My Faith Story I knew of Christ ever since I can remember. Through much toil my parents raised me in a very nurturing environment; they watered me with the love of Christ. As a child I believe I had faith in Christ. The most remarkable instance of this was when I prayed for Christ to give me a little brother and to this day I thank God for fulfilling that wish. Yet, I admit that my faith has been tested along the way. As time went on I felt I needed something more. I was taught wonderful truths, but they were little more than head knowledge – God took me on a journey so my heart could know the truth and change. One night, in high school, I was reading the Psalm 51 and He revealed to me what a complete failure I was, how little I am without Him, and how deserving of death I am. I was coming to my senses to escape the trap of the devil, who held me captive to his will (2 Timothy 2:26). Christ, my friend, came and reminded me of his everlasting love that alone could save me from death and give me the greatest gift of all, everlasting life: To Know God. He had much work to do in me. As a boy I had a hard time saying “no” due to my lack of self-control and an abundance of ADHD. I was thoughtless and rebellious. In my quest for contentment I thought the more stuff you have the happier you are. I was wrong. I can never be content without the love of Christ, the pursuit of anything less is meaningless (Ecclesiastes). He taught me that the solution to emptiness is Him, not my own will, not the promises of all those things I craved. I thought I could withstand my temptation on my own, but that was my downfall. I came to realize I can do nothing without Christ and the mercy of others. With this realization I have found solace in Christ when I am faced with temptation. God, my family, and my church community helped me to grow in thought and deed and instilled in me a basic but strong foundational knowledge of God, but I soon realized that He had barely begun. I led an empty life until my belief that Christ died for my sins, settled in my heart, and gave me the necessary drive through the Holy Spirit to change. During my undergraduate education, there were countless occurrences that matured my faith. One day stood out - I became aware that I was numb in my relationship with Christ and cold, apathetic and detached from other people. I was strangely aware that this state of being was not right, not what I wanted. I knew what was right and wrong, I wanted to do right, but often found I could not (Romans 7:19). Reason alone failed me. . . I said a prayer that day asking God to open up and soften my heart. Little did I know the hazard of that request? For me to grow further, my weak, detached heart needed agonizing mending. I tried to be more religious to fix things on my own, but my own works failed. During graduate school, over the next few years, I underwent heartbreak in frequent periods of depression, joy and spiritual conviction. I wasn’t changed overnight, I experienced long stretches of dark despair, tears and doubt, yet I trusted and as always God eventually answered my prayer. Then God used a moment of prayer with a close friend to send me a striking vision of a something beautiful, bright and powerful. I saw a being of strength, power and intense light - my guardian, Christ, or me as I was meant to be (my divine image), I know not. I do know that my depression was crushed that day. Over time, He has been breaking my broken heart and healing it. He then introduced me to my wife, Mollie, and the beauty and challenge of growth together and a new life of selfless, heartfelt love. Relationships are wonderful and God uses them to reveal areas of growth and sacrifice. I had known all along, but for the first time experienced that my faith is stronger in the unity of strength, knowledge and heartfelt love of God and in community (Luke 10:27). He showed me the perfect and only reconciliation of everything is through Him. Thus my mission is to love others with the love and grace given to me and to share the hope for reconciliation of others both near and far. I believe that the Son of God, Jesus Christ, became man, died on the cross and was raised from the dead three days later to save me from death and the curse. I believe God has and is continuing to change me. He accomplished this change through the following. In becoming aware of my sin I prayed for forgiveness and came to realize that Christ’s blood saves me; his love encourages me, God’s living word instructs me, while the Holy Spirit moves in me giving me the ability to change. He is, at this moment, cleansing me from ignoble purposes to make me an instrument of noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work (2 Timothy 2:21). I know and hope that God will continue to labor in me, that he will make me a workman approved by God. I will continue to trust He came, died and rose to forgive and save me from my past, present and future failings and that he has provided me a way to live, a user manual on life as he intended. Reconciling Faith and Science As a scientist, I’m often asked how I can reconcile my faith in Christ with my work. The question itself is built on a few false assumptions—one of them being that a person can live life without any faith at all. In reality, we make so many decisions every day that are based on faith, regardless of whether we acknowledge it. For instance, you have faith that a chair will hold you when you sit down. This is even true in scientific inquiry, which is built on a series of foundational assumptions that are accepted without proof. We have to have faith that the universe is ordered and consistent, that our senses can be trusted, and that natural causes explain natural phenomena. Science is a powerful tool for answering questions about the "how" of the natural world, but it has nothing to say about the "why" and so many things in life like love and morality.