Every morning, I get up an hour before I have to leave the house. I get up, use the restroom, wash my face, put on my eyeliner, let it dry, put in my contacts, put on my foundation, crunch my hair, then change. Then I do my eyeshadow, take my medicine, brush my teeth, use mouthwash, then sometimes brush my teeth again. I then spend five minutes searching for a clean pair of socks. Once I've found my socks I put everything I need in my purse, then I grab an organic granola bar or some sliced apples to eat on the road. Each day I either loose my keys, or my shoes (usually my shoes) and then spend ten minutes looking for one or the other.
I leave on average five minutes early, after getting up a full hour before I have to leave. I have to get up an extra forty five minutes early if I want to curl or straighten my hair. And don't even get me started on what happens if I choose to take a morning shower instead of my usual habit of showering the night before.
But every once and awhile I hit snooze one too many times, or I (only twice in my entire life) sleep literally through the alarm. And when I finally wake, slide the alarm on my cell phone off, and check the time, I get that sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach, you know that feeling, and I realize that I only have fifteen minutes before I need to be pulling out of the garage.
Sixteen minutes later, I am sitting in my car. I may be wearing mismatched socks, and I probably don't have eyeshadow on. I have my lipgloss with me to put on upon arrival (or, perhaps at a stop light, just kidding), and I probably only brushed my teeth once, but I am ready. My hair looks just fine, I'm dressed, I have what I need for the day. And I did it in fully forty-five minutes less time than normal.
Welcome to life. A sense of urgency does wonders for our life. So here's my sense of urgency.
In April of 2012, the Sunday before the second week of finals, I am going to meet my friends at a diner in downtown Syracuse. I know another group of my friends is at a cafe and pub down the street. I stopped by to see some of my friends. Abby told me that Maria was running late, and that they hadn't heard from her. Since Maria always answers her texts promptly, my friends Marjade, Abby, and Francis were a little concerned.
Now Maria is one of my dearest friends, we had known each other since her sophomore year which was my freshman year. I introduced Maria to my other friend Abby the beginning of our Junior year, and they rapidly became best friends. Eventually two of my three groups of friends collided and we were one big happy family.
But at the moment I was only mildly concerned. I promised to stop back by in a few, asked them to keep me updated, and headed back over to meet my other friends at the diner. When I returned to the cafe and pub, Marjade was the only one left. She looked near tears. As we rush to my car she explained that they had become so worried about Maria (even to the point of taking she had been kidnapped or something) that they had finally sent a text saying that if she didn't answer the next text they would call the police. This was not overreacting. I don't think I had ever had Maria take more than a half hour to respond to a text. Even when she was in class she would at least respond that she was in class and would talk later.
Apparently, when they had finally made the call, a man answered. While there was a moment where they thought their fears of kidnapping had been justified, it turns out this was a police officer, and Maria had been in an accident. Francis had a car, and had rushed with Abby to get Maria's brother, who thankfully was over eighteen and attended school with us (as they needed a family member to approve medical procedures). They had not had enough seats for Marjade. So I called Abby, made sure they had gotten to Andres (Maria's brother) and drove Marjade and I to the hospital. When we arrived, there were police everywhere. Andres had to give permission for the rest of the group to even go to the waiting room, as she was in an emergency surgery.
We waited through the night and the doctors came in shortly after midnight to inform us they suspected Maria would not make it through the night. While the group dissolved momentarily, spirits rose shortly after. The doctors could not have accounted for Maria, we said, none of us had ever known anyone with as much spirit as Maria.
I left the hospital temporarily, knowing the surgery would be several more hours. I picked up all the blankets and pillows in my entire house, and my medication. I stopped at the store and picked up wipes, two packs of toothbrushes, and toothpaste. I grabbed some basic meds for headaches and the likes as well as my contact solution and prescriptions, and headed back to the hospital to settle in for the long haul, armed with meal bars and Gatorade.
I handed out the pillows and blankets to members of our party, and everyone settled in for the night. We didn't sleep well, but when we woke, Maria was still alive. She was in her third surgery. Hopes rose and we took shifts leaving to shower. It was Sunday. Maria's parents arrived Monday. The university paid for their plane tickets and their accomodation.
I missed a final on Monday. The school allowed us to retake them. I took it Thursday while Maria was in yet another surgery. I kept wondering when she would be out, worrying if she would be ok. Needless to say my usual A/A- turned into a C on that particular final.
