The Gospel License

You need a license to do just about anything anymore, whether it's selling hot dogs, driving, getting married, pulling a tooth or cutting hair. Even the apostle says that Timothy needs to be "approved."

It's one of the rites of passage for American teenagers: Navigating the soul-numbing process of going down to the DMV to get that coveted driver's license. There's the written test, of course, followed by the driving test with that serious-looking man checking stuff off on his clipboard as you weave through the cones, demonstrate the proper use of a turn signal and attempt the nerve-wracking feat of parallel parking in three moves or less.

If you're lucky, you get a shiny new driver's license (complete with bad hair day picture) that demonstrates that you're barely competent to get behind the wheel, to get on the streets and get stuck in traffic with the rest of humanity.

But while the coveted driver's license is usually the first license we earn, for most of us it's certainly not the last. Depending on the profession in which you work, the recreational pastimes you love or even the software you put on your computer, chances are that you will accumulate enough licenses over your...