Last June, we visited my first alma mater on the 50^th anniversary of me starting there at age 17. Great grades seemed to be my best chance for a good job after graduation. Maybe those grades became too important since I studied most of the time.

Then through a student ministry on campus I made a commitment to Christ and got involved in Christian student activities. I became so involved that I didn’t have time to do my homework for an important examination. As the professor passed out the exams, I felt sick. “God please save me!” I begged with all my heart and opened the exam. To my joy, the questions were just the things I knew. When I got my graded paper back with a high score, I thought, “This is great. Now that I’m a Christian, I won’t need to study at all anymore.”

I returned to my Christian activities. The next examination came. This time I didn’t worry. As the professor passed out the exams, I remember praying something like, “Okay, God. You know what to do.” But, when I opened the exam, I found that God would not be doing business with me that way. I could not treat God like a genie.

God sometimes bails out beginners. But, for consistent results He expects us to do our homework. I now know that God wanted me to do well in my studies. But He expected me to do my part, the study and homework to become a capable engineer. After I learned to combine God plus homework, my grades improved. Considering that then I studied less than before this qualified as a miracle. And God used those grades to give me a wonderful job. At only age 23, I helped design the Space Shuttle.

Drew Coons