Maria had many true friends and people cycled through the hospital all the time. The main group of us was about seven, but we saw many people more than once. By three weeks many of us had had to return home. I was renewing the lease on my apartment so my parents had said I could stay as long as I needed to.
By over a month, they were talking about turning off life-support.
SO let me tell you, life is urgent.
Maria was 22 and was hit by a car walking down to have a meal and a beer with friends.
Maria had dual-side closed-head trauma. She had almost innumerable surgeries.
And she woke up. Maria got a second chance. She had some fake skull implanted to replace the parts which were irreparable and had to be removed. She was expected to be physically and mentally handicapped due to the severe fractures to her right arm and leg as well as her scull. Maria walked, in wedges, across the graduation platform a little over a year later. She was mentally fine. While today Maria walks and maybe thinks a little slower still, she lost a total of 3 months of memory when she could have lost her life.
We are blessed beyond belief that we have her with us today. But not everyone gets her second chance. Life is urgent. We think we have an unlimited amount of time, but we do not. The likelihood of a young death is pretty slim. but still about 12% of people (8% men, 4% women) die before the age of 50 in the US. In the world as a whole 12% of people die before reaching age 25. While that's still pretty slim, its a little over one in 10 people (data based on 2006 census records).
God put us on this earth to share His love. And we have a limited time to do it. We need to live like there is no tomorrow for us to share His love, like we only have today to do so. Not to be morbid, but there may be no tomorrow for us either, and yet we act as though we have all the time in the world. That is simply not the case. We all have a limited time on this earth, and while, if we repent and choose Jesus the next life is a better one, we are still held responsible for what we do in this life.
I once asked a friend a question. "Say a lawyer walked up to you today and handed you a disposable credit card with one-hundred dollars on it. He said that your great-great-uncle on your mother's brother-in-law's side whom you have never met decided to leave you his fortune of one-million dollars. And that was after taxes. But before you can have the fortune, you must use the one-hundred dollars. It didn't matter how, as long as you used up the hundred. And it didn't matter how long you took, the rest of the money would still be guaranteed to be yours. Would you throw that one-hundred dollar card in the gutter to get to the million sooner? Or would you go spend that hundred. Maybe buy the biggest steak dinner you've ever had and then head back to the lawyer's tomorrow? Or even better, take it to your favorite charity, after all you're about to get one million dollars. Or maybe spend it as you like, since you plan on spending part of that million on those who need it?
I know I would spend the hundred dollars, and I like to think I would spend it well.
The hundred dollars is this life, and the million is the next. Whether we like it or not, we have to spend the hundred dollars before we get the million, so spend your hundred well.
Saturday, January 25, 2014
Sunday, January 19, 2014
Movie Malarchy: Crimes of Cinematic Construction
BLOG HOST: Heather LaPeer
I have mentioned in many of my posts my amazing boyfriend, Mackenzie (Mac) who has inspired a renewal of my faith, and shown me what it can be like when you are with the person God intended. It is amazing to have someone who supports and encourages my faith as well as someone who challenges and helps me develop my ideas. After much prompting Mac has *finally* (haha) consented to a guest post.
Ladies and Gentleman, Mackenzie Richardson, a man whose faith inspires me, and whose constant quest to seek a more complete knowledge of his faith and his God is an example for us all.
JUST A NOTE:
This post contains explanations of graphic and inappropriate movie content.
While the post itself has no such inappropriate content, and the descriptions of the inappropriate content are not graphic or descriptive, we deemed it necessary to warn viewers. Keep this in mind in deciding to read the post.
GUEST AUTHOR: Mackenzie Richardson
So many people love going to the movies. It’s an American tradition. Our movies, music, our media in its entirety are dear to us Americans. It is so dear to us that 1.34 billion movies tickets were sold in the US in 2013. Believe it or not, this is a decrease from last year. 2012 sold 1.36 billion movie tickets. My point is, Americans watch many movies. As people of faith, the controversy surrounding movies seems to be a cyclical argument, going around and around, yet going nowhere.
This issue is one that has weighed on me heavily lately, namely what Christians can and cannot "get away with" as far as movies go. Last night I attended a movie that progressed through no more than 45 minutes until I couldn't bear to remain and had to walk out. Aside from the lack of plot, the amount of immoral content began to bother me right from the start of this movie. I have seen others in the series before and thought that it would be no different than those, so instead of researching this particular movie, I went ahead and saw it. To say the least, I was disappointed.
