The Beauty of the Uncertain

Welcome my daughter, Elizabeth Noelle, to the Lemonade Stand today! These are her thoughts, her words and an authentic peek into her life! Lizzie is a 16 year old full-time student at The Ohio State University. She will graduate high school and OSU simultaneously with a high school diploma and a B.S. in Biology. Honoring her late father, Howard B. Chung, and her Heavenly Father propels her toward excellence in her future medical career and creates sizzle in her plans to attend Harvard Medical School! Lizzie's drive to succeed is evident not only in her academics but also in her athletic prowess, especially on the soccer field! She is a self-proclaimed foodie and loves cuisine from around the world! Her favorite non-human is her Papillon, Maggie.

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The way that God lines things up in our lives will forever be a mystery to everyone, other than God. I mean, when you think about it, we do not know where nor how one event will lead to another until we see it manifest in our lives. At the essence of our being, we are clueless and uncertain of our lives. “What will happen next” is a common question among both believers and non-believers.

Amazingly enough, even if we do not recognize any uncertainty within ourselves, it is still there in our subconscious, attacking us with every move and decision we make. A common example is in a math class-now, even if you are in Calculus, and you know (or think) in your mind that 1+1=2, maybe it does not. Isn’t that why many people use their calculators to check the simplest addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division questions? No matter how much you think you know something, there is always the lingering thought that maybe you do not.

This is just one of the reasons why some people seek certainty or knowledge as tools to allow them to make the right decisions to line things up in their lives. We crave certainty. We long for the ability to recognize what one event will lead to, but if the only one who understands this is God, then how can we make the right connections? Is logic enough? If not, then how about common sense? Isn’t logic intrinsically connected to common sense? Do we simply need to use knowledge, or is it impossible to rely on knowledge alone when making decisions?

I do not know the answer to these questions, but what I do know is this: God is lining things up in my life that I could never have imagined. This all began with joining a research team at The Ohio State University. Through this team, on which I constantly prayed that God would make a place for me before I received my acceptance, I have been able to network with an array of people. I and my iGEM team members have had Zoom meetings with teams from India, Sweden, and other places around the world and in the United States. Additionally, I have had the opportunity to network with a series of experts in the field of Synthetic Biology, Software design, Biology-based Mathematical Modeling, as well as other sciences. Among these are the CEOs of large biotech companies, professors at other Universities, most opportunely Harvard. I am SCHEDULED—this month to be exact—for a Zoom meeting with George Church, one of those pioneering the way for synthetic biology and genomic recoding. Church is someone whom I look up to as a scientific role model and is a very busy researcher. In the field of biological science, he is the equivalent of Elon Musk, Bill Gates, or Einstein. To be allotted time in his schedule is a miraculous opportunity. This is what I mean when I say that the way God lines up things in our lives is a mystery to all but God alone.

I could never have been certain, even in my imagination, that I would have the opportunity to converse with these people. What I wonder is this--as much as we crave certainty, maybe it is the uncertainty that brings us the most joy. Not knowing I would be able to talk with George Church with my iGEM team and then receiving a scheduling message one day elicited one of the greatest feelings of joy and excitement within me that I have ever experienced.

More important than this though, the days and morning following up to receiving that message, I had been praying constantly that God would create connections and opportunities for me and that his hand would be over the emails sent. So, it was not just the fact that I am able to have the opportunity to Zoom with George Church (which is literally amazing), but that I was able to see God turn my prayers and an uncertain dream into a real-life situation. Maybe we crave certainty a bit too much. I think true joy is often found in the uncertainty. If it was your birthday (which it was my sister’s birthday the day I penned these thoughts—Happy Birthday, Alexa!), and people planned a “surprise” party for you, would you be more excited if you did or didn’t know about it? I suppose the events leading up to the surprise might be frustrating (secretive, people trying to keep you away), essentially the feeling of uncertainty, but once the surprise is finally revealed, it is the uncertainty that produces a feeling of joy and excitement within each of us.

As I continue to follow Jesus, I challenge you to follow me as I follow Christ. It often feels like the road less traveled, but that’s God’s promise as well. “Come to God through the narrow gate because the wide gate and broad path is the way that leads to destruction—nearly everyone chooses that crowded road! The narrow gate and the difficult way leads to eternal life—so few even find it!” (Matthew 7:13-14 The Passion Translation) Along that unpopulated road, however, there is calmness in the journey because of God’s Word of honor.

“I find more joy in following what you tell me to do than in chasing after all the wealth of the world.” Psalms 119:14 TPT
 
“Make God the utmost delight and pleasure of your life, and he will provide for you what you desire the most. Give God the right to direct your life, and as you trust him along the way you’ll find he pulled it off perfectly….The steps of the God-pursuing ones follow firmly in the footsteps of the Lord, and God delights in every step they take to follow him. If they stumble badly, they will still survive, for the Lord lifts them up with his hands.” Psalms 37:4-5, 23-24 
TPT

And of course, my Dad’s life verse –

“Trust in the Lord completely, and do not rely on your own opinions. With all your heart rely on him to guide you, and he will lead you in every decision you make. Become intimate with him in whatever you do, and he will lead you wherever you go. Don’t think for a moment that you know it all, for wisdom comes when you adore him with undivided devotion and avoid everything that’s wrong.” Proverbs 3:5-6 TPT