Vaughn - Steps from the Past

When starting a family history project, where do you begin? For me, the answer is simple: Genesis. Being a man, a man of science, I find that, as I get older, science has proven more and more that the truth is very simple. In the opening statements of Genesis, God created the universe as we know it, created the stars—how is such a thing possible? Being the children of God, you know children are like their creator, full of wonder—wonder, why? Genesis states, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void and darkness was over the face of the deep.” As we learn more on just how we got here, along comes a brilliant young scientist named Steven Hawkins. He explains in mathematical ways how the universe started with a big bang, started from nothing, and burst forth faster than the speed of light. Stars formed and gathered together to form galaxies then matter collected to form planets to circle around the stars. There was eternal darkness, and then there were the stars and light. As time passed, God planted the seeds of life. What is time? As we read the Bible, we were always in conflict with time. How do we feel comfortable with the evolution of life and the time frame of the Bible? Here, again, I find the answer is simple. Time, to us, is something we made up to understand what goes on around us; God is on his own time. I like to use baking an apple pie as my example of time and what it takes. Here’s the question I ask, how long does it take to bake an apple pie? The answer I get is about an hour. I reply with “Oh, you can?” So here is my response to the one-hour apple pie: —Where did the apple come from? —How long did the apples take to grow? —Where did that variety of apple come from? —How long did it take for the seed to grow into a tree? —How did you get the apple? At a store? —How did the store get there? —How did the refrigeration and transportation come to be? —What about the cinnamon and sugar you used, where did it come from? (Cinnamon comes from India—dried tree bark) —What about the tin used to make the pan used to bake the pie? —When was electricity harnessed to be used by man, the modern stove? If making a simple apple pie involves so much history and evolution of life and technology, give God the credit he is due. He has planted the seeds of life, the time is far greater and the path far more involved than we can comprehend. It’s okay. We’re still the children of God.