beyond their real borders. (You know what I mean, don't you?)

Then I transitioned to a vision of a religious discussion taking place on an equally inane and unimportant subject. Have you ever witnessed (surely not participated in) a debate over some subject that may have been "discuss-able" but absolutely insignificant in the whole scheme of things?

Considering the need to focus on the important good news and the need to "get the word out" it seems a terrible distraction to spend more than a whisper of a time considering whether or not Balaam's transportation came equipped with a saddle in Numbers 22. OK, you caught me. Even I have never heard that argument in a bible class setting, but you get the point.

I resolve to spend less time on mental "bubblegum" and more on the significant. Join me in this resolve if you will.