The Improbable God
by Beau Jones
Our family has experienced some incredible growth since we have been members of Highland Park and I wanted to share my testimony of both gratitude to everyone here and to praise God for his blessings. Many of you may recognize Melissa and I as the parents of our two sons Braden and Brody and our daughter Molly. Seven years ago, we arrived to Lenoir City heavy-hearted as we were both away from family and friends and had recently learned of Molly’s diagnosis of Down Syndrome so we leaned deeply into our faith and God provided us with a very special doctor who arranged his best staff along with an even better pastor who met us to pray as we stepped off the 4th floor elevator at 6:30 that morning at Ft. Sanders. Thank you, Pastor Eddie, you are a wonderful shepherd and our family is forever grateful. After Molly was born, she would be admitted to Children’s hospital for 10 days and we got to bring home ‘Daddy’s Girl’ for our first Christmas in Tennessee. In hindsight Molly’s life is a perfect example of so many blessings that my testimony could be about her alone because she is really an angel and we are privileged to be her caretakers and even though she cannot talk she teaches us so many things about ourselves and others with disabilities. And just because God gives us a situation that is not perfect within the eyes of men that does not mean it does not ultimately his purpose.
Some of you may recall that the disciples once asked Jesus of the man who was born blind ‘Master who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?’ And Jesus answered them by saying ‘Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.’
Trust me if you are willing to step out of your comfort zone you will be richly blessed by interacting with anyone who is considered to be disabled. As we seek to live out the great commandment of honoring God with our hearts, souls, and minds we have to be honest that by avoiding or putting anyone into a box we are essentially putting ourselves into a box or even worse judging another person. I truly believe God’s love is not one dimensional and one of my favorite things to ask God in prayer is help in discovering new dimensions of His love. People with disabilities have the unique capability to see, hear, touch, and feel the world around them in spectrums we may never know unless we are willing to engage them. I encourage everyone within this church to engage my daughter, as my hope is that she will continue to develop her communications skills and she is making great progress right now at home and school. Being able to express ourselves is another blessing we simply take for granted. Feel free to engage Molly and be part of another one of God’s miracles. In my simple mind I have concluded the more people interact with Molly the more she will want to express herself and God will continue to help her grow. Molly is a great example of God’s love in a unique package.
So, a little bit about my upbringing. I was raised on a commercial cattle farm in western Kentucky and still enjoy everything related to agriculture and chose agriculture as my major at nearby Murray State University. During my youth I had a sporadic church life but I would engage in spiritual conversations with my grandmother from time to time. She had a significant impact on my spiritual life as I always felt her prayerful presence and she work tirelessly helping others. She was another great example of how God can work thru the life of those around us to encourage us along the way.
While at college I began a lifelong friend named Chris Tucker who would invite me to Kirksey Baptist Church where Brother Van Russell and God’s calling would lead to my acceptance of Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior at age 21. And I would get a chance to quickly test my faith in the years to come as I studied abroad for extended periods in places like Puerto Rico and Holland where I was always a stranger in a strange land. God would not only keep me safe but always provide me with his people to support and encourage me. Those experiences allowed me to cultivate some wonderful Christian fellowship along with opportunities to worship in unique situations with a very diverse group of people.
After graduation God would open another door with my first job outside of Charlotte North Carolina where I would eventually meet my wife Melissa. Prior to meeting Melissa, I had always been committed to marrying someone who was saved because I clearly understood the concept of being equally yoked in Christ. Melissa was saved in November of 2006 and we were married the following August. God certainly blessed me with a wonderful wife and mother which would be extremely important as the years unfolded. While we were in North Carolina Melissa worked as a nurse and we would begin to grow our faith together through an initial miscarriage along with Molly’s diagnosis which was a slow and painful process filled with weeks of ongoing tests, stress, and anxiety. Ultimately, we would find ourselves heavily pressured to ‘terminate’ the pregnancy of Molly after the genetic counselor in Charlotte concluded that 90% of parents would quickly and quietly end the pregnancy. But what the counselor did not know was that we serve an improbable God who would guide us beyond the science of probabilities and deeply into His presence and quietly assure us that Molly was meant for us. I want to take a second to emphasize something we all need to remember. We all serve an improbable God who can take our worst circumstances and create his purpose. As his people we should never accept anything less than his power within our lives to do miraculous things through faith in his purpose.
I think we can all agree our culture is now creates standards on probabilities and is quick to accept the path of greatest convenience by following numbers rather than trusting in our faith. So, my question is who created the parameters of our God given abilities and who has the credentials to distinguish between success and failure? While on earth Christ never referenced science to conclude anything but he remained a perfect example of forgiveness, compassion, servanthood, and patience through his endless love and compassion for others. He ultimately recognized the good in everyone and encouraged them to consider what was truly valuable and worthy in life.
