n e w c h u r c h l i f e : j u ly / au g u s t 2 0 1 5
But when you go to the Academy, let me show
you the spiritual toolbox you actually get.
(Two young men bring forward a huge, oversized tool box and place it on the stage.) Look
at the size of that thing!
So what makes today’s Academy toolbox
different?
Once you’ve been through the Academy,
believe it or not, you are different from when
you arrived.
You’ve learned about heaven and hell. You
know this life is preparation for the next. You
have tools you may not even be aware of.
When I was a young theolog, I was
working with an elderly woman who was
preparing to die. She was just hours away from
death actually, but we didn’t know it. As I was
spending time with her, I asked: “Well, are you
going to heaven or hell?”
She said, “We can’t talk about that!” I
waited. She said, “I don’t know.” She didn’t
know the tools she had learned and used her whole life. So I got out my
checklist. Let’s see:
1. Have you loved the Lord? (Yes – check.)
2. Do you find the good in everyone you meet? (Yes – check.)
3. Have you lived a useful life and shunned adultery, theft and lying?
(Yes – check.)
Well, it’s difficult to say, I said, but I think you might have a slim shot at
going to heaven.
Love the Lord and your neighbor, shun adultery, follow the Ten
Commandments. Your Academy tools are like a GPS. They keep giving you
direction – whether you are going off to college, going to work for a while, or
even if you’re going to be bums in Europe.
And you’re going to be surprised. Through all those worships and chapels,
somehow you got a little connection with your Creator.
Our wish for you is that you make that grow. Bring Him into your life and
let Him transform you. And you don’t have to do it alone.
Raise your hand if you are going to help nurture and love these graduates.
Check that out, graduates! Take that in. Just like the Rev. Barry Halterman said
yesterday: The Lord says, “I have chosen you.”
Congratulations!
Through all those
worships and
chapels, somehow
you got a little
connection with
your Creator. Our
wish for you is
that you make
that grow. Bring
Him into your
life and let Him
transform you.
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