.Stand Up.

I didn't work out today. GRR. I am angry. Oh well!
Today I woke up, showered, and went to breakfast. WOW my pillow smells good!
After breakfast I went to my first class of the day, my writing class. I wish I had passed my AP tests with a 4, nuff said. I then came back to my room and started doing my homework. I then went to lunch. After lunch I went to my last class of the day, AMERICAN POLITICS!! That has been a class I have been waiting for my whole life! It was great. I loved it. I am so excited for my future! After class I came back to my dorm room and began to do my laundry. That took about 4 hours. It was obnoxious. While I was doing laundry I had dinner. It was good. I have been doing homework all day. There was a lapse of my studies. A video was posted on Facebook. It was titled "Stand UP."

Here it is. (since posting the video would just put a link, I have the script here)

There was a professor of philosophy who was a deeply committed atheist. His primary goal for one required class was to spend the entire semester attempting to prove that God could not exist. His students were always afraid to argue with him because of his impecable 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 really gone "against him". No one 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's 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 does believe in God is a fool". If God existed, he could stop this piece of chalk from dropping to 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 class room 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.

Well, 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 this 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 or did 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 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 pleat 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 then ran out of the lecture hall.

The young man who had stood up proceeded to walk to the front of the room and share his faith in Jesus for the next half hour. 300 students stayed and listened as he testified of God's love for them and of His power through Jesus.

This story is unfortunately not true. It is false and USC has denounced that this occurred. However, it is a very moving story. I did some research and was let down when I found out that it was not a true story. But in the course of my research I did find this:

There is a related story, however, told by author Richard H. Harvey in his book 70 YEARS OF MIRACLES. It's a first-hand account of his experience in a Chemistry class at Allegheny College in Meadville, Pennsylvania in the 1920's. Harvey says the professor, a Dr. Lee, was a deist (for those of you who do not know what this is, it is a person who believes in a God who created the world but then after stop caring about the world) who annually lectured against prayer. In one of the class sessions, Dr. Lee said he was going to drop a glass flask on the floor and asked if anyone would like to pray first that the flask would not break, therefore demonstrating the reality of prayer. Richard Harvey volunteered and prayed. The professor dropped the flask and it rolled off his shoe to the floor without damage. The class cheered and the professor stopped his annual lectures against prayer.

I love happy pick me ups like this. I love the feeling you get after reading something like this. I love the feeling of wanting to do more. I love the feeling of wanting to stand a little taller. I want to be a little brighter. I want everyone to see who and what I stand for. I am proud of who and what I am. I am proud to be 1/2 Caucasian. I am proud to be 1/2 Ecuadorian. I am proud to be American. I am proud to a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I am proud to the son of Paul & Laura Porter. I am proud to be a brother to all my siblings. I am proud to be an Uncle. I am proud to be the grandson of my Grandparents and Abuelitos. I am proud to be a son of my Heavenly Father. I love life!

Stand up, stand out, let's do some good!

I love you all, goodbye.
Mi amor a todos, adios. (correct me?)
אני אוהב אותך כל, סלאמאת.