Exams

I am not a big fan of exams.  Candidly, I hate them!  I get nervous.  I know what I do not know.  I also know that I do not what others to know what I do not know.  I always fear that exams will reveal the lack of knowledge.  It is easy to forget that they are designed to measure the positive as well as the negative.
As I have gotten older, the nature of exams has changed.  Gone is the periodic need to face the educational judge.  In its place, I now have internal auditors, external examiners, and regulators.  Even if they are not enough, there are the centralized business functions – risk managers and a host of specialists that make his or her living second guessing decisions that we have taken.  It seems that I have replaced a periodic set of exams with a constant examination.  I do not like the new regime any more than I liked the first!  I want life to be focused on the positive, not the weaknesses and negatives.
As I age, I find myself embracing a different approach.  I know there is much that I do not know.  I am quite confident that there are others brighter, smarter, quicker, stronger, and more effective.  In short, I know I am human, weak, and an idiot.  If I know, and God knows, then who really cares who else knows?  This is a fundamental shift in thinking.  It is also incredibly helpful.  With a willingness to be a food, exams are easy!  What I know now has the opportunity to see the light of day.  Weaknesses, failures, and gaps are merely opportunities we can address. 
I find hope when I see others act with the same conviction.  It is encouraging when “Peter, full of the Holy Spirit, let loose: 'Rulers and leaders of the people, if we have been brought to trial today for helping a sick man, put under investigation regarding this healing, I'll be completely frank with you-we have nothing to hide.'”  (Acts 4.8, 9) 
Exams are opportunity windows.