Graduation Time

Graduation Time

5/21/15

Most of us in this country have someone in our family graduating from a specific institution this year or know of someone having a family member walking down this aisle.  This time of year always hits us with both pleasant and anguishing memories which come with the territory.  It also brings into light just how many people cross our doors and pass through our lives over those years as well.  With all of the encounters with the people who passed through our lives how much have we influenced their lives, and what message did we portray in their lives are the two main questions that we must answer.  And to be honest, some of the answers to these questions can be eternally shocking.

Over my lifetime, I have been involved in many graduation ceremonies whether it be mine or with my friends and other family members.  My parents have been witness to far more than myself and have many fond, and sometimes even funny, memories of such occasions.  With each year that passes I find that more and more of the people that I have known are going through these types of ceremonies and on both sides of the setting, milestones are being set.

I have been privileged to have four daughters in my life and I would not trade them for anything.  Of these four ladies, two of them have already graduated from high school and have moved on with their respective lives.  One has her own business and a family and the other is still in college and pursuing her own career, both of which make me very proud.  This means I have two others still in high school which is about to change.  My 17 year old is going to walk across the football field in a few days and then it will become that I shall have only one daughter left in high school.

I am extremely proud of my three daughters that have already accomplished this task in their lives.  I will be even prouder when my youngest daughter completes this task in two years.  I can only pray that her days will be filled with joy and happiness just as my other daughters have experienced.  Have all of their days been glorious?  No way, but God has been their God through each and every one of those days and I am thankful that they have continued to keep Him in their lives.

Up until a few weeks ago this current graduation process had not bothered me at all and I found myself flying through the pomp and circumstances with no problems what-so-ever.  Things began to change after the battle of the grades was over and it became evident that her graduation was going to occur.  I had previously stood on the fact that even though Rachel was graduating I still had one more daughter left to graduate and that I would worry about becoming emotional a couple of years from now.  Boy was I wrong about that!

A couple of weeks ago this emotional time changed for me when my senior had her last choir concert of her high school career.  There had been some struggles with this time in her life and at one point she was ready to give up on the entire singing community, but she stuck it out and persevered like a Bishop does and was rewarded with a fabulous memory that no one can take from her.  As I sat in the audience and watched her perform it was then that it hit me, my emotional wave of finalization.  I have witnessed many deaths over my career, watched many surgeries with blood and guts hanging out and had no emotional changes occur, either at that moment or later down the road.  But when it dawned on me that this was Rachel’s last concert I could not help but to tear up and fight back the emotions of her accomplishments.

The other night the high school’s Baccalaureate commenced and it was a beautiful time with the kids, parents, friends and other family members that joined in the celebration.  Every part of the service flowed beautifully and it did not matter what a person’s beliefs were that night, this was about the kids hearing how much God loves them and that even though they have accomplished this feat, their lives still matter to Christ and that He has a future and a purpose for their lives.  The message was excellent and was presented in a way that the kids could relate with and I applaud the speaker for his courage, love and honor for God that he displayed. 

As the service came to a close they had a slide show of each one of the seniors which is usually the highlight of the program and once again it proved to be an excellent presentation.  As the music played and the slides scrolled across the screen I could not help but to notice just how many of the graduating class had been a part of my wife and I’s life and of our girls.  As I continued to sit there and watch and listen I began to realize that the majority of the ones that would be graduating I knew personally and had some type of connection with them over the years.  I also realized that I had been here long enough to remember many of them being born and having the privilege of watching them grow up; which made me feel kind of old.

The many personalities that entered into my world flooded my mind with a wide array of thoughts as I continued to watch the slides scroll across the screen.  It was then that I had a horrifying thought about each one of the kids that had graced our lives over this period of time.  Almost every class that has graduated in this country has experienced some kind of pain whether it is during their education years or shortly afterwards, with my graduation class being included in this terrible statistic.  I pray that nothing ever comes of this type of setting to this class and I wish that I could guarantee that it would not, but there is still a minute chance of something happening even before they walk across the field to receive their diplomas.

The thought that crossed my mind as I was watching the kids’ slides scroll on the screen was this: what kind of influence did I and my wife have on these kids, and was there a good enough example of Christ from our lives to be projected as they stepped foot into our lives?  It was at this moment that another wave of emotions came rushing into my world and this time that this service became a different type of setting.  How many times over these kids’ lives did they come into contact with my family and the question of Jesus’ example did or did not appear came into my mind?  Of course, I wanted to say all of the time but did I really portray this at all times?  To be honest, I know that many times over the years I was not happy for some reason when these kids were around.  Or there might have been problems at work that I had to deal with that made my attitude different.  And of course, there were times that I was angry at my kids for some reason and when I put off of these thoughts together, I had to stop and think about this question again.

I have never devalued a human beings life before and I shall never do such in the future either.  But I must ask myself if I did these kids an eternal disservice with my actions in the past.  It broke my heart for me to have to think about this being a possibility and praying that I did not continually portray a good example to these kids.  It would mortify me if I found out that I had any ill effect on a human life especially where their eternal salvation is at stake.  With this in mind I have once again committed myself to be a good example of Christ to my world and I cannot be more committed to being so around my daughter’s friends.

While God has shown me many things to write about for His people, He still works on an individual level in my life.  We can get caught up in the overall picture but forget about the individuality of our own existence.  The mission of the Church is to be a witness for God and to represent Christ as His Bride.  His Bride is not adorned in physical beauty but graced with the battle scars through encounters with a dying world and it is through these encounters which we make representation of Christ to those who need Him.  In other words, it is through my representation of Christ to these kids over the years that make His presence known or not known to them.

Baccalaureate 2015 for Delta High School began as a simple service that ended up spectacular and a great time for everyone who attended.  It also set into motion another aspect of my life that I need to improve.  Not by making God’s legal authority known to these kids but to enlighten them so that they know that it is a good thing to have a relationship with God and that by having a relationship with God actually renews their lives in a complete way and brings the meaning of life into their hearts.  It is my prayer that I shine more each day for Jesus for the world need Him in order to stop our destructive ways.  It is sad to say this but the Church needs Him again too and until we do, the world has no hope at all.

God asks us to have open and loving hearts to a dying world and that dying world also includes our personal lives.  God wishes to separate us from the world and its grasp of death on our lives; death is not our destination but eternal life is but it is our choice to accept this way of freedom or not.  God encourages us to find ways to represent Him to each generation of people and it is through this responsibility that defines the mission of the Church.  We cannot accept any portion of the world but cause all its kingdom can only give us death.  God loves each and every one of the seniors in all of the graduating classes of 2015 around the world and if we love them too, we will make sure that each one of the kids sees Jesus through our lives.  God challenges us to fervently pray for the graduating classes of 2015 and beyond for it is this generation that will come into contact with a wicked world that they will either join or fight and it is through this choice of theirs that will define the future course of the world.

DLB