Before I go any further, I want to make it known that in no way do I believe movies are evil, I do however believe that there is evil portrayed in movies. How the evil is portrayed is the issue. In the book of Exodus, God gave Moses the Ten Commandments (Exodus 34). These commandments are what we call the Old Covenant, and in many ways are the basis of the Christian faith. To preface the next the paragraph, God does not expect perfection, that’s why he sent Jesus. He was sent to save us from the sins that we cannot help but commit. And while the New Covenant is a little different (Heather touched on this in her post Empty Epithets), the Ten Commandments are still a great way of understanding how to live a good life. It is impossible for man, born of sin, to be perfect. However, it is our Christian duty to strive for perfection even though it is impossible to fully achieve perfection. It may seem an oversimplification, but in some ways that is the point of being a Christian, to give Christ a good reputation by striving to be Christ-like, or in essence, perfect.
Saying a Christian needs to avoid a movie because of immoral content is oversimplifying. What the resolution of the immoral content is, is how to determine the difference between a movie a Christian should promote and one a Christian should not. For instance, were a man and a woman in a movie to engage in premarital sex. If they in no way suffer any consequences because of their actions, then in a pretty important way, the movie just glorified that sin. In which case, the lack of consequences in the resolution of the potentially immoral content means this is a movie a Christian should view or recommend. But just saying that seems so trivial. The question is, what kind of consequences are we looking for? On a humanistic level, I would personally see getting pregnant and not being able to take care of the baby as the ultimate punishment for their wrong doings. And that level of consequences might be enough to justify watching the movie, but we also have to keep in mind that in life, as Christians, we know the consequences are much greater. Dwelling in sin can come between us and God.
I know I, for one, want to know what happens in the next installment of my favorite movie series. And I am less likely to let a rating stop me in this circumstance than in other circumstances. So how are Christians to deal with this trap and what are the ramifications of the existence of this trap?
My convictions tell me to make this next paragraph rather blunt. After all, little about the Christian walk is necessarily easy, but most of it is rather simple. How are Christians supposed to deal with the trap of the progressively immoral sequel? Quite simply, don’t go see it. Don’t give money to it, don’t give time to it, don’t let God (the one who will in the end judge us all) see a Christian walking into a movie that glorifies sins from which He sent His Son to die to free us. Sure, it’s a bummer, but I’m not about to compromise any of my beliefs or the meaning of Jesus’ sacrifice for two hours of trifling entertainment. Nor am I going to compromise my beliefs just to offer ways to make a Christian feel better about watching a movie of the same magnitude.
What are the ramifications of the existence of the trap of the progressively immoral sequel? Again, I am going to choose to be blunt...the destruction of ones (and possibly Christ’s) reputation. It is quite possible that a non-Christian who knows a Christian went and saw an immoral movie, will be less likely to understand the value of that Christian’s witness. In fact, this may color their understanding of all Christian’s witnesses. Of course when we witness we need to ensure that our listeners know that we aren’t perfect, that we still mess up and strive to be Christ-like, but that does not justify setting a bad example or not exhibiting Christ-like behavior.
This could potentially even destroy a Christian’s ability to witness, leading them to miss out on a huge opportunity to share the love of God. The Bible tells us to honor God with our money (Proverbs 3:9). The Bible tells us to honor God with our body, his temple. (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). He asks us to honor Him with our speech (Ephesians 4:29). Any behavior that is not honoring God will be denounced. Going to see the sequel anyway, thereby giving the resources God grants us to an immoral movie, is considered a sin as well (Romans 12:2).
This has obviously been something which I have been thinking very seriously about since only a few days ago when I walked out of the theatre on what was supposed to be a fun relaxing night out. I believe that the Bible is clear on what a Christian should support and what a Christian should not. Nothing lays it out better than Philippians 4:8, “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.
Friday, January 17, 2014
The Conviction of a Child
"Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it." Mark 10:15 (NKJV)
"Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.” Luke 18:17 (ESV)
"Out of the mouth of babies and infants, you have established strength because of your foes, to still the enemy and the avenger." Psalm 18:12 (ESV)
"They asked Jesus, "Do you hear what these children are saying?" "Yes," Jesus replied. 'Haven’t you ever read the Scriptures? For they say, ‘You have taught children and infants to give you praise.'" Matthew 21:16 (NLT)
While I find I am more fond of the phrase "the faith of a child" which, it turns out, is not in the Bible (the phrase of course, not the concept).
