The Scientist
Children's Story
John Jones knew he wanted to be a scientist from the age of four. Actually, he knew in his bones long before that, but he didn't hear the word "scientist" until he was four and even then he hardly knew what it meant.
When John was given his first proper toy, not counting all the cuddly animals which lay in his cot when he was a baby, he took it to bits. It was, as it happens, a tractor, since John lived in the country and tractors were very familiar to him.
His mother was a trifle vexed and made cross noises which John ignored, for by then he was carefully reassembling the tractor. He didn't get it quite right, but at least it would still move, so his mother quietened down and said no more.
After that, people started giving John Jones construction toys for his birthdays and for Christmas, and he was never happier than when he was building something new. As he grew older, so the constructions he made became more and more complex. He had a wonderful space kit, and kept adding bits to it until he was able to make a complete space station, with space ships which had little engines and really flew.
There was just one problem. John often discovered he could get so far but no further in his work. For instance, the space set had no provision for motors for the space ships, so John had to construct the motors himself. He realized each motor needed a battery, but couldn't work out how to attach the battery to the space ship to make it move.
He spent days agonizing over that. But in the end, the solution somehow dragged itself out of the depths of John's being. He collected a matchbox and some thin wires and the battery and a few cogs and wheels, and somehow or other constructed them into a motor and attached them to the space ship via the matchbox - and it worked!
It was often like that. John would come up against what seemed to be an insoluble problem and spend days (and when he was older, weeks and months) trying to work out how to solve the problem. In the end, the solution always suddenly presented itself - and it was always spot on.
That's how John Jones, even though he was a scientist, knew God existed. Somehow or other, God always provided the answer to John's problems, even though John sometimes had to wait a long time, puzzling and puzzling, until the penny dropped.
John Jones realized that the better you know God, the more likely you are to discover the answer to your problems, because God gives you the answer, often deep inside yourself. And when John began to actively search God out, rather than turning to God as a last resort, he found he could reach the answers more quickly.
And so John Jones grew up to become a famous scientist, but he also grew up to be a famous man of God.
When John was given his first proper toy, not counting all the cuddly animals which lay in his cot when he was a baby, he took it to bits. It was, as it happens, a tractor, since John lived in the country and tractors were very familiar to him.
His mother was a trifle vexed and made cross noises which John ignored, for by then he was carefully reassembling the tractor. He didn't get it quite right, but at least it would still move, so his mother quietened down and said no more.
After that, people started giving John Jones construction toys for his birthdays and for Christmas, and he was never happier than when he was building something new. As he grew older, so the constructions he made became more and more complex. He had a wonderful space kit, and kept adding bits to it until he was able to make a complete space station, with space ships which had little engines and really flew.
There was just one problem. John often discovered he could get so far but no further in his work. For instance, the space set had no provision for motors for the space ships, so John had to construct the motors himself. He realized each motor needed a battery, but couldn't work out how to attach the battery to the space ship to make it move.
He spent days agonizing over that. But in the end, the solution somehow dragged itself out of the depths of John's being. He collected a matchbox and some thin wires and the battery and a few cogs and wheels, and somehow or other constructed them into a motor and attached them to the space ship via the matchbox - and it worked!
It was often like that. John would come up against what seemed to be an insoluble problem and spend days (and when he was older, weeks and months) trying to work out how to solve the problem. In the end, the solution always suddenly presented itself - and it was always spot on.
That's how John Jones, even though he was a scientist, knew God existed. Somehow or other, God always provided the answer to John's problems, even though John sometimes had to wait a long time, puzzling and puzzling, until the penny dropped.
John Jones realized that the better you know God, the more likely you are to discover the answer to your problems, because God gives you the answer, often deep inside yourself. And when John began to actively search God out, rather than turning to God as a last resort, he found he could reach the answers more quickly.
And so John Jones grew up to become a famous scientist, but he also grew up to be a famous man of God.
