FOOD FOR THOUGHT 6/23/99 
www.illuminations4u.org
STAND UP????

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    (This is a true story of something that happened few years ago at Univ.of S.Calif). .                                                  

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 20 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 had really gone
against him (you'll see what I mean later). 

   Nobody would go against him because he had a 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 20  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 could do nothing but stop and stare. 

Most of the students were convinced 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.

FINALLY,    a few years ago,                                                                                 there was a freshman who happened to get enrolled in the class                        He was a Christian, and had heard the stories about his professor.
        He had to take the class because it was one of the required classes for     his major and he was afraid.              

But for 3 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
classroom. 

The professor shouted, "You FOOL!!

 If God existed he could 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 pleats 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 up 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..

SUMMARY:
Sometimes all we have to do is STAND UP.

HAVE YOU STOOD UP TODAY??
PAY ATTENTION YOUR CHANCES WILL COME TODAY???
JESUS IS ALIVE , LET IT SHOW THROUGH YOU TODAY???

GOD BLESS