I had a friend tell me a story the other day which somehow brought this to mind. Not just the faith of a child but the idea of becoming a child to enter the kingdom of heaven, There are a lot more attributes of childhood that faith, there is also childlike courage, and childlike hope.
He said, "When I was only eight years old, I woke one morning before my family had awakened. It was cold out, frozen, and I was sitting in the living room watching morning cartoons. I heard my parents wake, and begin to get ready for the day.
Suddenly, I heard a loud creak and then "Snap!" a loud cracking noise from outside. I froze. Suddenly I was terrified. I had no idea where the noise had come from, I had no idea what had caused it. And it had been incredibly loud. In a panic I ran to the door of my parent's room. I started banging on the door, begging them to let me in. In a panic and near tears I began to pound on their door, shouting for them to let me in. Ultimately I dissolved into tears and in desperation forced their door open.
My parents were both inside their room, rapidly trying to dress. To this day, I do not understand why they had not responded to me, as they were both awake and already dressing, but when I finally made it into their room, they both shouted at me to leave and shoved me back out the door. Of course this was because they were uncomfortable at me being in the room before they were completely dressed for the day, but I feel my distress was obvious. They shut the door in front of me.
I sank to the floor in the hallway, sobbing. And finally decided that if my parents were not going to address the threat, I would. I crept around the corner of the hallway to face the living room, staring down my now threatening front door. When nothing moved, I cautiously approached the door.
I peeked through the curtains briefly, and saw nothing. Shoving my fear down and drawing up my courage, I threw the door open, dramatically opened the screen, and peered outside. I was greeted by a cardinal, singing on my front porch.
I later discovered that our porch had been expanding from water frozen inside the wood, and the sound had been the wood stretching and snapping. But at the time, I felt I was facing something incredibly terrifying."
I'm thinking that maybe we need to have more than the faith of a child, we also need to find in our hearts the courage of a child.
My friend, we'll call him Cameron.....Cam, had no proof of the existence of something frightening behind that door, but he believed it with all of his heart. His only evidence was hearing about it. As adults, we have heard about Jesus all the time, and yet we struggle to believe because we have no more proof than just "hearing about it." We want more proof before we believe. But "blessed are those who have not seen, and yet believed" John 20:29 (NASB) Faith is believing in the unseen, the unknown. It's the meaning of "taking something on faith."
But an even more apt point is that Cam chose to act on what he believed in, regardless of proof. he found the courage to act in a knowledge vacuum. We are not called just to believe, we are called to repent and change out lives. We are not only to have faith in the absence of proof, we are also to act in that vacuum.
Maybe growing up really is overrated.
Matthew Robert Payne wrote an article on this same topic which was very interesting.
"Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.” Luke 18:17 (ESV)
"Out of the mouth of babies and infants, you have established strength because of your foes, to still the enemy and the avenger." Psalm 18:12 (ESV)
"They asked Jesus, "Do you hear what these children are saying?" "Yes," Jesus replied. 'Haven’t you ever read the Scriptures? For they say, ‘You have taught children and infants to give you praise.'" Matthew 21:16 (NLT)
While I find I am more fond of the phrase "the faith of a child" which, it turns out, is not in the Bible (the phrase of course, not the concept).
I had a friend tell me a story the other day which somehow brought this to mind. Not just the faith of a child but the idea of becoming a child to enter the kingdom of heaven, There are a lot more attributes of childhood that faith, there is also childlike courage, and childlike hope.
He said, "When I was only eight years old, I woke one morning before my family had awakened. It was cold out, frozen, and I was sitting in the living room watching morning cartoons. I heard my parents wake, and begin to get ready for the day.
Suddenly, I heard a loud creak and then "Snap!" a loud cracking noise from outside. I froze. Suddenly I was terrified. I had no idea where the noise had come from, I had no idea what had caused it. And it had been incredibly loud. In a panic I ran to the door of my parent's room. I started banging on the door, begging them to let me in. In a panic and near tears I began to pound on their door, shouting for them to let me in. Ultimately I dissolved into tears and in desperation forced their door open.
