It happens most often when you are driving a rental car.  You pull into the gas station and suddenly you remember that you don’t know which side the fuel filler door is on.  If you guess left, it’s probably on the right and if you guess right, it’s probably on the left.  And then there’s the issue of whether there’s an inside-the-car latch to open the fuel door.  Back to left side or right side.  A quick Google search suggests a lot of heated debate over the issue.  What issue do we not debate heatedly these days?  My preference is left simply because that is what I am used to.  Creature of habit and all that.

The other day a friend and I were in a car that neither or us owned and we needed to fill the tank.  I was driving and said something about wondering on which side of the car the fuel filler door might be.  My friend leaned over, looked at the dash, and said, “Right.”

“How did you know that?” I asked.

“See that little arrow pointing right,” he said.

Sure enough, the car we were driving had a little right-pointing arrow next to the gas pump icon on the dashboard.  And sure enough, my car has a little arrow pointing left.  You can see a photo from my car in the header.  I have been driving the car for 13 years and never noticed, and if I had noticed, I would not have known.

There’s no law that says the fuel filler door has to be on the left side or the right side of the car, and there is no law saying there has to be a little arrow next to the gas pump icon on your dashboard to tell you which side of the pump to approach when you are driving a rental car.

Somebody had a really good idea when they started to put those little arrows on our dashboards.  But I never knew.  Not only do we Americans argue about everything, we love being victims.  I guess I should say someone should have told me.  Clearly someone is at fault for me not knowing, and it can’t be me.

I will settle for “I never knew that.”  Come to think of it, there are lots of things I never knew and still don’t know.

Life itself is probably better when we acknowledge there are lots of things we never knew – or maybe got wrong the first time through.  Certainly, the Bible speaks more clearly, more sweetly (and sometimes more bitterly) when we are willing to say, “I never knew that.”

Recently I have been preaching a little more often as I am helping a not-too-far-away EPC church that is between pastors.

“No repeat sermons for me,” I say smugly.

More preaching, and no repeat sermons, means more sermon preparation, and my smug self has been reminded again how much I never knew.  A little exegetical insight or a commentator’s good point, and I find myself saying, “I never knew that.”

Next time I am feeling a little too smug to say, “I never knew that,” I should take a look at the little left-pointing arrow next to the gas pump icon on my car’s dashboard.  I never knew that.  I am thankful for a friend who taught me something new.