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Into the World
Joe Killian • May 14, 2015
This past Saturday, our Sarah graduated from James Madison University. If you know our family you know Sarah's cheering section was one of the loudest in the whole stadium. We all felt a special pride and happiness for Sarah. Here she is joyfully acknowledging us after her walk across the stage to receive her diploma.
I have to be honest that I personally experienced some very mixed emotions throughout the weekend. I was so very proud of my little girl. At the same time the fact that she isn't a little girl anymore made me a little sad. As I watched this beautiful, accomplished young woman getting ready to make her mark on the world I felt a little trepidation. Then I would see Sarah's glowing smile and it would warm my heart. Graduation is every bit as much of a beginning as it is an end. As Sarah's time at JMU ends she is beginning her journey out “into the world” to use Jesus’ words from this Sunday’s Gospel.
Lifting up his eyes to heaven, Jesus prayed saying: “Holy Father, keep them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one just as we are one. When I was with them I protected them in your name that you gave me, and I guarded them, and none of them was lost except the son of destruction, in order that the Scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you. I speak this in the world so that they may share my joy completely. I gave them your word, and the world hated them, because they do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world but that you keep them from the evil one. They do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world. Consecrate them in the truth. Your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I sent them into the world. And I consecrate myself for them, so that they also may be consecrated in truth.” John 17:11b-19
As parents experiencing the graduation of a beloved child, we have a little bit of the sense of how Jesus must have felt as He prayed to HIs Father about His spiritual "children". Maria and I have poured our hearts and lives into our children and we hope for nothing but the best for them. We, like Jesus, pray for them continually. At the same time we know from experience that life can be tough. However, because Jesus included us in His prayer I have great hope and expectation for each of our children. In Sarah's case, I know that her love for Jesus will carry her through whatever the "world" brings.
Congratulations Sarah! As you go out into the world, never forget that you will always be my little girl. (And God's, too!)
The story continues...I'm still working on the pondless waterfall in our front yard. I shared this project with you two weeks ago in Playin' In the Dirt. Since then I've had to rework sections of the stream three different times because we were losing too much water. I am now an expert on evaporation rates and excessive splash, two causes of water loss. This morning I tore the whole thing apart and I'm starting over.
Have you ever watched DreamWorks Animation's Kung Fu Panda? I stumbled across it recently and thoroughly enjoyed Jack Black's performance as a bumbling, noodle selling, kung fu enthusiast, giant panda named P o. Set in ancient China, it is more than a humorous slapstick comedy. The core message of the story jumped out at me as I have been focusing recently on the concept of being. Po is shockingly identified as the Dragon Warrior and he reluctantly enters training. The goal of the training is to receive the Dragon Scroll, which is believed to hold the secret to limitless power. Now I don't want to spoil the big reveal but I will say that what Po realizes is the same as what I speak to in the concept of being and authentic identity. So, where do we find the secret to our "power?" I praise You, because I am wonderfully made; wonderful are Your works! My very self You know. Psalm 139:14 God knows it; and we must seek Him with all of our hearts in order to find it. As it was in the movie, the answer is stunningly simple. Our authentic identity is already within us. The challenge for Po in the movie was in seeing himself accurately and not the way others saw him. Even his teacher scoffed at the idea that Po was anything more than an underachieving dreamer who overate when he was anxious. Po's problems are rooted in the fact that he believes the lie of his false identity much more than he does his authentic one. Is it possible that you do the same? Who could have imagined that beneath all of Po's girth lived the Dragon Warrior? What's hidden from view in you? Seek God for understanding as to who He created you to be. Spoiler Alert: the secret of your limitless power is already in you. God placed it there and He wants you to be who He authentically created you to be.
Maria and I have been playing in the dirt a lot recently. First we replaced our French drain and then we embarked on a creative project intended to change the entire look of our front yard. My brother Jeffrey and I installed a new front step.
