[February 16, 2014] —
“I am not a grasshopper.”
That is the saying that Campus Crusade founder Bill Bright kept on his desk. At barely over 5’5″ Bill could have felt like a grasshopper. Certainly when he would encounter opportunities to speak not only to professors and university presidents but later to Congressmen and heads of state, he could have felt very powerless.
The obstacles could have seemed insurmountable, as they did for 10 of the spies that Moses sent into the Promised Land: “And there we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak, who come from the Nephilim), and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them.” [Num 13:33]
This month Dr. Walter Bradley spoke at Texas Woman’s University about “Giants In The Land,” recounting his own experience of wanting to serve Christ and be known as a Christian in academia. He drove up from Waco on a cold, icy February morning. The weather was so bad that TWU cancelled classes that afternoon. So while it limited his audience somewhat, those who did stay through the noontime presentation didn’t have to hustle back to their offices.
Bradley talked about taking “baby steps” of faith as a graduate student, trying to summon up the courage to let his students know about his Christian faith. Intending to let them know on the first day of class, he chickened out (by his own admission) and didn’t say anything about his faith until the very last day of class. That moment, he explained, was a game changer, and he resolved never to go another semester without first letting his students know about his faith.
If you would like to hear an extended version of his presentation, you can find it on YouTube.