All things are possible with God, physicist says
Dr. Michael G. Stauss is one of my favorite guest Sunday School teachers and a dynamic speaker for several of my “Esther Women” luncheons.
Stauss, a David Ross Boyd Professor of Physics at the University of Oklahoma, brings a different perspective and deep credibility to his audiences. He’s an experimental particle physicist doing research with some of the most sophisticated and complex equipment ever built by humans, studying the most fundamental particles and forces that make up the universe.
But he might have been a theologian. Here’s part of his story as he tells it:
“When I was born, my dad was working on a doctor of theology degree at Dallas Theological Seminary (DTS). Upon hearing the news of my birth, John Walvoord, the president of the seminary, sent a letter to my parents guaranteeing me admission into seminary when I was old enough to attend. During my senior year of college, I still did not know what I wanted to do in life, or where God might be calling me, but with that letter in hand, and excellent grades, I applied to Dallas Theology Seminary.
Since I liked physics, I also applied to five graduate schools in physics. I didn’t know if I would be accepted into graduate school in physics, but I did know that I would be accepted into Dallas Theology Seminary.
Except, I wasn’t.
In my application letter to the seminary, I stated honestly that I did not know whether or not God was calling me into professional Christian ministry, but I was considering that option. Unbeknownst to me, the previous year the seminary had set up a policy that only applicants who knew God was calling them into professional Christian ministry would be accepted, and since I was not sure, I was rejected, despite my letter from Dr. Walvoord.
But God’s direction didn’t end with closing the door to seminary. Out of the five schools I applied to for graduate work in physics I got accepted to two of them and decided to attend UCLA.
The very first day of my first class at
UCLA, the professor began by reviewing a topic that every first-year graduate student in physics should know, but I had never seen before. That seemed strange to me since I had taken classes covering the four basic subjects in physics that are needed to get into graduate school.
However, I began to ask some fellow students about their preparation for physics graduate school. What I learned was shocking!
Every other student had taken each of the four basic physics subjects twice, once in lower division classes and once in upper division classes. However, since my major was not a physics major, but a physical science major, I had only taken each of the basic subjects once at the lower division level. I was about one year of classes deficient in my preparation for physics graduate school!
I quickly realized that I could not succeed as a graduate student in physics without the proper prerequisites. I told my graduate advisor that I had only taken lower division physics classes as an undergraduate student. He was astonished and bluntly asked, “How did you get in here?”
Those words still ring in my ears today. I sheepishly said something like, “I must have had good grades” but I was actually thinking, “Wow, God must have really wanted me to be here!”
You see, by any human criteria, I should have easily been accepted to Dallas Theology Seminary and quickly been rejected from UCLA. But God is not limited by human criteria. It is trivial for him to close doors that should be open and open doors that should be closed. He moves kings’ hearts (and graduate application committees’ as well).
Are you doubting that God can open and close doors for you? Are you doubting that God can do something in your life today that might seem impossible? I encourage you to change that doubt to trust. God is true to his word when he says, “all things are possible (Matthew 19:26).”
My career as a particle physicist is testimony to that very fact!
“’For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’ declares the Lord. ‘As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your way and my thoughts than your thoughts (Isaiah 55: 8-9).’”