.mark.
Background
Mark grew up in Stone Mountain, GA, a suburb of Atlanta. He then went on to Berry College in Rome, GA and graduated with a chemistry degree and a minor in mathematics. He earned his Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry at the University of Florida. This is where he met his lovely wife, Oleah, in the college church Gator Christian Life. They have three adorable litle children, Olivia, Halle, and Malachi (all named from significant Biblical Hebrew words).
Most Important Decision
I’ve always been very empirically minded, desiring hard facts that are black and white. As a scientist, this was natural. In college, things were going pretty good–I was a good kid, I made good grades, I had a car, a nice job. I was pretty well rounded in sports, in family, in academics. I felt like I had everything I needed; but yet I knew I wasn’t complete. There wasn’t any more for me to do at this point in my life and yet I still felt like there was something missing.
A friend of mine gave me a book about the scientific study of creation. The book didn’t make any references to the bible, or even about God, but it did examine evidence that could be interpreted in ways that point to a Creator. This revolutionized my thinking, and also made me sad that I had been indoctrinated in only one way (evolution) that was taught as fact. In short, after much personal research and reading, I became a creationist, believing in creation over evolution.
Shortly thereafter, knowing of a Creator of the universe, I began to examine the claims of the Bible. Realizing that Jesus was a real sinless person on this earth who suffered a horrendous death really made me examine more claims about the Bible and Jesus. I learned that Jesus was a true historical figure. He died on the cross for my sins, he was buried, and three days later he rose again. The only way to go to heaven is to believe in this. I came to realize that I was full of sin and therefore separated from God. Finally, I made a decision to live my life for Jesus! My life now had direction, purpose, and meaning!
Although I made this decision in college, there really wasn’t much change in my life until I became involved in the church in graduate school. I began to see through many examples people that were excited to live for Jesus, and I witnessed the love that people had for one another. Getting involved in close relationships with similar guys really challenged me to live out my faith in all areas of my life.
If you want to know more about a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, feel free to ask me or check out this site.