I was making a 3.0 GPA average at UCI, and my electrical engineer professor threatened that if I didn’t study harder, I might be forced out of graduate school. It was the Winter Quarter of 1996, and I was miserable. I was studying 10 to 15 hours a week on my electricity and magnetism course while my electrical engineer competitors did not study at all. I have prayed for a B, and I got the fifth lowest score among 17 people in the class. Of course, I was discouraged, and I started to hate engineering, which I found it boring, stupid, and hard. So, I asked my Catholic electrical engineering friend to tutor me so that I could earn a B. When he told me to drop the class, I thought I was not going to make it in the course, and I became more depressed. I cried all the time and told myself that getting a $50,000 an year job was really not worth it. At the end of that quarter, I got my B, and I could see in my electrical engineering professor’s face and that he did not think I deserved a B.
This verse is my favorite verse in the Bible, and I am always encouraged by it. Some non-Christians may say, “Joseph, does this verse seem to be untrue when you did not get an A?” The answer is “no.” According to Dr. J. Vernon McGee, the verse should be translated like this: “I can do all things in Christ which strengtheneth me.” In other words, Apostle Paul is saying that I can do all things according to God’s will and that Christ strengthens me in whatever circumstances I am in.
Not that I speak from want; for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstances I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. Philippians 4:11-12
Despite my poor performance in my electrical engineering class, I was content with my B.
When the Spring Quarter began, I was not studying at all. I was taking a ceramics course, and I was not motivated. My electrical engineering professors would tell me that I did not belong at UCI as a graduate student and that I was extremely lazy. One week before the midterm, I studied and crammed for the midterm for five hours. I prayed about five minutes, and I begged for a B. I told myself that God would not let me down by getting a C, and I had so much confidence in our Lord that he would pull me through with a B. After the midterm was over, I was wrong. I did not get a B. Instead, I got the A+. My professor said that I got the highest midterm score in my class. It was God who helped me overcome my difficult trials at UCI.