Here we are. This is being written on the last day of the Spring 2020 semester, and I haven’t seen you in person for something like seven or eight weeks. Even more importantly, you all haven’t been able to see your classmates, teammates, best friends, and a host of other relational descriptors for that time either. Hopefully you would include some great faculty members, coaches, and staff in those “relational descriptors” as well.
This is not how your final semester of college was supposed to end!
But it did.
Now what?
I want to answer the “Now what?” question by first encouraging you to be grateful for those in places of leadership at Point. I promise you that we didn’t move from the in-seat, regular routine to online/no routine just to have something to do. And graduation didn’t become virtual instead of more communal because of a lack of courage on the part of Point leaders.
I’ve been a part of Point longer than most, if not all, of the 2020 graduates have been alive. In those 43 years, we have faced lots of difficult moments and survived. This particular moment may be the most difficult of all of those moments – but it isn’t the first, and it’s not likely to be the last, time we face serious challenges. I’m confident God wants us to survive.
Point is moving carefully in these unique moments. Please don’t confuse caution, and insistence upon reviewing all the options, with hesitation borne of fear. And please don’t confuse groups – unfortunately some “Christian groups” – who move recklessly with courageous people.
You would likely be surprised at how many people have participated in countless Zoom meetings over the past seven or eight weeks in order to determine the best path forward. A reckless leader might simply say, “We are back to normal by mid-summer.” A courageous leader will say, “Let’s make the best decision we can – with God’s help – to lead Point into its next opportunity to be a kingdom outpost impacting our culture for Christ.”
There are something like 200 people graduating Saturday morning. I can remember when we didn’t have 200 students, total! But God has greatly blessed Point with authentic kingdom leadership, and He has obviously blessed that kind of leadership with fruitful, fulfilling opportunities to “educate students for Christ-centered service and leadership throughout the world.”
Leaders whose vocabulary is exhausted with the word successful have yet to read Scripture well. Fruitful is a better word. It won’t always be the same as our culture’s definition of successful, but it will always reflect the heart of Jesus. Leaders who can only talk of happiness, wealth, and health are equally unfamiliar with Scripture. Fulfillment and significance are much better words.
None of that is to suggest we should be comfortable as failures or miserable people, but it is to suggest that in the coming new world, we have an amazing opportunity to change the conversation of a culture that has pursued “stuff” at the expense of “life” in ways that have failed us.
What if the 2020 graduates of Point University determined that they will take seriously the call of Jesus to follow Him, and decide that things like feeding the hungry, giving water to the thirsty, welcoming strangers, clothing the naked, visiting the sick, taking care of the prisoners, and such fruitful and fulfilling endeavors are more important than the “stuff” our culture has pushed us toward? (Matthew 25:31ff.)
One of my favorite things about graduation is to take pictures with students either before or after the ceremony. We can’t do that this year. That’s sad.
But . . . once we get beyond social distancing and sheltering in place, every one one of you can come to West Point and ask your professors to take pictures with you. I’ll even bring my academic regalia, if that would make you happy!
On this “commencement-eve,” as we think about what might have been tomorrow morning at 11:00, let me encourage you to think about what can be, not just tomorrow, but for eternity. God has great options for each of you – it’s just a matter of stepping up to the plate and swinging the bat!
God bless each of you. I’m so grateful that I’ve been a part of Point while you were a student. Some of you have spent lots of time in class with me; many haven’t. But I promise you – your presence at Point has been a blessing and opportunity for me.
May God richly bless you as you step into a new world of opportunity tomorrow morning about noon time!
Don’t confuse courage with recklessness, and don’t confuse caution with cowardice. You’ve had great models at Point. Look at them. Follow their lead.
Wye Huxford 