Creation Without Evolution

A biology teacher I had while I was an undergrad once told me that he had often wished he could study biology without dealing without the teachings of evolution. Biology is the study of God's handiwork and what makes it function. Only when someone sees the hand of God in creation can he or she truly appreciate the universe and its life forms. I am now pursuing a master's degree in Family Counseling with the goal of completing a PhD in psychology. I feel the same way as my former biology professor about my area of study. I often wish that such anti-biblical ideas as evolution were left out of the picture. Psychology is the study of the human mind and soul. The goal of counseling is to bring about wholeness and healing while helping people to see what they can do to change their own situations. This is only possible when man recognizes that God Himself is the ultimate source of healing and life. Deuteronomy 29:29 says, "The hidden things belong to the Lord." None of us can truly understand why we behave as we do until the light of God's word shines upon our hearts and minds, revealing hidden hurts and pains we often did not know were there. Hebrews 4:12 tells us that the Word of God penetrates deep enough to divide the soul from the spirit and can judge all the thoughts and intents of the heart. While psychology tries to say that man has a "mind" problem, the Bible reveals the "heart" problem. When a person surrenders their heart, that is their passions and desires to God, many of their emotional and mental problems go away. If there is a heart problem today, look to the source of all life, Jesus Christ. He is always waiting and he does not charge a fee for "sitting on his couch."

Blessings,

Pastor Sullivan Jones

Alpha and Omega

God is Writing into your life

Rev. 22:13 - I am the alpha and the omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.

For many years now I have worked with non-English speaking families, teaching both Spanish and English as a Second Language. A year or so ago I attended a seminar for teachers to learn how to work with children in the classrooms who had limited English speaking skills. One of the exercises the instructor had us to do was to pick a partner and tell that person about a vacation we had taken. There was one catch - There was a list of letters we could not use.

I remember one was the vowel A and another was the letter E. That ruled out the word vacation and the word went.  As you can imagine, the conversation was quite imaginative.

People made sentences like this: I go to store. I go to beach. I heard one lady yell – “you can’t say beach.”

 “Oops that’s right I can’t, ” was the reply.

So what was the point? The point was to show teachers how difficult it can be to try and express oneself with limited English vocabulary in an effort to make them more empathetic for students who are struggling with the language.

Personally, I have always been fascinated by languages. People who know that I study languages often ask me, “which language is the hardest to learn?” Though there are several answers to this, one measure is simple: The more different a language is from the one you already speak, the harder it will be to master. One thing that makes a language somewhat difficult is when it has a different alphabet from English such as Chinese, Hebrew, Greek, Arabic, etc.

I recently found an introductory Hebrew book that I used in a class I took several years ago. As I was flipping through it, I remembered the struggle to properly pronounce Hebrew words that were written with an alphabet I was having to learn to read. (Just in case you are wondering, I still have not perfectly mastered the Hebrew alphabet.)

As I flipped through the book, I was reminded that the first two letters of the Hebrew alphabet or Aleph and Bet. We get the word alphabet from Hebrew, through Greek and into English from the first two letters. In the Greek language the first and last letters of the alphabet are Alpha and Omega. As I contemplated this thought this morning, I suddenly realized what Jesus was telling us. By saying that he is the Alpha and Omega he was letting us know that he has all the necessary letters and vocabulary to express himself in our lives.

II Corinthians 3:1-3 says that we as Christians are letters written from God to world. God is writing our life story through the things that happen in our lives. Sometimes we may feel handicapped by our inability to understand what God is saying or doing our lives. After all, we are not as fluent in understanding God’s speech as he is in understanding us. However, if we will trust His will, we will see that the things being written into our life stories are for our good.

We must trust that all things do work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose.

Not only is God the Alpha, the beginning, but he is Omega, the ending. Just as in a novel, one cannot tell how a book will end until the last page is read. So in living for God, we cannot see how a story will turn out until it is finished. One thing is sure: If we try to take the pen and write the story ourselves (by making decisions without prayer), things will not turn out well. However, if we trust God, He has a way of making things turn out for our benefit.

In closing, let us remember the words of the Apostle Paul: He who has begun a good work in you will continue that good work until the day when Jesus Christ returns (Philipians 1:6). I am so glad that God has not written the last chapter yet.

