Editorials

Not long ago I spent a week high in the mountains in the western United States. One afternoon I sat on a rock in an alpine meadow—just below the forest's timberline—and quietly asked God questions.

So often, when we're far from home, feeling disconnected or troubled, we yearn to find our way back. This home is the place where security and affection and trust are found; where our relations with others are as close as ever; where we are each a loved one and so is everyone around us; where there is support for our advancement, recognition of our abilities, and an abiding respect for who we are as individuals.

Throughout the centuries, people have struggled with the question of evil—with what it is and how to deal with it. Christ Jesus saw evil as a deceiver, a liar that is powerless before the omnipotence of God, divine Truth.

We were standing in front of the leopards' habitat when I happened to overhear one of the zookeepers talking with a visitor. He mentioned how much he loved the animals he helped to care for.

It isn't easy being a steward of God. That's what I felt, with every step I took up the steep staircase chiseled into the ancient rock that is Areopagus—the hill on top of a hill in Athens, named after the Greek war god Ares, or Mars.

Unjustly accused. Beaten in public.

Who of us hasn't wondered what God knows about our lives? There are moments, most likely, when we want Him to know everything. We think that if He knew we were doing all that we could to help someone, or that we were feeling desperately in need of help ourselves, this knowledge would cause Him to give us His blessing.

Years ago I heard a story, a parable of sorts, and the lesson has stayed with me. The story goes something like this: In the early years of European contact with the New World, a ship set sail on a trading expedition across the Atlantic.

The author shares how the demonstration of man's life in God is the demonstration of man's immortal, spiritual identity and individuality.

In recent years scientific research has suggested that specific genetic patterns are associated with specific behavioral patterns. In other words, that an individual's behavior is largely determined, or at least mightily influenced, by codes written into his or her genes.