Transcendent

Every once in a while, you get to part of a moment that is much larger than it's intended to be because, to borrow a quote from Bono of U2, God walks into the room.

That happened for me Friday night at the graduation ceremony for the 2007 Graduating Class of First Baptist Church School. The valedictorian is someone I know and love well. I've had the privilege of being his youth pastor for the past three years, and I was blown away by his Valedictorian speech because it was truly a transcendent moment.

Trent had called me a few days before asking me to pray for him as he wrote his speech. I'm sure I'm not the only one he called because he really believes in the power of prayer. Anyway, he was fully aware that this was the last time he would be able to address the people he had spent his childhood with and he wanted to leave them with words that would matter.

While Trent was speaking, it was like the time stopped. Most people in the room were so focused on what he was saying that there was a true partnership between communicator and receiver. Transcendent, inspired, definitely God.

Here is the speech in full. He was gracious enough to let me post it...



1 June 2007
Existence
To my classmates-- Congratulations! High school is over. As we journey outward may our lives be caught up in adventure and mystery and passion. Here are a few suggestions to take along for the road that I’ve either remembered or looked up over the past few days:
• “Test everything. Hold on to the good.” 1 Thess. 5:23
• Be graceful when people wrong you, because you will need grace before the day is out.
• Do not resist discipline. It means you are loved, and though it is painful now, “it will produce a harvest of righteousness” later. (Hebrews 12:11)
• To borrow a phrase from C. S. Lewis, do not give in to “the seduction of ease.” Nothing worth having comes without difficulty.
• Judge a person by their actions, not by their appearance or words. Some of the most genuinely good people you will meet will be the ones with mohawks and raggedy clothes.
• Laugh as often as you can, for merriment is ailment for the soul.
• A good meal is always better shared.
• Don’t listen to conventional wisdom, but instead seek the Wisdom that lasts.
• Tomorrow doesn’t really exist, so everyday, burnout brightly.
• Never kiss someone unless you mean it.
• Material possessions provide the most satisfaction when they are given away.
• Life is all about love. All these awards and recognitions and successes don’t count for anything. What counts is how much love flows out of my life. What counts is how much love flows out of your life.
In the next minute or so, I would like to tell you how not to exist. I seek to offer how to move beyond existence into deep living. I submit that there is one Way to lasting joy and fulfillment, and that is found in a certain man from Nazareth. I submit that you must eat His flesh and drink His blood in order to find any manner of life at all. And I’m not talking about the short-haired, clean shaven Jesus that glares at you when you use curse words, who only drinks grape juice, and who walks around with that better-than-you-are air of self righteousness. I’m not talking about the Jesus who is too holy to know what an attractive woman looks like or who is too idealistic to care about money. I’m talking about the Jesus who reaches out and touches the decayed, disfigured hand of a leper--and it heals. I’m talking about the Jesus who offers forgiveness to a woman caught in the very act of adultery when the religious people would stone her. Irquote m talking about the Jesus who drinks wine, but enjoys it without getting drunk. The Jesus who has completely experienced all our humanity, who has felt the tug of temptations, yet withstood them. I speak of the Jesus who knows how difficult life is, because He has gone through it, and having gone through it, remained pure. I speak of the Jesus who knowing all of our troubles and insecurities and desires and having over come them stands saying, “There is a better way to life and I will help you through it.”
The good news of the gospel is that there is a God who can, and who will, heal your pain, free you from your addictions, give you rest in your trials, provide you with a true and lasting family, no matter what has happened to yours, and who will fill your life with love and purpose if you will trust it to Him and follow Him. That is the way I submit to get past existence.
And now, I would like to close with a prayer, so, as always, only if you would so choose, please pray with me for a moment and forever, because the fragrance of prayer lingers eternally:
Father, thank you for getting us this far. Thank you for getting me this far. Thank you for your grace in life, and thank you that throughout all the worst pain and trouble this life can bring, you are still there, you are still good, and you are still awfully glorious. Please let wisdom truly flow into all of us as we set out upon the adventure of this next stage of life. Please let us be successful in the way you measure success. And please, Lord, I ask that You pour out Yourself on us. All of this I seek in the name of Jesus Christ, the Lamb who was slain and is resurrected. Amen.