God Bless,

Pastor Sullivan Jones

Truth Tabernacle of Bay St. Louis

Do You Love Your Job?

I recently saw a sign in a co-worker’s office that said,

“Pick a job you love and you will never work a day in your life.”

Wow! Just the thought of having a job that you love to go to every morning seems like a fantasy to many. This was not the first time I had heard this saying and I must say I have to believe that it is not true. While the thought of doing something you love every day may seem like heaven on earth, no job is without challenges.

For years I thought I wanted to be a Spanish teacher or interpreter. I dreamed of the day I could get up every morning and go to a classroom and teach. I felt like all would be well in my world if I could just do what I wanted to do every day. Naturally, this was an unrealistic thought process. Once I finally landed a job using my Spanish skills I realized that many days were less than perfect.

The biggest challenge of any job is the fact that we have to work with other people who are as imperfect as we are. There are people to deal with on any job. No matter what I do, I will have a supervisor to answer to and co-workers to get along with. Often my co-workers ideas will conflict with my own. If I am not willing to compromise and work at reaching an agreement that everyone can live with I will always be frustrated.

I remember when I used to think that I would be happy if I could just be in charge. I laugh at such thoughts now that I am in management. When one is in an entry-level position, he has to concern himself with what his superiors think. When one is in management, he has to balance what his superiors think with what his subordinates think. Often those at lower positions in a company feel that management could change things if they would. What they fail to understand is that everyone answers to someone and their immediate supervisor is probably following orders in the decisions she makes. It is easy to say what needs to be done until one is responsible for getting it done.

For years I worked in lower skilled, low paying jobs, not feeling like I could do anymore. I had skills but did not have confidence in myself (or in God) to believe that I could do more. I often knew that I was not happy with my current position but I did not know what to do about it. I had an ideal job in mind and thought that all would be well if I could obtain that job.

In time and through God’s blessing I obtained a better paying position. I had a job that matched my skill level and I should have been content. But I was not content; I lacked the confidence that I needed to do my job and felt that my opinion was not valued. I will never forget the moment during a church service when the Spirit of God spoke these words to my heart: “I have promoted you but you are still thinking like a janitor.”

I was stunned because I realized in that moment how true these words were. I was still walking around like someone that had a minimum wage job. I had to stop thinking like someone with a low paying job and no skill set. I had to behave myself like a professional and understand that my opinion mattered. I hesitated in using this example because there is nothing wrong with being a janitor. However, there is something wrong with believing that one’s work is meaningless. (We all know that the custodial staff is one of the most important positions in any place of business.)

With time I have come to believe that the most important thing in any job is one’s attitude about that job. One can have the best job in the world and still not want to be there. It is easy to fall into the trap of thinking that the grass is always greener on the other side. No job is without its challenges and one must face those challenges each day with the mindset that he will do his best.

I do believe it is important to pick a job that one will enjoy when possible. I am a people person and I love languages. I enjoy talking to people and learning about their cultures and lifestyles. I consider myself a fairly intelligent person but I do recognize one thing about myself; I do not enjoy math. I would not be good at crunching numbers all day and could not imagine being a bookkeeper or accountant. My own aversion to numbers let me know not to study accounting or anything remotely related to it while in college.

If one has the ability to study and pick a job s/he will like, by all means do it. Just remember that the best job in the world will still have its challenges because nothing in this world is perfect. The sooner one learns that lesson in life, the more content s/he will be. If one finds one’s self in the place where he has to take whatever job he can get at the moment, he should do that job to the best of his ability. Nothing stays the same and chances are that a better job will come along eventually. In the mean time, he should see the job as an opportunity to better himself. There is always something that can be learned from any job, even if the lesson is more about human nature than skill set.

While it may sound good to say that a job you love will turn everyday into play, this is simply not reality. While I am not saying that one should not try to find a job he will enjoy, I am saying that even the best job will have things about it that one does not enjoy. One has to make the most of those things and give every day to the Lord. Remember, we should be doing everything as unto the Lord; He gets no glory out of a job half done. Give your best to every situation and you may be surprised to find out that you do love your job after all.

Blessings,

Pastor Sullivan Jones