Last week I received an invitation to be the speaker at the annual baccalaureate service that Granbury’s Ministerial Alliance hosts at the high school each year the Sunday prior to graduation. I was touched to be asked. It was a nice gesture for my colleagues to consider me, since I have a son graduating this year. Reality soon hit all too hard.

It soon occurred to that I have about 10 days to come up with something that will resonate with the seniors. I will be speaking to my speech and debate kids! They fondly refer to me as: Doc Knox. Of course no pressure at all… And what will I do about my own son? I started having visions of Daniel returning for his 10 year reunion to hear his classmates say: Do you remember when your dad made a total fool out of himself at baccalaureate? I felt my face turning red right there in the relative safety of my office.

I got my wits about me soon and started immediately ruling out potential topics for the afternoon of May 23rd. I am not going to give them a syrupy speech on success. In fact, I plan to purposely avoid any sweet stories of people overcoming unimaginable odds. Those are indeed good stories, but too predictable in this setting. Equally tempting are narratives revolving around my own childhood that include references to walking to school during record setting snowfall uphill both ways. Such tales are strictly forbidden. I could tell them what it was like to be a National Merit Scholar and potential PGA golf player in the years immediately following my own high school graduation, but blatant lying is not option either.

Truthfully my life has not turned out like I was thinking it would the stormy night in May of 1980 when I received my diploma in Lubbock, Texas. Actually that very thought has put me on the right track. I think I now know what I will say to a group of kids whom I have grown to love. Interestingly enough the same day last week that I was invited to speak at baccalaureate I received a document via email for my 30 year high school reunion. In that form, we are supposed to provide some kind of synopsis of where life has taken us over the past three decades. Life has been an ongoing series of unexpected twists and turns since May of 1980. I don’t want to be misunderstood. I have been blessed in ways that I could not have fathomed back in the day. And I have experienced sorrow and hurt in way that I would not have wanted to know back then! But I have never been alone. The presence of God through it all has been very real to me. I don’t mean that in a trite way at all. God’s providential care can be spoken of in ways that are not fitting or reverent. What will I say to my son’s classmates? I can tell you one thing for sure…It will not be what they expect…