How God Used a Closet Jesus Freak

It was the beginning of my high school senior year. Due to finances, attending academy was not possible and I'd have to spend my first semester at a local public school. I knew no one, and I was somewhat shy and tried to keep to myself. Still, I was growing to love Jesus more and more, and hoped the public high school atmosphere wouldn't mess with my spiritual growth too much. I prayed that God would use me, even in an environment like this, and as shy as I was.

The 70's hosted the marriage of the hippie culture and the "Jesus movement." A new printing of the Living Bible, called "The Jesus Book," had an overtly Christian cover and was selling like hotcakes. I carried one with me to school, but kept it upside down on my desk so as not to be noticed and branded a "Jesus freak."

But alas, while reading my Jesus Book during lunch, I was discovered by a very kind Jesus freak named Ken. Ken invited me to sit in with his lunchtime Bible group on the lawn. I did once, then distanced myself for fear of being heckled by others. I'm not proud of that now.

Selecting an elective class was required, and all that seemed interesting to me was sociology. The professor was a haughty know-it-all; a cool dude who announced that he was paid more than anyone else in the district. He packed his classroom with couches along with a few student desks here and there. His name was Chuck, and he had some disparaging words for religion and Jesus Christ in particular.  Chuck warned us that he'd challenge practically any personal philosophies we believed. After all, it was a sociology class.

Chuck had assigned us a book report. We were to choose any book we wished, and give an oral report about it. Only a few reports could be given each day. And today, knowing it would not be my turn, I positioned myself in a solo desk, partly hidden in a corner behind a file cabinet so I could do homework for another class.

No, it was not my turn to give a report, but it was Ken's! Yes, my Jesus freak acquaintence was also in my sociology class. Chuck said to Ken, "Please tell us the name of the book you've chosen." And Ken replied, "Ezekiel!" 

The room got deathly quiet and you could feel the tension. The whole class looked at Chuck only to see his eyes roll and hear his long sigh. I thought, "Oh no," and entered into prayer on Ken's behalf.

Chuck said, "Okay, let's hear it," and Ken got busy explaining how God had called Ezekiel to give a special message to a rebellious nation. Chuck let Ken speak only a couple of minutes before interrupting.

"Ken, I have to stop you. No one's listening to you. I'll give you a choice. You can take a fail on this report, or you can take the hot seat." 

The hot seat was fairly cut and dry. Anyone could ask you anything and you'd have to answer truthfully. It wasn't really a choice, so Ken took the hot seat.

Chuck got it started: "Do you really believe all that? I mean, all that's in the Bible? How do you even know it's true?"

Ken looked glad to have been asked that question. He thought his answer would settle it. "Yes, I believe it," he explained, "because 2 Timothy 3:16 tells us that all scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness. So, it has to be true!"

Chuck's response won the class: "You're trying to prove the Bible with its own words." Something isn't necessarily true just because it claims to be, is it?" Chuck began to work Ken over with his cunning, more than Ken could rebut. He attacked the creation story, the unscientifically proven miracles of scripture, and charged that science has disproven it all. And in no time, most of the class was echoing Chuck: "Yeah, Ken, what about that?" Ken was in trouble.

All the while, I sat sheepishly, too timid to get involved, but unable to ignore it. Finally, it was like God said, "It's time, Joe. You're on."

I caught myself interrupting. "How about this, Chuck? Do you actually believe what science says, just because it says it? It seems to me that it's a lot harder to believe what science says about the origins of life than what the Bible says."

I'm not sure Chuck knew I existed until then. He turned and answered, "Really? We have scientific proof for the theory of evolution. We have carbon 14 dating."

My comeback was swift (I hardly realized what I was saying!) "Oh, really, Chuck? Did you know that carbon dating is most accurate within only the past 50,000 years? Just look at your hand." And the whole class suddenly did. "Look at the veins and think of the blood running through them. Think of all the systems that work to keep that blood moving and that make you able to feel and see and smell and hear and taste. Are you suggesting that, given enough time, all that just happened?"

The class was reluctant, but began chiming in, "Yeah, Chuck, what about that?"

God was on fire! And He then brought to my mind a recent lesson at church. "Chuck, have you ever heard of entropy? It's pretty much Murphy's law applied to the entire universe. If something can go wrong, it will! Part of entropy tells us that the universe goes from order to chaos, not from chaos to order. Did you shower today? And why? Because if you don't, you'll stink at best and you'll die at worst. If you don't clean your house, it will fall apart & spiders will move in. That's entropy. Without intervention, things get worse, not better. Ken and I happen to believe that God intervened and made order out of chaos."

God had turned the class in His favor! Talk about an exercise in sociology! All Chuck could say was, "Are you finished?"

I only said one more thing. "Chuck, how about we let each other believe what we believe, and try showing a little more respect to each other than we did today?" 

And amazingly, right then, the bell rang.

My friends, I did not win that battle; God did. He took a shy, timid, low GPA student and launched him into the fray at the moment of His choosing. I learned that He is real, active, and answers prayer.