"Good morning, faculty, administration, family, friends,
and fellow classmates of the Class of 2016. As we come together to celebrate
the end of our high school careers, and the beginning of the next chapter in
each of our lives, I am honored to be able to stand here as Salutatorian.
Class of 2016, look around you for a minute. You’re surrounded
by your classmates, friends, parents, family, faculty, coaches, teachers, your
entire support system up until now. This is the last time that we’re all going
to be here, together. We are all about to embark on new journeys: different
colleges, cities, and states.
Some of us have been here for four years of high school,
some just one, and a few of us for fourteen
years. In the coming fourteen years, a lot
is going to happen that will change everything. A lot of people in this class
are going to go to college, get jobs, obtain degrees, get married, and maybe
even have children.
Well, thinking back to the last fourteen years, a lot has altered us. Each of us have had a plethora of teachers
and faculty that have dedicated their time and energy within these walls to
invest in us both mentally and spiritually, and they have all made an extremely
profound impact. On behalf of the entire Senior class, thank you. This school
has given us firm foundations on which we can choose to stand on.
To every parent, grandparent, aunt, uncle, and everyone
who stepped in and up to the plate to help us get through these last four
years, thank you. Thank you to all, like
my parents, for equipping us, pushing us to do our very best, and helping us
achieve our dreams. Your dedication to seeing us succeed, your investments in
our education, and late Starbucks runs are greatly appreciated. We would not be
here today without you.
Lastly, a challenge to every single graduate here. Let
God use you ONE through your testimony, TWO to make a difference, and THREE
after you choose Him!
First,
testimony. If researched on google, the search engine that
literally got me through high school, testimony is a “formal written or spoken
statement” or “evidence or proof
provided by the existence or appearance of something.”
As I deliver this testimony to you, let your life be
yours. Let it be the evidence or proof provided by the existence of something
bigger than yourself, a God that is not limited by any of man’s schemes, plots,
or conspiracies. No matter who you are or what you’ve done, God can use you! What
we lack in perfection, God makes up in love. Only God can turn a mess into a message, a test into a testimony,
and a trial into a triumph.
Think of high school as one big test, and sometimes it really felt like it. If you’re sitting
before me now, you passed the test, and that’s awesome. But did you pass with
flying colors or did you barely scrape by? Because I know a lot of days I just
wanted to do enough to get by. But that’s not what anyone here wants to happen to
us when we all step into our “something news” this fall. Your testimony can
change its path, right now, today.
You
have probably heard this verse since you were in first grade. 1 Timothy 4:12. “Don't let anyone look down on you because
you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in
love, in faith and in purity.”
We may have been donned the title of “Seniors” for the
past ten months, the highest position possible, but we are all about to fall
quite a few rungs on the ladder. We’re back to being literal or figurative
freshmen, the youngest of the legally titled “adults.”
Don’t let a petty fight, high school rivalry, or any
drama, stop you from making a difference in someone’s life in the future,
because our God is better than that.
Don’t let your grade-point average, ACT score, homeruns
or goals, or what you can lift define your capability of changing the world.
The world is bigger, and our God is bigger than those numbers. “Worldview” is a
word that every single senior should know after this year, and can relate to.
World changers, now that’s another
word to know. God’s delight is received upon our surrender, not awarded upon our
conquest.
Third. Someone recently told me, “along
with all of these other major decisions and things that are going to take place
in the coming years, you’re going to make a definitive choice, whether it be
conscious or unconscious.”
Joshua 24:15. But if serving the LORD seems
undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve,
whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the
Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will
serve the LORD."
Choose Him and don’t wait. This last verse is something I
pray over every single person in front of me as we leave here today.
Ephesians 3:20-21. “Now to him who is able to
immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at
work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout
all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.”
This
morning, as you trudge along not quite awake yet, dance, or skip across this
stage, remember.
1)
Remember what it felt like to sit here,
honored, the most envied by under-classmen, and an example for others.
2)
Remember that if you choose to serve Him
above all else, and there is a lot of else in this world, your testimony can be
your most powerful tool to make a difference in others.
3)
Remember that we’re the next doctors,
lawyers, authors, nurses, servicemen or women, musicians, engineers, etc., the
world is ready for you. Are you ready for the world?"