Becoming an expert at knowing no one is an expert

I was at one of the farmers' markets a while back and had a guy come to check out my tomatoes. This has been a rough year for most of my tomatoes, especially the nice, big, red tomatoes. Most of them seem to be cracked for one reason or another, with the main reason being a lack of consistent rainfall and watering. Anyway, the guy looked at my tomatoes and commented they looked kind of rough.

And honestly they did look rough, with cracks on maybe a quarter of my tomatoes. He went ahead and bought some, and I never thought anything about it at the time, but my mind must have kept musing on his comment. A true expert would be growing their own. No matter where they lived and no matter the handicaps, an expert would have their own tomatoes. A lady came by a week ago and commented that cracks were normal on home-grown tomatoes. Her qualifier was she had been raised in the country growing garden goodies, which included tomatoes.

My tomatoes have not done well this summer. I've had trouble with bugs, like aphids, and worms. I also had trouble with fungus. I had a hard time getting the right amount of water on them.

My European cucumbers are in the same boat. These cucumbers are probably my favorite garden crop, so I try to keep some growing up till the first frost. It seems like every summer I have trouble with bugs that look like they have a shield on their backs. I'm going to plant some more cucumber plants in the next few days and hope they do OK.

What I need to do is ask the experts! But the truth of the matter is, it seems like everyone or almost everyone is an expert on everything today. Experts on gardening, religion, government, finances, law enforcement, and the list just goes on forever. We even have experts on climate change.

Back when I was still preaching, there were some who tried to tell me what to preach. There's a fat chance of that happening, but some tried. I got my marching orders from someone a lot higher up than some earthly expert.

But who is an expert? We, in my opinion, can't say an expert is an expert just because they are educated. Just having an education doesn't mean one is an expert. In Nebraska, where I grew up, we called some people educated idiots. They had a lot of book learning, but that was about all. They'd forgotten common sense years ago. And years of experience doesn't mean one is an expert. It might, but it is not automatic.

So who is an expert? I guess I don't know. Some would claim they are experts, kind of self-imposed expert status, if you will. I would say they are a long way from being an expert. I would think a true expert would not make such a claim, aware of the fact they are still learning and gaining knowledge. It's kind of like the one who learns enough to realize they know very little.

Dad was good at about everything, but he probably wasn't an expert at anything. He could work cattle, horses, hogs or chickens. He could fish with about anybody that I knew then or know today. He was a pretty good shot with his old 25/35 Winchester. He did about all of the vet work that was needed, sewing up many a horse that got into the fence. He played the juice harp, fiddle and guitar. But an expert? Probably not. I know he wouldn't have claimed to be one.

When I was attending Asbury Seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky, there were some world-renowned teachers there. Dr. Robert Traina was known worldwide as a teacher in methodical Bible study. Was he an expert? Probably, but he wouldn't claim to be one. He was a common-acting, super guy. I'd say he was an expert. At the time he was probably 70 years old and had spent his entire life learning and teaching.

Can an expert be wrong? I'd have to say most definitely. If we get to the place where we can't be wrong or fail, we are living a lie and are a failure. Once we get to the place where we close the door to learning, we are wrong. We have stopped growing.

I guess in the end I'd be a little suspicious about anyone who claims to be an expert. When the news puts an expert in the hot seat and interviews them, all we are getting is an opinion and nothing more. When I write about gardening, all you are getting is my opinion. I most likely will have done some research, but then it's just my opinion and nothing more.

The only source I know where one can get expert, 100-percent-right advice is from God's word.