My parents were both inside their room, rapidly trying to dress. To this day, I do not understand why they had not responded to me, as they were both awake and already dressing, but when I finally made it into their room, they both shouted at me to leave and shoved me back out the door. Of course this was because they were uncomfortable at me being in the room before they were completely dressed for the day, but I feel my distress was obvious. They shut the door in front of me.
I sank to the floor in the hallway, sobbing. And finally decided that if my parents were not going to address the threat, I would. I crept around the corner of the hallway to face the living room, staring down my now threatening front door. When nothing moved, I cautiously approached the door.
I peeked through the curtains briefly, and saw nothing. Shoving my fear down and drawing up my courage, I threw the door open, dramatically opened the screen, and peered outside. I was greeted by a cardinal, singing on my front porch.
I later discovered that our porch had been expanding from water frozen inside the wood, and the sound had been the wood stretching and snapping. But at the time, I felt I was facing something incredibly terrifying."
I'm thinking that maybe we need to have more than the faith of a child, we also need to find in our hearts the courage of a child.
My friend, we'll call him Cameron.....Cam, had no proof of the existence of something frightening behind that door, but he believed it with all of his heart. His only evidence was hearing about it. As adults, we have heard about Jesus all the time, and yet we struggle to believe because we have no more proof than just "hearing about it." We want more proof before we believe. But "blessed are those who have not seen, and yet believed" John 20:29 (NASB) Faith is believing in the unseen, the unknown. It's the meaning of "taking something on faith."
But an even more apt point is that Cam chose to act on what he believed in, regardless of proof. he found the courage to act in a knowledge vacuum. We are not called just to believe, we are called to repent and change out lives. We are not only to have faith in the absence of proof, we are also to act in that vacuum.
Maybe growing up really is overrated.
Matthew Robert Payne wrote an article on this same topic which was very interesting.
Saturday, January 11, 2014
Giving the Genuine Gospel
I'm going to start off by warning you that the story I am about to post is, in fact, not true. There is, however, a reason for my discussing it, so bear with me.
There was a professor of philosophy there who was a deeply committed atheist. His primary goal for one required class was to spend the entire semester attempting to prove that God couldn't exist.
His students were always afraid to argue with him because of his impeccable logic. For twenty years, he had taught this class and no one had ever had the courage to go against him.
Sure, some had argued in class at times, but no one had ever really gone against him because of his reputation. At the end of every semester on the last day, he would say to his class of 300 students, "If there is anyone here who still believes in Jesus, stand up!"
In twenty years, no one had ever stood up. They knew what he was going to do next. He would say, "Because anyone who believes in God is a fool. If God existed, he could stop this piece of chalk from hitting the ground and breaking. Such a simple task to prove that He is God, and yet He can't do it."
And every year, he would drop the chalk onto the tile floor of the classroom and it would shatter into a hundred pieces. All of the students would do nothing but stop and stare. Most of the students thought that God couldn't exist. Certainly, a number of Christians had slipped through, but for 20 years, they had been too afraid to stand up.
Well, a few years ago there was a freshman who happened to enroll. He was a Christian, and had heard the stories about his professor. He was required to take the class for his major, and he was afraid. But for three months that semester, he prayed every morning that he would have the courage to stand up no matter what the professor said, or what the class thought.
Nothing they said could ever shatter his faith...he hoped. Finally, the day came. The professor said, "If there is anyone here who still believes in God, stand up!" The professor and the class of 300 people looked at him, shocked, as he stood up at the back of the room.
The professor shouted, "You FOOL!!! If God existed, he would keep this piece of chalk from breaking when it hit the ground!"
He proceeded to drop the chalk, but as he did, it slipped out of his fingers, off his shirt cuff, onto the pleat of his pants, down his leg, and off his shoe. As it hit the ground, it simply rolled away unbroken. The professor's jaw dropped as he stared at the chalk. He looked up at the young man, and then ran out of the lecture hall.
The young man who had stood, proceeded to walk to the front of the room and shared his faith in Jesus for the next half hour. 300 students stayed and listened as he told of God's love for them and of His power through Jesus.
I'm sure many of you have seen this story. I will start off by saying, its not true. I have researched this story many times over the years, and the story actually began circulation in the early 1960's (or a variation thereof). There have been many searches for the origin of this story and one was finally discovered, which I will discuss soon.
This story was so problematic for some people, possibly since it spread like wildfire in a book in the 1960's, a newspaper in 1977, by email in 1996 and finally in a You-tube video in the early 2000's, that a hoax virus e-mail was sent in response to this email. The text of the hoax e-mail is below:
Very Urgent!!!!!!!
