My friend Liz sent me the following story and I thought I would share it with you. It seemed especially appropriate for today.

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A United States Marine was attending some college courses between assignments. He had completed missions Iraq and Afghanistan. One of the courses had a professor who was avowed atheist and a member of the ACLU.

One day the professor shocked the class when he came in. He looked to the ceiling and flatly stated, “God, if you are real, then I want you to knock me off this platform. I’ll give you exactly 15 minutes.”

The lecture room fell silent. You could hear a pin drop. Ten minutes went by and the professor proclaimed, “Here I am God. I’m still waiting.”

It got down to the last couple of minutes when the Marine got out of his Chair, went up to the professor, and punched him; knocking him off the platform. The professor was out cold.

The Marine went back to his seat and sat there, silently. The other students were shocked and stunned and sat there looking on in silence.

The professor eventually came to, noticeably shaken, looked at the Marine and asked, “What on earth is the matter with you? Why did you do that?” The Marine calmly replied, “God was too busy today protecting America’s soldiers who are protecting your right to say stupid things and act like a jerk. So, He sent me.”