“Be careful never to forget what you yourself have seen…And be sure to pass them on to your children and grandchildren. “

Reporting is a universal part of business. Without regular and credible reports then we have no idea how a business is performing. The best reporting is usually followed up by first-hand anecdotes/knowledge. There is nothing better than knowing someone inspected the activity, or the numbers, or the results before attesting to and sharing the information. It’s not always possible but being able to see and put your hands on the information just builds the credibility and comfort level. Too much time is taken up in the defense of reporting that doesn’t have substantiation or close enough knowledge to explain and answer questions. Any time we hear, “let me get back to you on that”, probably means that somewhere someone hasn’t dug in deep enough or isn’t close enough to the data. We serve our companies, our bosses and our peers well by not serving up that which doesn’t have a set of eyes that have been on it.

Many generations passed in the Old Testament. While there was some form of writing, accounts, stories, and lessons were passed down through the words spoken. Not everything got written down and people depended on each other to remembers what they saw and heard to pass along and down through the generations. We are fortunate to have God’s Word as the written history of what happened in the early times. That doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t still be passing along what we have seen and learned about God and what He has done for us. There is nothing more powerful than what we have seen with our own two eyes, live, in person.  If we see God at work, there is no reason to hold it to ourselves either. We are to share God’s glory with others. Today, what will you see that you can pass along as first-hand knowledge?

Reference: Deuteronomy 4:9 (New Living Translation)