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SIERRA VISTA — “What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? Matthew 16:25.”
So read Dezirae Archueta at the start of the Baccalaureate Service for graduating seniors presented by the Christian Student Organization of Buena High School.
Love of God in Christ set the tone for the service as students came up to read a verse, sing the beautiful Latin hymn Panis Angelicus and to pray.
Youth Pastor Dennis Houston, First Baptist Church, went through a humorous list that came from the mind of Charles J. Sykes and often attributed to Bill Gates — 11 Things You Won’t Learn In High School.
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Rule No. 1 — Life is not fair, get used to it ... Rule No. 4 — If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss ... Rule No. 9 — Life is not divided into semesters. You don’t get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you find yourself. Do that on your own time ... Rule No. 11 — Be nice to nerds. Chances are you’ll be working for one.
After the chuckles subsided, Houston began talking about his childhood and how one day he got locked in the church.
“I used to go with my mom who cleaned the church. I wanted to be a good Christian and help her and the church. One Sunday School teacher would stock up on candy and store it in her closet in her room. I’d sneak off and load that candy into my pockets. One time I went back for one more load and I saw my mom loading everyone into the van and she was getting ready to drive off. I was banging on the doors and yelling. I couldn’t get out to get in the van,” Houston told the seniors and the audience of 50 or so.
He believed God had seen what he had done and was telling him to go put the candy back, which he did.
“I was just devastated that they drove off and left me, and terrified at being left behind,” he added.
He figured if he just did the right thing from now on and didn’t do things that were wrong, he’d be OK in the eyes of God.
“But, gauging our lives is not the in the sin thing ... I heard a pastor talk about the bigger picture in a revival I went to. I had only been looking day-to-day. That was all I could absorb at the time. But then I realized that I was a part of the bigger picture,” he said.
He told the students they were “crafted by God’s hands in your mother’s womb.”
“You were born for a purpose, born for a reason ... He spoke the universe into existence; made the land, the seas, the fish, the animals and you and me ... Adam and Eve walked and talked with God for two chapters and then it fell apart. What was once in rhythm with everything had fallen apart and not because of fruit,” he said.
So, there was creation, the fall and then redemption as Christ gave His life on the cross for us. Now, it’s time to work on restoration to push back the darkness, he added. God set a time and place for everyone to enter His story, Houston believes, and people shouldn’t try too rewrite their stories. They should just accept what God has written for them.
“You can’t show up with your own script in this epic story,” he exclaimed.
As the service came to a close, parents joined with their students in prayer as Houston asked for God’s blessing and that He “empower them to complete their own script.”
Herald/Review reporter Shar Porier can be reached at 515-4692 or by e-mail at shar.porier@bisbeereview.net.
wrote on May 22, 2008 9:24 PM: