After graduating from the University of Texas in 1986, I spent considerable time looking for employment. I wanted a job that involved writing. "Corporate Communications" was where I was looking hardest, where I would manage company newsletters and such. But these jobs in and around Austin were hard to come by. Then I started looking for other full-time jobs. After two months of looking, my savings wore out and I landed a job at a local Pizza Hut. I kept looking for other jobs. One such job was as a prison guard at the Travis County prison. I went through several tests, including a written and a physical test. I had passed all those and went to the next stage -- being before a board of six to seven people. I sat in a chair opposite them and faced their questions. I had a Scripture from Colossians in my mind, ready to use when they addressed my confession to having used marijuana at an earlier age as addressed by a question about drug use. I was going to say that I'd been "transferred from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light," which would hopefully give them confidence that I wasn't a user anymore. They never got into that question, though. They zeroed in on my "Why do you want this job" question, which I answered something about helping young men out of their troubled past, sharing the Gospel, etc. They fired at me with a well-exercised precision about how prisoners use an interest in the Bible to distract guards while another out of eyesight escapes or something. I hadn't considered that and they felt like my good intentions would hurt me in this job duty, so I wasn't chosen for that job. Looking back, I'm glad I didn't get that one, because it has its very trying moments.
If I had to pick a "favorite book" of the Bible, it'd probably be Colossians, because of its concise and praise-filled explanation of Christ and what He's done.
"He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. And He is the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything He might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through His blood, shed on the cross."
Jesus is God.
I remember a sermon by Calvary Chapel's Chuck Smith I heard one Summer many years ago. It was about this verse: "...by Him all things hold together..." He talked about how the atom -- the centerpiece of every piece of matter (all things) -- had electrons floating around the nuetron. Protons and electrons repelled each other. But scientists have long tried to figure out why the atom doesn't explode, as the nuetron has nothing holding it in balance. That mysterious force, though, is explained in this verse.
I hope my science memory isn't so bad that I butchered that explanation. It's been so long since I exercised that part of my brain.
There's 51 days left 'til the next deadline. I've got some great stories chosen for this next issue. I'm looking forward to seeing it take shape.
Posted by Doug Van Pelt at February 8, 2006 09:39 AM