The Giraffe Test

How’s your thinking? Perhaps you have a good job, a college degree, and years of training and experience. All of those things are nice, but it’s really important that you can still think. The following short quiz tests your ability to think in various ways.

Question #1:
How do you put a giraffe into a refrigerator?







Come on now… play along and answer the question.






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Answer:
Open the refrigerator, put the giraffe in, and close the refrigerator.

Note:
This question identifies whether you think of simple answers, or if you overly complicate things.


Question #2:
How do you put an elephant into a refrigerator?





Hey… it’s just like before… answer the question.






Did you say, "Open the refrigerator, put the elephant in, and close the refrigerator?"

(Wrong Answer)

* scroll down for the answer *






Answer:
Open the refrigerator, take out the giraffe, put in the elephant, and close the door.

Note:
This question measures your ability to think through the consequences of your actions.


Question #3:
The King of the Jungle is having a party. All the animals attend except one. Which animal does not attend?





Come on … you know this one.






* scroll down for the answer *






Answer:
The Elephant; the elephant is in the refrigerator. You just put him in there.

Note:
This question tests whether you use all available information.
OK, you still have one more chance to show your true abilities.


Question #4:
There is a river you must cross but it is inhabited by crocodiles. How do you manage it?





Hmmm… Oh, and you haven’t got a boat, either!






* scroll down for the answer *






Answer:
You swim across. All the crocodiles are attending the party.

Note:
This question judges whether you can focus on the big picture, not just a small part of it.


Interestingly… 90% of adults tested got all the questions wrong, but 70% of preschoolers answered them all correctly. Some adults I know just cannot get past the first answer. They protest that it is silly to think that you could possibly put a giraffe in a refrigerator. Their ‘adult’ mind gets so stuck that they completely disconnect from all of the rest of the questions. Children, on the other hand have no trouble imagining being able to fit a giraffe, or even an elephant, in a refrigerator; they haven’t been taught yet to accept what society believes to be physical limitations.

In Matthew 11:25, Jesus observes:

“I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned, and revealed them to little children.”

Adults consider themselves to be among ‘the wise and the learned’ and live in a world of experience, facts, and scientific proof. So often, though, their scientific proof is nothing more than repeated experience that they take for fact. At various times throughout history, the wise and the learned have declared:

- The Earth is the center of the universe;
- The Sun revolves around the Earth;
- The Earth is flat;
- Men will never fly;
- It is impossible to travel through the vacuum of outer space;

How many other statements, which once were accepted as fact can you think of that, have eventually been proven false?

Little children, however, live mostly in a world of faith. We ‘wise and learned’ adults have a lot to learn from little children! While sharing Bible stories with the little kids on Sunday mornings, I find them to be often much wiser than adults. Here are a few of the things some of the youngest kids have taught me:

Hold hands.
When they go back and forth from their classrooms to the story area, they hold hands so they can stay together, and so that nobody gets lost. As adults, we should remember to hold on to one another so we stay together, and hold on to God so we don’t get lost.

Run to get picked up.
If a little one is afraid, falls down, or is tired… they run to mommy or daddy throw up their arms, and cry: “Pick me up. Carry me!” Being grown-up, self-sufficient, and independent, we adults seldom run to our heavenly Father crying: “Pick me up. Carry me!” If we look back on some of our greatest challenges, however, we often realize that we didn’t come through on our own… God was carrying us.

Forgiving means forgetting.
Kids squabble; it’s a fact of life. Whether it is over a toy, a snack, or a place on the mat for story time… they often push, shove, or otherwise act inappropriately toward each other. Usually a parent or teacher steps in, stops the inappropriate action, metes out justice, and possibly rebukes one or both of the children. Amazingly, they are playing happily with each other only seconds later. Once the situation is over… it’s over! Children seem able to forget about the fight (as well as the behavior that led to the fight) almost as if it never happened. Wouldn’t the world be a nicer place if adults stopped listening to that ‘wise and learned’ voice that tells them never to forget the wrong, never to let go of the hurt, and ultimately… never to forgive.

See the wonder of the world.
There is no joy like the joy of 70 young children experiencing some new and wondrous thing all together. I get to see this all the time while sharing Bible stories with them on Sunday mornings. They shriek with laughter, they can hardly contain themselves while franticly waving their hands to get picked to help with the story, and they can’t wait to share the news of new things they have just experienced. So many adults seem to have acquired a ‘been there, done that’ attitude that they can hardly smile anymore, let alone laugh out loud; God forbid that they should EVER shriek with laughter! It is distressing to me to hear people confess that they don’t attend church because they are basically afraid that God is going to call on them; ‘to pick’ them to help out with the story. The kids keep reminding me to boldly share my wondrous experiences and God’s exciting Good News!

Know who loves you.
From the preschoolers who sing “Jesus loves me, this I know…” to the 5th graders who can quote John 3:16, all of the children in our fellowship know exactly who loves them. In our wisdom and our learnedness, we adults alternately see ourselves as so bad that God cannot possible love us, or we see God as unloving… listening to the ‘wise and learned’ argument that a loving god would not let bad things happen to good people. Thankfully, if you choose to live life with the spirit of a child, you can know exactly who loves you without reservation… God!

Yes, as we grow to be adults, there comes a time when we should put away childish things. We shouldn’t walk around with a pacifier in our mouth, we probably need to let go of the security blanket, and we should learn not to cry and whine just because we are tired or hungry. Sadly, we all know plenty of adults that still haven’t learned these lessons.

Though I have put away childish things, I pray that I continue to live with the heart, the spirit, and the faith of a small child.

Your brother in Christ,

Dave