Joyfully and Boldly Expect Great Things from God

            Have you had your Joy Juice today?  Expect great joy from Jesus! 

            Let me share a true story about expecting great things from God:

        There was a professor of philosophy at a major university who was a deeply committed atheist. His primary goal was to spend the entire semester attempting to prove that God doesn’tt exist. At the end of every semester, he would say to his class, "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, "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.

A few years ago there was a freshman…a strong Christian…who was required to take this class. Every morning he prayed that he would have the courage to stand up no matter what the professor said.  

Finally, the day came. The professor challenged," If there is anyone here who still believes in God, stand up!" As the young man stood, the professor and the class of 300 people looked at him, shocked! The professor laughed:“ 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.

 

            We can joyfully expect the unexpected from our great God.