A Cup of Comfort Stories for Christians by James Stuart Bell

Author:James Stuart Bell
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: stories, Christians, inspiration
Publisher: F+W Media
Published: 2012-01-03T00:00:00+00:00

Speaking of Faith …

By Matthew Nelson Drumheller

Korlane, one of the college students in my public speaking class, walked up to me before class and whimpered, “Can’t you just choose a topic for me, Mr. Drum? It doesn’t really matter what my topic is, does it? This is just speech class. Nobody really listens to other people speak.” Korlane certainly did know how to make me feel good about my teaching discipline. Still, if I had a penny for every time a student had said this to me the weekend before speeches were due, I would be a mogul of the copper-tubing industry. It is a disturbing trend — so many young people have so little faith that they can make a difference to anyone else. It is a symptom of a world that has slowly convinced generations of people that life matters only when a person achieves great things in significant ways. But we couldn’t be more wrong.

I looked at this young lady, seeing the potential she couldn’t. I asked her to think about experiences in her life that were emotionally moving, persuasive, angering, frustrating, or simply interesting.

“Like what?” she asked, peeking over the top of her glasses like a wise old granny.

“I don’t know. Everyone has something different to share. Your view of life is unique, and it’s quite possible that something you have experienced or observed is a subject someone else needs to hear about. Perhaps somebody in your family works for a company you admire. You could talk about that company or the careers it offers. Or, on a more serious note, maybe you have a friend who has suffered through a tragedy, and you want to inform others about how to be helpful to friends in need. Who knows? Maybe you’re a pizza connoisseur, and you can tell us all how to make the perfect pizza right in our own homes. See what I’m getting at, Korlane?”

She nodded at me, the gears starting to spin. “Thanks for the help. I’ll see you Monday.” I quickly reminded her to call or e-mail if she needed any more help over the weekend. I had a gut feeling I might hear from her, but Saturday and Sunday ticked by with no communication. I took that as a good sign.

Monday morning arrived and lugged with it sleepy students dressed in casually formal, albeit wrinkled, attire. You could tell it was a speech day and that most students were ill equipped to work the complexities of an iron before 8:00 a.m. I arrived in the classroom a few minutes early to check out the audio-visual equipment, and I noticed Korlane in the back, rehearsing quietly. “Looks like you figured something out,” I said with a bit of reassurance in my voice.

“Can I go last? I need to work up my nerve before I speak.” She paused for a moment but started up again before I could answer. “I don’t know if my speech will knock anyone’s socks off, but I feel good about the topic I’ve chosen.

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