Joe Orczyk:  

Life Since retirement in 2019 I have been the legal guardian for my grandson who was born in 2013. I am easily the oldest parent/guardian at any meeting. Have lived in Indiana (38 years), Michigan, West Virginia, Texas, Massachusetts, Saudi Arabia, & Turkey. US Army – Fort Gordon Georgia, Fort Leonard Wood Missouri, Viet Nam, Germany Professor Emeritus of Construction Management Technology at Purdue University Degrees from Penn State, University, University of Michigan, & Purdue University ** Acceptance means everything to me. My earliest memories are of my quest for acceptance. In junior high I admired another junior high student with a reputation for being cool. He hung out with his older brother and his brother's friends. That's it, I thought. I will hang out with Dave and people will admire me also. Dave could only take a few days (or was it hours) of me following him wherever he went. He told me to stop bugging him. In high school I hung out at the bowling alley, the teenage meeting place. The older kids would meet there, get some alcohol, and then go party. That's it, I thought. I'll party with these cool guys. Finally, one night they needed more money for alcohol. They asked me if I had money and if I wanted to go drinking with them. I said yes and the pattern was set for high school. In my early twenties I noticed that my friends were getting married. They seemed to all be very happy in their new families. That's it, I thought. I'll get married and live happily ever after. At work, my fellow employees were being recognized for their job performance. That's it, I thought. I will spend my time and effort pursuing my career. In my thirties, I still did not feel accepted. My marriage and career were not bringing me the acceptance that I desired. Not even my MBA and Professional Engineer license were making me feel accepted. Maybe if I had more credentials, people would accept me. That's it, I thought. I'll go back to school and get my Ph.D. in Engineering. While working on my Ph.D., two wonderful sons came into my life. I thought that attending church would be beneficial for my sons. Also, church is a good place to meet other nice families. That's it, I thought. I'll take my family to a church so that we would be around nice people. I enjoyed the church that we attended. The people were very nice. The sermons were sometimes interesting, but I thought that Christianity was a philosophy of life and that the Bible was full of myths and folklore. Surely, people didn't take the Bible as a historical document. However, after months of exposure to Christians I began to question my beliefs. Why did Christians put so much faith in the Bible stories? Didn't the men who wrote the Bible use legends as a way to illustrate the moral lifestyle? And wasn't the Bible written for people who lived 2,000 years ago in a different culture? Also during this time, I began wondering why so many successful people in the history of western culture were Christians. For example, two eminent scientists that are remembered for their faith as well as their scientific accomplishments are Isaac Newton and Michael Faraday. I began questioning my own skepticism. What was I missing? My Christian friends invited me to hear Josh McDowell speak about Christianity. Josh described how at one time ...Expand for more