You don't have because you don't ask!

"You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God.” (James 4:2 NIV)

You don't know what you don't know!

Asking questions is one of the most powerful things you can do to keep from making mistakes and to get ahead in anything you are doing. You don't know what you don't know, and that can harm you! I learned this when I was a young man shortly after being drafted into the US Army.

Shortly after graduating from high school I was drafted

Up until this time life for me had been pretty uncomplicated. I lived on a small island in Alaska and my life revolved around attending school, working a part time job, and for fun, hunting and fishing.

Army basic training was pretty straight forward where we were turned into soldiers

After basic we were assigned "jobs" and sent off to Advanced Individual Training schools (AIT). I was sent to Fort Huachuca, Arizona, to be trained as a truck driver. This new "truck driver" job description seemed odd to me since I didn't know how to drive.

The training skills test that almost killed me 

Soon after arriving to Fort Huachuca AIT, training began with a trip up a steep mountain for a driving skills test. The mountain was very different from the kind we have in Alaska. It was completely bare of anything growing. At the top I could see a long road zig-zagging steeply down the mountainside with lots of sharp switchbacks marked with orange cones at each turn. At the top was a long row of canvas backed deuce-and-a-half military trucks. The trucks were running and on the passenger side of each one sat a training instructor sergeant with pen and clipboard in hand. One by one each soldier got into the driver's side of a truck and proceeded slowly down the mountainside making turns left and right at the orange cones. When it came to my turn, I too got into a truck and sat down next to a sergeant. I could feel the rumble of the truck beneath me as I peered nervously over the steering wheel at the steep downward slope stretched out before me.

Then the sergeant said firmly, "Navigate the cones!"

At this point I figured I should let him know I didn't know how to drive.

"But, I ...."

Before I could finish the sentence, the sergeant repeated what he had said previously, only louder this time.

"Navigate the CONES!"

He startled me! I tried to tell him again.

"But, sir, I don't ..." 

The sergeant slammed his clipboard against the truck's dashboard with an ear-piercing crack and screamed at me at the top of his lungs  . . .

“I SAID NAVAGATE THE CONES, AND DO IT NOW YOU NO GOOD WORTHLESS PIECE OF...."

I practically jumped out of my skin!! And, as a reflex action, I jammed the stick-shift forward and stomped on the floor peddles with everything I had.

We lurched forward and downward at breakneck speed! Forget about the cones! Forget about the turns! Straight forward and downward we went plowing a new path through all the switchbacks along the way without making a single turn! There were no seatbelts and we were thrown all over the cab including into each other. We both yelled, me in sheer terror, and he, cursing loudly as he fought wildly to gain control of the rampaging vehicle. Somehow we managed to get all the way to the bottom of the mountain without rolling over.

Finally we stopped in a great cloud of dust

For a few seconds we sat in stunned silence. The sergeant's face was white as a sheet. He then spoke softly to me for the first time. 

"Son, why didn't you tell me you didn't know how to drive?"

"Well sir", I said, "I'm from a small island in Alaska and we had boats, not cars, and I don't know why they made me a truck driver when I don't know how to drive. Why didn't they draft me into the navy?"

The sergeant had made a very serious mistake! 

Because the sergeant had refused to ask me important questions (and wouldn't allow me to give him important information) such as, "Do you know how to drive?", we plowed through and destroyed the truck driver's training course and nearly had a very serious accident. I've often wondered if he had learned the important lesson there and, in the future, started each training session with the question, "Do you know how to drive?"

Always ask queations!

Not only should you quickly ask questions from those around you, you should definitely put God at the top of your list. The Bible says, “You do not have because you do not ask.” (James 4:2 NKJV)

God will always answer when you ask!

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” (Matt. 7:7 NIV)