Last June two events unfolded in our life which I can only explain as ‘Atomic’. It might come as a surprise that God has been guiding our family thru our darkest hour for over seven months now. After nearly seven years of a very successful career within medical device sales I found myself at a spiritual crossroads as I sat defeated in a hotel room in Kingsport writing out all of the characteristics of the father, I truly wanted to be for my children. Braden’s birth was right around the corner and the only problem was I had no idea how I could change my life to become the person God and my family deserved. Bad habits defined who I was at the time and I idolized my job rather than my relationships. But God would provide the answer in the form of a loud knock at our door the following Wednesday morning. On the morning of June 27th, 2018 our family was awaken to a fleet of U.S. Marshall’s who would rush into my house and arrest me without explanation and process me later that morning at the Knoxville federal courthouse. It would be later that afternoon before I would be given an explanation I was there because it is not uncommon for federal marshals serving warrants to even know or share charges against a detainee. Later that day I would learn that myself and three other local medical device representatives had been indicted for federal healthcare fraud primarily based on the assumption that we knowingly engaged in fraud which they deemed a conspiracy. Each of us were released that afternoon but I spent the following two days in complete shock knowing that I was 100% innocent of the charges filed against me. Let me be clear, I would never knowingly break any law, end of story. After a month-long internal investigation my employer at the time found no evidence of any wrongdoing on my part and extended their support to my family by providing a generous severance package as they found no evidence of guilt from the charges filed against me. I would spend the second half of last year in quite exile at home in nearly complete abandonment, unable to gain access to travel outside of East Tennessee, taking the occasional phone call, and ultimately found out who my true friends are. We live within a time and culture that is fixated on the judgment of others with a total disregard for false accusations. Turn on the TV, need I say more? But we serve a Savior whose life and message were drastically taken out of context to meet the agenda of others who pursued him every day. I can honestly say I know how that feels and consider it God’s will that my experience will help others who have faced similar judgments. Most people would be shocked at the numerous conversations I have had over the last seven months with people who explained similar situations of their flawless reputations destroyed by false accusations. The next time you read any allegation I would ask you to simply consider the two words context and agenda as they are not the same but often go hand in hand. But God has given me great peace because I know that he knows the needs of my family and more importantly he knows my yielding heart to his will. He has taught me discipleship which begins very early each day in his word where I not only study but memorize scripture and he also made me realize that each day is a battle for my heart, soul, and mind. I am 100% conscious that each day is a battle of discipline. I no longer live in the past or future but for today which is how I sincerely believe he created us. Within the Lord’s prayer Jesus is specifically asks for ‘daily bread’ instead of weekly, monthly, or yearly provisions. Two days after my indictment last year, I asked Pastor Eddie for counsel and quite time alone at the alter before you. I brought God everything in prayer and completely confessed I had a broken relationship. I also made it very clear to Eddie that my brokenness had nothing to do with any guilty feelings related to the indictment. I just knew my life was out of balance and knew there was only one person who could fix it. This morning Tara sang about how words cannot express the power of Jesus but I will do my best to explain what happened to me that day at this alter.
God revealed himself to me and released me of everything that I was trapped in. From that point I have restored fellowship with him, my family, and my church and found everything to be exceptionally better than it was before. You cannot buy perspective and character is not on the shelf at Walmart. Thru the Holy Spirit the Lord has continued his work of what I consider ‘Open Heart Surgery’ and I am forever grateful two of my closest friends Paul Hart and Chris Tucker who immediately came to my aid with encouragement and support. Even with our busy families we still make time weekly to conduct discipleship studies and continue to sharpen each other as we all should. Several months ago, Pastor Eddie preached on the criteria of a Christ centered transformation which I reference daily. He explained that transformation comes thru a series of steps including the Renewal of Our Minds, the Conquering of Personal Strongholds, Living Thru the Word of God, Leading a Lifestyle of Purity, and Living Within the Security of The Fathers Love. Those are all sound advice. I would also like to leave you with some encouraging scripture to put trials in the correct context, who we no longer are, and what we should expect walking into the world.
In the book of Peter, it is written:
That the trial of your faith being much more precious than gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise, and honor, and glory at the appearance of Jesus Christ.
In the book of Ephesians, it is written that to transform we must…
Put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
And finally, in the book of Timothy we are given clarity within our walk on earth where we..
Both labour and suffer reproach because we trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, specially those who believe. These things command and teach. Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou and example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity. Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery. Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself and them that hear thee.
Even though my indictment was dismissed this past December we continue to live with the uncertainty that federal prosecutors might renew the case again this year and begin the process all over again. But we all live with uncertainty of trials to come and I wanted to share my testimony of God’s grace to both honor Him and yield to the Holy Spirit he has provided me for guidance. For those of you who might feel like your witness is going unnoticed I want to encourage you to remember our lives hold great purpose when we yield to God’s will even amidst our own trials. And one more thing, pay no attention to this world or its probabilities as we all serve and improbable God. May he go with each of you as we leave His house.
Thank you