PASS THIS ON TO ANYONE YOU HAVE AN E-MAIL ADDRESS FOR.
If you receive an email titled: "It Takes Guts to Say Jesus" DO NOT OPEN IT. It will erase everything on your hard drive. This information was announced yesterday morning from IBM; AOL states that this is a very dangerous virus, much worse, than "Melissa," and that there is NO Remedy for it at this time. Some very sick individual has succeeded in using the reformat function from Norton Utilities causing it to completely erase all documents on the hard drive. It has been designed to work with Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer. It destroys Macintosh and IBM compatible computers.
This is a new, very malicious and not many people know about it. Pass this warning along to EVERYONE in your address book and please share it with all your online friends ASAP so that this threat maybe stopped. Please practice cautionary measures and tell anyone that may have access to your computer. Forward this warning to everyone that you know that might access the Internet.
Joyce L. Bober
IBM Information Systems
Pittsburgh Mailing Systems
412 - 922-8744
This e-mail was researched in detail and proven to be a hoax. The reality was, someone was trying to squelch this story. Was the reason because it was untrue? Or because they did not want this message of hope to come out.
So I told you this story was untrue. But it is actually, believe it or not, inspired by a true story. The teacher was not an atheist, he was a deist. He wasn't anti God, just didn't believe in the power of prayer.
The story is told by author Richard H. Harvey, author of the book 70 Years of Miracles.
This first-hand account is of Harvey's experience in a chemistry class at Allegheny College, in Meadville Pennsylvania in the 1920's (not just a few years ago at USC). Harvey had this professor, Dr. Lee, who was a self-professed deist, who believed God created the world, and then left it to its own devices. He therefore did not believe in the power of prayer.
Apparently Dr. Lee began each year with a series of three lectures, the third culminating in a challenge for any student to stop the glass beaker he was about to stop from breaking through prayer. Dr. Lee asked for a volunteer to pray before he dropped the beaker. Apparently Harvey volunteered and prayed, and Dr. Lee dropped the glass beaker, which hit his shoe, not the floor, and did not shatter. The class cheered. And while the teacher did not run from the room, he did stop his annual lecture against prayer.
In my research I was able to verify that Dr. Lee did teach at Allegheny College during this time period, that Richard H. Harvey did attend during this time period, and that Harvey did attend one of Dr. Lee's lecture classes. Richard Harvey's son also has verified that Harvey told this story personally, and it was not one he researched purely for his book.
Frankly, with a little faith, I want to believe this one.
So I finally get to my point. There are hundreds, thousands, of true miracles out there. There was even a true version deep down under this story. Why do we want so badly to post and share and create a lie, when the truth is so beautiful?
John 8:32 (ESV) says "Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."
I just wanted to say that, maybe instead of passing on the next inspirational e-mail you have, and checking "evangelize" off your list, maybe tell one of your stories, send a message to a friend with a miracle which happened to you, or even tell a miracle you experienced to someone in person. Maybe there is someone out there who needs to hear your story, and your truth.
Luke 8:17 (NIV) says " For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open."
There was a professor of philosophy there who was a deeply committed atheist. His primary goal for one required class was to spend the entire semester attempting to prove that God couldn't exist.
His students were always afraid to argue with him because of his impeccable logic. For twenty years, he had taught this class and no one had ever had the courage to go against him.
Sure, some had argued in class at times, but no one had ever really gone against him because of his reputation. At the end of every semester on the last day, he would say to his class of 300 students, "If there is anyone here who still believes in Jesus, stand up!"
In twenty years, no one had ever stood up. They knew what he was going to do next. He would say, "Because anyone who believes in God is a fool. If God existed, he could stop this piece of chalk from hitting the ground and breaking. Such a simple task to prove that He is God, and yet He can't do it."
And every year, he would drop the chalk onto the tile floor of the classroom and it would shatter into a hundred pieces. All of the students would do nothing but stop and stare. Most of the students thought that God couldn't exist. Certainly, a number of Christians had slipped through, but for 20 years, they had been too afraid to stand up.
Well, a few years ago there was a freshman who happened to enroll. He was a Christian, and had heard the stories about his professor. He was required to take the class for his major, and he was afraid. But for three months that semester, he prayed every morning that he would have the courage to stand up no matter what the professor said, or what the class thought.
