My Mission: To make a difference in this world in light of the next. People often give me a rather curious look when they hear my story about changing careers from being a research chemist to spend my life teaching and preaching about God’s love and grace. After all, where does faith fit in to our busy lives and who is Christ to guide us in an ever changing, techno-centric world? So whenever I get that look or whenever I’m feeling particularly low, I think of Marco Polo. In the 14th century, when he came back to Venice from his travels in Cathay, Marco Polo described the incredible wonders he had seen there. Of course people didn’t believe him and for the rest of his life (and even on his death bed) they tried to get him to confess that he had lied and exaggerated about the wonders he had described. His last answer was: “I never told the half of it!” That’s the way I feel about God’s love and grace – “I have never told the half of it!” There is a place I know just beyond the gaze of most people. It cannot be purchased on Amazon or found using Google. In many ways it is a place beyond our poor powers of imagination or description though some great poets and prophets have tried. It is a place of serenity, built with humility and energized by a spirit of gratitude. Unfortunately we have lost our ability to see this part of the spectrum of life and focus only on what lies directly before us. Consumed by visual images from TV that express the good life, we live with the fear of missing out or giving up. We need some corrective lenses in order to see the grand story of life. We need the Bible.
"The Bible is like a telescope. If a man looks through his telescope, then he sees worlds beyond; but if he looks at his telescope, then he does not see anything but that. The Bible is a thing to be looked through, to see that which is beyond.” ~ Phillips Brooks
The goal of studying the Bible together is not merely a quest for knowledge, but to invite and engage in real life change. More than merely reading, studying, and dissecting the Bible, being a disciple of Christ involves merging knowledge with experience. We do this by bringing our questions to God, opening a dialogue with our hearts, and being aware of other ways to listen to God speak to us (group interaction, nature, art, movies, circumstances, etc.). Experiential growth is always grounded in the Bible as God’s primary means of revelation and our ultimate truth-source. I invite you to find new life and a new reason for living.
