I Saw Walking Miracles

As a young man attending the University of Washington, I was one of 35,000 students. While our minds were busy with academic pursuits, inside every chest was a pump that expanded and contracted 100,000 times a day without a thought. Made of tiny vibrating loops of energy first set in motion by the voice of God, these fleshy little drivers kept us going even during sleep, whether in class, or in bed. 

Every professor's brain contained more cells than stars in the known universe. The electrochemical communication that flowed among 100 billion neurons allowed each instructor to do their work. Whether atheist, agnostic, or saint, each was continuously held together by the sustaining power of Christ's word (Heb. 1:3). He gave us all breath, 14,000 times a day.

Christ kept sustaining us, quarter after quarter (Heb. 1:1-3; Col. 1:16-17). God owned us, professor and student alike (Psalm 24:1). All around me at the University of Washington, I saw walking miracles, each created in the likeness and image of God (Gen. 1:26-27). What is secular about all this? Nothing.

And then there was the campus itself. Evergreen trees and rhododendron plants were everywhere. Cherry trees pinked each spring like clockwork. And the buildings! They, too, were made of vibrating loops of energy set in motion by Christ's voice, reverberating since the beginning, as a continuous symphony.  

I have never seen a secular building in my life. Ugly ones, yes, because we live in a fallen world where people do some hideous things with God's stuff, but never secular ones. Each one is made entirely of God's stuff alone, sustained through Christ's command, put together piece by piece by image-bearers of God.

I spent about six years at the University, earning two bachelor's degrees. One in music, and the other in German language and literature. Neither subject was a secular subject. Why? Because God created and sustains sound waves and eardrums. He also gives humans the amazing capacity to think abstractly, speak and write language. Music was His idea, and so is language. What's secular about that?

There is no secular subject at the University of Washington, because if it has anything to do with time, space, or matter, it's all the stuff of God. Furthermore, the University of Washington can never be a "secular school," because its Head is Christ.

Say what?!!

I'll pick up from here next week.

The best thing that happened during my time at the University of Washington was meeting a remarkable walking miracle by the name of Kathy Marie. She earned her Mrs. degree in just two years! (Brilliant woman.) This photo was taken on the U.W. campus, about four months before we tied the knot, nearly 41 years ago.