Nothing they said could ever shatter his faith...he hoped. Finally, the day came. The professor said, "If there is anyone here who still believes in God, stand up!" The professor and the class of 300 people looked at him, shocked, as he stood up at the back of the room.
The professor shouted, "You FOOL!!! If God existed, he would keep this piece of chalk from breaking when it hit the ground!"
He proceeded to drop the chalk, but as he did, it slipped out of his fingers, off his shirt cuff, onto the pleat of his pants, down his leg, and off his shoe. As it hit the ground, it simply rolled away unbroken. The professor's jaw dropped as he stared at the chalk. He looked up at the young man, and then ran out of the lecture hall.
The young man who had stood, proceeded to walk to the front of the room and shared his faith in Jesus for the next half hour. 300 students stayed and listened as he told of God's love for them and of His power through Jesus.
I'm sure many of you have seen this story. I will start off by saying, its not true. I have researched this story many times over the years, and the story actually began circulation in the early 1960's (or a variation thereof). There have been many searches for the origin of this story and one was finally discovered, which I will discuss soon.
This story was so problematic for some people, possibly since it spread like wildfire in a book in the 1960's, a newspaper in 1977, by email in 1996 and finally in a You-tube video in the early 2000's, that a hoax virus e-mail was sent in response to this email. The text of the hoax e-mail is below:
Very Urgent!!!!!!!
PASS THIS ON TO ANYONE YOU HAVE AN E-MAIL ADDRESS FOR.
If you receive an email titled: "It Takes Guts to Say Jesus" DO NOT OPEN IT. It will erase everything on your hard drive. This information was announced yesterday morning from IBM; AOL states that this is a very dangerous virus, much worse, than "Melissa," and that there is NO Remedy for it at this time. Some very sick individual has succeeded in using the reformat function from Norton Utilities causing it to completely erase all documents on the hard drive. It has been designed to work with Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer. It destroys Macintosh and IBM compatible computers.
This is a new, very malicious and not many people know about it. Pass this warning along to EVERYONE in your address book and please share it with all your online friends ASAP so that this threat maybe stopped. Please practice cautionary measures and tell anyone that may have access to your computer. Forward this warning to everyone that you know that might access the Internet.
Joyce L. Bober
IBM Information Systems
Pittsburgh Mailing Systems
412 - 922-8744
This e-mail was researched in detail and proven to be a hoax. The reality was, someone was trying to squelch this story. Was the reason because it was untrue? Or because they did not want this message of hope to come out.
So I told you this story was untrue. But it is actually, believe it or not, inspired by a true story. The teacher was not an atheist, he was a deist. He wasn't anti God, just didn't believe in the power of prayer.
The story is told by author Richard H. Harvey, author of the book 70 Years of Miracles.
This first-hand account is of Harvey's experience in a chemistry class at Allegheny College, in Meadville Pennsylvania in the 1920's (not just a few years ago at USC). Harvey had this professor, Dr. Lee, who was a self-professed deist, who believed God created the world, and then left it to its own devices. He therefore did not believe in the power of prayer.
Apparently Dr. Lee began each year with a series of three lectures, the third culminating in a challenge for any student to stop the glass beaker he was about to stop from breaking through prayer. Dr. Lee asked for a volunteer to pray before he dropped the beaker. Apparently Harvey volunteered and prayed, and Dr. Lee dropped the glass beaker, which hit his shoe, not the floor, and did not shatter. The class cheered. And while the teacher did not run from the room, he did stop his annual lecture against prayer.
In my research I was able to verify that Dr. Lee did teach at Allegheny College during this time period, that Richard H. Harvey did attend during this time period, and that Harvey did attend one of Dr. Lee's lecture classes. Richard Harvey's son also has verified that Harvey told this story personally, and it was not one he researched purely for his book.
Frankly, with a little faith, I want to believe this one.
So I finally get to my point. There are hundreds, thousands, of true miracles out there. There was even a true version deep down under this story. Why do we want so badly to post and share and create a lie, when the truth is so beautiful?
John 8:32 (ESV) says "Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."
I just wanted to say that, maybe instead of passing on the next inspirational e-mail you have, and checking "evangelize" off your list, maybe tell one of your stories, send a message to a friend with a miracle which happened to you, or even tell a miracle you experienced to someone in person. Maybe there is someone out there who needs to hear your story, and your truth.
Luke 8:17 (NIV) says " For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open."
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