Although serving as the Bishop for the Gilroy congregation of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints keeps me quite busy, it’s not my day job. I have worked for over 30 years in the tech industry as a software engineer. Over those years, I have worked with many different types of people, but many of them tend to be very analytical (including me) and are often skeptical of religion.
One day, about 25 years ago, a co-worker who was agnostic and a good friend asked me, “You and I are a lot alike and we look at things very similarly, so how can you believe in the existence of God?” That question has reverberated in my mind ever since.
Just believing in God is only a part of the equation. Involving Him in all aspects of my life through prayer, studying His scriptures and striving to align my life with His teachings (imperfectly I might add) are all part of the formula. For those of us who remember, this is just like listening to an old fashioned radio where you had to adjust the dial just right in order to get a clear signal.
Here’s just a couple examples of the evidences of a loving God I’ve experienced by living this way:
There was a day when I had a very difficult software program to write. I spent the entire day trying all the ways I knew to accomplish the assignment, but none of them worked. As I knelt that night for my evening prayer, I realized that God knew how to solve it, so I decided to ask Him. In the middle of asking for guidance, the solution was diagrammed in my mind. That morning I wrote the code as it had come to me and it worked perfectly.
On Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2019, I had an overwhelming impression to go visit my father for his 84th birthday which was that following Saturday. I initially put it off, but it wouldn’t leave me. I knew that he had some health issues, including cancer, but it wasn’t an imminent threat and he was doing relatively well. Despite my reasoning not to go, I decided to schedule a flight and surprise him. What I didn’t know was that within 10 days he would no longer be able to walk on his own and four weeks later he was gone. Of course, I spent about a week with him just before he passed, but his pain was overwhelming by then. I will never forget the hug he gave me when I first walked in to surprise him the morning of his birthday.
I can’t count the number of times I have been directed to do something that I ordinarily wouldn’t have done that profoundly affected my life or someone else’s who I was directed to help in some way. Literally everything in my life has been influenced in one way or another by Him.
This is why I believe in God.
Mark D. Fullmer is Bishop of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Gilroy Ward. He is an active member of the Interfaith Clergy Alliance of South County. Bishop Fullmer can be reached at 1d******@gm***.com
