Mom often said, “It’s not what you know, it’s what you think you know that ain’t so.” Life will sneak up on you less if you live by this rule: Two points make a line; three points make a truth.
Accidents happen closest to home for a reason: We assume more things the closer we get to home. Never back up without looking—in your own driveway especially. This is also for a reason: Babies might crawl in your driveway without sending prior notice, especially our own.
Things sprout legs, move, then drop their legs before you can notice. Earthquakes and lightning strike unannounced. The IRS might seize your rubber ducky, so don’t take a bath before at least verifying it’s there. You know a door is closed not when you hear the latch click, but when you try to open it. Tap your pocket keys before closing locked doors. Never turn right without looking left. And, never trust a turn signal until the driver is committed to the turn. Whenever my father saw a dent on the driver’s side door he’d say, “See that, son. That’s what you call a ‘clue’.”
Don’t be like the son who wouldn’t talk to his father the rest of his life after receiving a Bible instead of his dream car on his 18th birthday—only to open the Bible 30 years later after his father died to find a check inside for the price of the car when he was 18. His mistake was not that he held a lifelong grudge without opening the Bible first, but that he should have checked each page thrice.
Ask your friend before begrudging or forgiving; maybe you should be thankful. It happens with possessions, accounting, relationships, and even God. Everything moves except God, yet we still don’t understand Him. It’s not God we need to verify the truth about, but our ever-shifting misunderstanding of Him. There is no reason in the universe, plasmaverse, underverse, or oververse that every fact shouldn’t be checked three times. However offendable, expectable, dependable, predictable, or routine your routine is, triple check. Remember that “assume” is a compound word and that double checking just isn’t good enough.