Test? What Test?

Years ago, several of us got into a discussion that could have been entitled “Goofy Things That Happened In School.”  We traded stories on things that had happened in college classes that were, well, goofy.

• Someone told of a professor at who fell asleep in the middle of his own lecture.  He sat at his desk, reading from notes and talked slower and slower until he was fell asleep.  Look up “boring” in the dictionary, and this guy’s picture is probably there!
  
  
• There was the time a kid fell asleep in Bible class at a Bible College.  The guy behind him woke him up and told him that he’d just been asked to lead the prayer.  So he jumped up and started praying.  Everyone was stunned.  When the prayer was over, the teacher said, "Uh... thank you."  And then went on with his lecture.
  
  
• My favorite was the class at Harding where the teacher really did ask one of the students to begin with the class with a prayer.  After praying for one thing and then another, the student said, “And Lord, please be with us today as we take this test…”  A panicked voice from the back blurted out in the middle of the prayer, “Test!  What test?”

We can all relate to that panicked student.  We’ve all been that panicked student.  If not in school, then in life.  Just when you think that you have everything under control,  there is a test.  It might be a heath problem, a career choice, a financial set-back, or a family crisis.  Whatever its form, the test comes suddenly and takes you by surprise.  We want to blurt out, “Test!  What test?”

James said, "Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him" (James 1:12).  Each day that we live is a test of what we say that we believe.  Does this faith stuff really work? Does what we say that we believe only apply in Sunday School and not in the real world.  Every day is a test of our faith.  Are you studying?