Graduation Address to CATS, International Students
May 25th 2011 13:33
It is an honor to welcome you to the 2011 graduation celebration of CATS International. Several people have asked, “Exactly what does CATS International represent?” The full name is Christian Academy and Tutoring Services, International. There are 2011 graduates of CATS, International from across the country who could not travel to celebrate with us, but we would like to congratulate, celebrate and honor them along with you, our local graduates this evening.
I would also like to congratulate you, the parents for your support, your headaches, your anxieties, your victories and your sacrifices which have made this celebration possible. I would also like to congratulate those who are parents while at the same time finishing your education. Several of you are adult graduates who have worked very hard to complete your education, while at the same time, maintaining family responsibilities.
At CATS International, we do not view education as preparation for one big final test before graduation, but a lifelong series of tests which will prepare you for another chapter in your education, another day in your life, another decision you will make, another step in your career, and another level in your maturity.
Frankly, we are quickly becoming a nation that increasingly fails to recognize the role and influence of God in our society. In doing so, we have sacrificed the morals, values and principles of the One who knows it all for the lack of morals, values and principles of those who think they know it all.
Our modern culture tends to live in idealism and fantasy as opposed to realism and absolutes. I assure you there are still things in this world that are both absolute and real; things which are not decided by people according to their opinions for the moment, but have been determined by God for all of eternity. We face many obstacles, pressures and stresses in the world in which we live, but we should not be surprised, for God said if we took His creation into our own hands there would be consequences. Proverbs 14:12 “There is a way that seems right to man, But its end is the way of destruction.”
We tend to ask the wrong question, “Where will life lead me?” We should be asking the asking, “Where will the life that I live lead me?” In other words, life is education and with that education comes tests that will be graded and those grades will determine whether we will be rewarded or come under the consequences. What feels right today may be exposed for how wrong it is tomorrow, next month, or next year when it comes under pressure or faces adversity. Proverbs 18:17 The first one to plead his cause seems right, Until his neighbor comes and examines him.
Many people live a fractional life, a life I am going to call the 2/7ths Principle. In your math studies, you learned that 7 is the whole and 2 is the part. So a 2/7ths life is one that is lived 2 parts of the whole.
A practical way to understand this principle is found in how we look at life itself. Which two days of the week do most people look the most forward to? Saturday and Sunday – the weekend – 2 parts of the whole. We spend five days thinking about, preparing for and looking forward to the weekend. We can so live in the weekend, that we are really only living life to its fullest two days out of the week.
We think and say things like, “I sure hope the weather does not mess up my weekend.” But during the week, we hope it snows so we do not have to go to work. Who cares how messed up the other five days are, just do not mess with my weekend!
God did not create us to be 2 parts of the whole; His intent is for us to be whole, to be complete, and to be full. The number 7 is often called the number of God and it literally means “to be full, complete, or whole.”
God’s intent is that we all become 7/7ths people. When we are 7/7ths people, we will be whole and whole people tend to make wholesome choices, wise decisions, and to live in reality rather than by feelings.
I encourage and challenge you to take risks in your daily lives – by that I mean, “do not sit around in your comfort zone waiting for life to come to you – get up and go after life.” No one ever become financially secure, a good parent, or successful in a career by sitting around jamming to an IPod and playing Xbox 24/7.
Do not live in fear of failure, but courageously chase after the things that will make you a success. Develop relationships that are based upon something more than what you can get from your family or friends and what they can get from you. Live all 7 days of the week as they come and do not waste 5 of them in anticipation of 2.
Often, when we look at successful people, great marriages, awesome parents, sports icons and the like, we think we could never become like one of them. Why do we think that way? It is because we see only the 7/7ths or the finished product, but we do not see 1,2,3,4,5,6,7 adding up to a finished product one number at a time, sometimes at a great price or some huge sacrifice.
As a matter of fact, you became a participant in this celebration one question or problem at a time, one page or check up at a time, one workbook or Final Test at a time. Only when the questions were answered, the pages filled in and the final test passed, was the book completed. Only when all of the books were completed and their test passed was your high school education whole.
I am not naïve, I know that some of you blew your way through, maybe even cheated to get your work done and right now you feel good about your accomplishment, thinking it is finally over with. I do not desire to be the bearer of bad news, but if you treated your education as a 2/7ths part of your life, what you have done will come back and visit you some day – not as a reward, but in the form of consequences. It is never in our best interests to do wrong in order to accomplish something seemingly right.
After several years of working, studying, rebelling, procrastinating, cramming, sweating, and yes – PRAYING (especially your parents), you have come down to the final moments of your high school career. While tomorrow will bring you into a new life journey, this evening marks the end of a chapter in your lives. For the most part, your parents will no longer get you up in the morning, call the administrators office, stick a geometry or US Government book in front of you, or say, “only 33 more books completed and you will be done with your high school education.”
Life has suddenly become up to you. Your choices, your decisions, your character and values will be made and decided by you. Yes, God made the choice to give you life – but God also gave you the choice as to what you will do with the life that He gave.
In the coming years, you may meet up with some of your classmates once again and you will reminience together. Some of you will be excited to tell others about all you have achieved in your life; others will shrink back in shame because you wasted your lives with poor choices and unwise decisions. The good news is that those choices are not yet behind you, they lie in front of you – still to be made. I encourage you to make the most of your life – 7 days out of a 7 day week and you will be a 7/7ths person – whole, complete and finished.
It is my pleasure to share this moment in your lives. I congratulate you – the class of 2011!
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