Buff Furman
Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
San Jose State University
I try to use my office as a place to help answer students’ questions, and to let them know a little bit about me. If you’re like me, your office door has a variety of things stuck on it. I have sometimes had cartoons that raise an issue of significance (the B.C. cartoons by Johnny Hart or some by Berk Breathed are my favorites). On occasion I have posted flyers for Christian events taking place on campus.
I have a very nice framed set of calligraphed verses from the Psalms that a friend gave me as a birthday present hanging prominently on the side of a bookshelf. This has attracted comments from a variety of students, including a Muslim.
I have written several questions on my whiteboard that are interesting to me and that I hope will stimulate thought in visitors who happen to glance past me. One of these is a question Dallas Willard said that he likes to ask his students, “Would you say that you love truth?” Another question that I picked up from a Veritas Forum talk by James Sire that I plan to put up this semester is, “Why do you believe what you believe?”
I have a Bible and some other Christian books located in prominent places that are not far off the line of sight of visitors sitting in my office. Several that have caught the attention of students and have begun conversation are Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis and the two volume set on Philosophy and Science from the God in the Academy Conference with CLM. In my laboratory, I have a “Free Literature” pile, and among other things such as catalogs, brochures, etc., I have a stack of the Conversations CD.
Last week a young woman in one of my classes came into my office and broke down in tears because her uncle had just died. He was a relatively young man and left behind a wife and child. She explained that she was close to him and said, “he was like a father to me.”
I have been working on memorizing Psalm 145, and was able to share with her about God’s care for her and her family. Just after I finished, she mentioned that she had gotten mad at God, and was asking Him why He took her uncle away from her, but that she had randomly opened her holy book (I think she is Muslim), and the first verse she read was something to the effect that God was the only one who was able to care for her. Interesting! I then remembered the Conversations CD had a powerful video clip of a professor who had lost a son in an automobile accident. I gave her a Conversations CD, and told her about that piece, “When Life Hurts.” She thanked me several times and said that she would look at it.
These are just a few ideas I’ve implemented that provoke students’ thinking and sometimes lead into discussions about Jesus. I find that it’s a lot of fun being creative.
(c) 2005 Buff Furman