Back to School

That date that is most anticipated and most dreaded is upon us - the first day of school.  I don't know of a lot of inspiring first day of school stories or quotes.  There is a not a lot that I can tell people academically but I can tell you of George Danzig.  He was a senior at Stanford University during the dark days of the Depression.  Everyone knew that graduation then meant the unemployment line except there was an outside chance that George could make the head of his class and qualify for a teaching job at Stanford.  He would have to make a perfect score on his mathematics final so he studied hard, so hard in fact that he lost track of time and arrived at the final exam late.

George took his seat and began to work on the eight problems on his paper.  Then he turned to two problems written on the blackboard.  Try as he might, he could not solve them.  As he turned in his exam he asked if he might have a couple of days to keep working on those two problems on the board.  His professor looked surprised and then surprised George by giving him permission.

George went back to his room and began to pound away at those two equations.  After many hours he found a solution for one but he could not solve the other.  Dejected, he left his work at his professor's office convinced he had no hope for a job.

The next morning, his professor awakened George from sleep excitedly telling him he had made mathematics history.  Being late to the exam, George had not heard why those two problems were on the board.  His professor explained that he put them up there because those where two classic problems that even Einstein had said he could not solve.  Danzig, had not heard that explanation or that they were unsolvable and he had actually solved one of them.  The next day, that same professor gave George a teaching job at Stanford where he taught until he retired.

Sometimes it is best not to know what you cannot do. We need to be careful what we call impossible. Let me remind you of the last line of last week's message, "Everything is possible for the one who believes."  Mark 9:23

For the journey...

Tim

Wood, Hay and Straw

For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.

  his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man’s work.  1 Corinthians 3:11-13

It is interesting what things survived my in-laws house fire.  It is remarkable the things that did not.  A small glass Christmas ornament made it through surprisingly well; an expensive flat screen HDTV did not.    Things honored with places high on walls - pictures and portraits - did not do as well as things relegated to the floor.  The dining room with the door open had considerable damage through out.  The laundry room with the door closed seems totally intact.

Paul wrote the verses above to remind us to build our lives on something sturdy - Jesus -  and not to put much stock in things that will not last.  Fire does reveal the nature of things.  Fire will reveal the value of what we have poured our lives into and if it was worth it.

This Sunday we will hear from a young man who just got some pretty bad news about his cancer.  That kind of test by fire shows what is valuable and what will last.  Maybe it is time that we take a deeper look and re-evaluated what are the things in life that last.

For the journey...

Tim