What would you say to this year's high school/college graduates?

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After reading Rod Dreher: What I wish they’d told me at graduation, I could think of several things I would want to pass on to this year’s graduates- a sort of “What I Wished I’d’ve Known in High School” list.

1) I wish I’d’ve known that real life in no way resembled The Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink, or Sixteen Candles.

2) That there was such a thing as home education and I could stop wasting so much time in a school.

3) That being a Goody-Two Shoes was going to pay off big later, ‘cause then I would have been an even Goodier-Two-Shoes.

4) That God and family were going to be what mattered as an adult; not intelligence, career, power, possessions, appearance, or popularity.

5) That keeping my mouth shut and my ears open would always be the better option.

… among other things. If you were giving a commencement speech at a high school or college graduation, what wisdom would you want to impart? What do you wish you’d’ve known when you were in high school and college?

Discussion

…have you heard any good commencement speeches this year? Do you think many of these speeches are full of ‘flapdoodle’?

To the graduates of high school (my high school)

1. If you are saved are you willing to tell others Jesus Christ and the Gospel as the priority in your college years? After 17 or 18 years of Bible teaching in home-school are you going to start reaching the lost for which you have been trained?

2. What does it mean to be holy? Will you keep the standards of holiness that you have been taught from the Bible and seen in your parents, pastor, and people at church? Be Holy as God is Holy.

3. Remember your responsibility to work before the Lord. Remember also that God’s grace is sufficient when our work is not enough. God is good and God is gracious. Trusting God involves work, trust and work are not mutually exclusive contrary to the teaching and example of the religious.

There’s more for later…

Pastor Jung

To all: be saved and live for Christ!

To High School graduates:

  • Your options are:

    • Get a job now and forgo college

    • Go to college

    • Join the military
  • Thinking of college?

    • If you are not academically prepared for college, don’t waste your $$ (or your parents $$) until you are ready for it!

    • Don’t go to college without some sort of a plan as to what kind of job you are interested in

    • Avoid majors that will not produce a job (“Women’s studies”, Philosophy, Humanities, Psychology, etc) (a brief survey of the wait staff at your local coffee shop or restaurant will tell you many have these degrees and are working to pay off student loans!)

    • Avoid debt!

    • Your local community college provides great value and an Associate degree there can be built upon for a Bachelors later.
  • For the rightly motivated individual: The military is a good option and provides good discipline, training, even college classes, and future funding for education.

  • A note on mortality and consequences of sin!

    • Mistakes made in your young adult years can either cost you your life or

    • Have dire and lasting consequences!
  • Provide for yourself and have some left for the church and needs of others (Ephesians 4:28)

  • Be found weekly in Church!
To college graduates:

  • If you like college and are strong academically consider graduate school now. Because: You are in the groove academically and you have youthful energy on your side. It will never be easier to get an MBA or another degree than now!

  • If you get an advanced degree consider what job / career is on the other side. For example there is a tremendous glut of lawyers now!

  • Consider becoming an officer in the armed services. For the right person this is a very good choice!

  • Provide for yourself and have some left for the church and needs of others (Ephesians 4:28)

  • Be found weekly in Church!

When graduating from high school it is imperative to be found in a family and church where you can be guided personally in evangelism and discipleship. College and graduate school may seem to be the most important decision (what kind, where, what to study etc), but the most important decision is who will you follow? If your answer is the Lord Jesus Christ, then you ought to find a parent, a pastor, or an older peer that is loving, obeying and following Jesus Christ and ask for their help and counsel during these years, then choose a school. In choosing a school the following needs to be considered:

1) Reaching your generation with the Gospel during college (Mark 16:15) as a priority.

2) Finding strong Christian friends and possibly a spouse during college as a priority. Psalm 1.

3) Learning for earning to support yourself, Gospel ministry in your local church and a family.

4) Maintaining a ministry in the local church family so you can grow spiritually and help others likewise.

DJung