Baccalaureate
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Well Good morning,
My name is Brendan Shea and I am very honored to be able to speak with you and spend just a little bit of time with you all this afternoon.
Each one of you have accomplished something huge that you have been working towards for a huge part of your life.
And now you have accomplished this huge goal and have earned it.
And so before anything I just have to say congratulations.
You guys did it!
And right now you are in a room full of people who are here to celebrate this huge accomplishment.
It is so crazy because 9 years ago I remember sitting in your shoes getting ready to graduate,
And there are so many mixed emotions that come with this
I remember being excited for the next chapter of my life
I remember being nervous for what comes next
I remember being a little sad to say good bye to these friends I grew up with
I remember staying out to late with those friends I was sad to say goodbye to
I remember doing our senior prank (Maybe find a funny thing I did)
But with all seriousness this is a very unique time in your life and I am honored to speak with you this morning.
But something that is so cool is while this is a big highlight in your life, there are better things that are coming!
Because here is the thing I believe we serve a God who created you in His own image and I believe that God has big plans for each person in this room.
Because we serve a God who sees your potential and whether you are staying in Buchanan or traveling across the globe, He has a plan for your life.
In fact there is this Bible verse that is a lot of times overused and even taken out of context and its Jeremiah 29:11
And if you know this verse you are probably thinking “wow this is going to be the cheeseiest baccaloriate speech ever.
But listen to what it says:
Jeremiah 29:11
(NIV)
11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
You know we have a God that has huge plans for you and I truly believe regardless of where you are going and what you are doing God want’s to use you to make an impact on this world.
And not only that but His plans are amazing! He desires to have your life be life giving where you are are filled with this hope, but where you inspire to give hope to others.
And where your life is changing the world we live in
But heres the difficult part of this verse, because if you because while this verse is saying God has a plan for these people and its awesome, it was not for it wasn’t until 70 years that the plan was fulfilled.
And not only that but those 70 years had some really challenging times
And some of you are probably thinking “wait are you saying I have to wait 70 years for that to happen”
Hopefully not, but thats not what I am saying, but I am saying God has a big plan for your life, but life a lot of times has while that plan is great, there are times where you have to wait, and there are times where there are challenges.
In fact we hate waiting, don’t we?
I mean if you go to a restaurant after this to celebrate and they tell you there is a four hour wait, you would get a little impatient
Right? Why? Because we do not like waiting
But here is the thing because whenever God has us getting ready to do something big a lot of times their is waiting and even a lot of challenges.
I remember in college I decided to run a marathon and a marathons a big deal right?
It is 26.2 miles long, and I remember getting ready for the race before it started and my adrenaline was going
And one thing you do when you run marathon is you write your name on your shirt so as you run by people they would yell your name and cheer
And so I remember starting the first part and people are yelling my name and I am doing amazing.
I went out in an 8 minute mile and little kids are giving me high-fives as I run by, I mean I felt like I was in the superbowl
but then I remember getting to the half way marker (13.1 miles) and it sunk in I was only half way
Then I got to 16 miles and I started to be in pain
Then I got to 20 and was in a lot of pain
And I remember I got to the 23 mile marker and I found myself so weak and exhausted and I could barely stand an I actually was holding myself up on a pole in the middle of this bridge
And there was this one spectator who came out to the race track (and I think he meant this to be encouraging), but he grabs me by the shoulders and starts to yelling at me to keep going
And I am dying and I am looking at him thinking you don’t understand
I like my little light pole I have settled on
And I did eventually finish the race at 4 hours and 40 mintues,
But you know I was thinking about this and there are times in life and it will feel like you are on cloud 9.
I mean you will be pumped and feel encouraged and excited for whats happening, people are cheering for you.
But then their may also be some times that do not feel like that.
It might be where you feel stuck in a place and maybe that support system is not there, and you find yourself stuck, and really become worn out and exhausted
Because the plan sounds great, but the challenge seems too big.
But here is the amazing thing that while the challenges can be big, (in fact I always tell everyone I never want make a challenge feel like its not a big deal.
Because some of the challenges we face are big, but here is the thing, while I don’t know the challenges you might face,
There is one thing I know and that is we have a God that is bigger then the challenges.
I mean think about it this way, because has anyone here ever been off roading? Because if you have there are some scary trails.
I mean they get steep and there are times where you loo baack and think I am going to tumble down the hill
but the neat thing is its not the trail that is the big factor, but people who are big into off roading will tell you the veihclal they use wether its a jeep or a gator is the thing that matters
(and there are some big trails, but the car is what matters
And here is the truth the challenge may be big, but the God we serve is bigger.
And look here because here are my points so far-
God has big plans for your life
Life has big challenges
But I also have to tell this is we will sometimes make big mistakes
I mean I do not know about you but I am a person that makes a ton of mistakes (ask my wife)
I actually had a heart attack last week because I thought this was last week and I forgot to show up
But you know on a really serius note even if you look throughout the Bible there are a ton of people who make some pretty big mistakes.
I mean there are people that hurt others, there are people that turn their back on God, there are times where they do things they shouldn’t do
But here is what I want you to get because in our lives there are times we will make mistakes,
And I am sorry if I am sounding a little negative, you guys are probably thinking he started out cheesy, now He is just talking about challenges and mistakes and this isn’t a happy message
but heres the amazing thing because there are challenges, there are mistakes we make, but there is also a God that will never leave you.
In fact I love this passage in 1 Corinthians 11:23-26
and its a little bit of a weird passage to talk about for graduation, but this is the last thing I want to say. Because it talks about Jesus having a meal with His disciples and it says:
1 Corinthians 11:23–26
(NIV)
… The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
You know what I love about this passage is its talks about this meal Jesus is having with His disciples called communion.
And I do not have enough times to go into all the symbolism but this is the last meal Jesus has with His disciples before being crucified
And there are some different beliefs on this meal that varry from church to church, but regardless the most beutiful thing about this meal is the cup and bread Jesus is extending towrd the disciples is somthing bigger then food and a drink, but it is Him saying I am extending my grace and presence to you.
And this is actually a little bit of a provocative statement, because if you knew a little bit about these disciples that followed Jesus they were a hot mess.
They made a ton of mistakes, they had anger issue.
Almost all of them would turn their back on Jesus after this
but regardless Jesus goes around the table and says this is my Grace extended to you.
And He does is to each person and the crazy thing is He even extends it to Judas who is betrays Jesus.
And here is what I want you to get, there are challenges, we make mistakes, but regardless there is no place God will leave you.
And so regardless of where you find yourself, there is a God that has a big plan for you and where you are is never too late.
You are so valued and cared about
Never forget that on the lonely, challenging days.
You are loved.
Can I invite our seniors to stand? And I would love to pray for you guys if thats okay?
Pray
Now I want to invite you guys to turn and face everyone.
These graduates are great arn’t they?
And so they are about to finish up but lets congratulate our graduates this afternoon!