Transcript – God and the Professor's Foot
(Note that all transcripts were created from audio recordings, and therefore any mistakes are the transcriptionist's, not the speaker's.)
Filename -- GodAndTheProfessorsFoot_FoolForGod_BeakerInChemistryClass_UT_RickAtchley_transcription.htm
UT Professor / Dropped Beaker in Chemistry Class
Being a Fool for God
Rick Atchley
Let me ask you a question. Have you ever been willing to be a fool for God? Now I know some of us have been fools, especially in college. But have you ever been a fool for God?
Several years I told this story. When I first heard it Steve Campbell told me about a friend of his. I wasn’t sure it could be true, so I called the man and found out the exact detail and got his permission to tell you.
This young man was a student at the University of Texas in Austin in the 1970s. He was a Pre-Med major signed up for organic chemistry. The purpose of the class was to weed out all the students who had no business going to med school. The class began with over a thousand students, but only 200 took the final. The teacher was a devout atheist and every year he started the class the same way. He’d say, “Now we’re going to get into the origin of living things, and I don’t want any nonsense about God so we’re going to stop that right now.” And he would hold up a glass beaker. He would say, “How many of you think your God could keep this beaker from breaking if I let go of it and let it fall to the floor?” Nobody would ever say a word. He’d put the beaker down and say, “Ok then, do not bring up God in this class.”
Until this one semester, this young man I talked to on the phone stood up and said, “I believe in God; I believe if God wants, he can keep that beaker from breaking.” And the professor said, “Young man, I’ll give you a moment to pray before I drop the beaker.” And he prayed. He was on the spot. He prayed loud for the whole room to hear. He prayed, “God, now you’re God whether or not this beaker breaks. I pray you’ll keep it from breaking as a rebuke to the arrogance of this professor, and as a testimony to all who are in this class. That’s my prayer, God, in Jesus’ name.”
He sat down, the professor smirked and dropped the beaker, right on his foot. That thing rolled unbroken across the front of the classroom. And a thousand kids stood up and clapped. Let me ask you a question. When have you ever been a fool for God? Francis Schaeffer says it’s just plain stupid for a Christian not to expect spiritual warfare when he lives in enemy territory.
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