The only reason I didn't cry all through Sunday's Senior Celebration is because I know that these teenagers aren't leaving quite yet. They still have a few weeks until graduation and an entire summer before packing up and heading off to college. An entire summer of memories yet to be made.
I challenged them to remember.
To the Class of 2009...
Good Evening! And welcome to the Senior Celebration for the graduating class of 2009!
Tonight is a special night. We come together as a community to celebrate where these students are going, what they have all accomplished, who God made them to be and what He will continue to do in their lives far beyond their days of youth ministry at Covenant Presbyterian Church.
Tonight was also a little bittersweet. I’ve gotten these students quite well. I met them as sophomores. I met Stefanie on her worksite in Tijuana. Evan, Dani and Eason as middle school leaders. Hannah on our trip to New Orleans. Lauren at Disciple Now.
And in the fall of 2007 I had the great privilege of becoming their DGroup leader for the women sitting up here today. I had the privilege to pray with them. I had the privilege to wrestle over difficult truths in Scripture. I had the privilege to laugh…laugh a lot…with them. And I had the privilege to get to know who they are – as individuals – and watch them grow together as a community.
I had no idea what I was getting into. Each week, I go home – giddy like school girl – with something that brought so much joy to my heart that I couldn’t help but tell my roommate. And after several months of this, she looked at me one night and said, “you’re really going to miss these girls, aren’t you?”
And yes, I’m really going to miss them. I’m not a parent, so my love and care for these incredible young people is only a sliver of what most of you feel toward them. The hours you’ve spent praying for and loving them are countless. So as we celebrate one of many farewells that we will have over the next few weeks and months, it feels a little bittersweet.
But it’s also exciting. It’s exciting to be part of God’s plan and see these teenagers become incredible young adults. It’s exciting to see them as leaders in ministry, on sports teams and in their communities. It’s exciting to see them begin to grasp just how far and how wide God’s never-ending love for is for them. It’s exciting to see these young people become disciples.
I’d like to thank these seniors. Thank you for laughter. Thank you for ridiculous pranks that made me want to leave you in Colorado (Evan). Thank you for introducing me to Jon McLaughlin. Thank you for getting me to read Twilight. Thank you, to the girls in my DGroup, who asked questions in a way that made it feel like a seminary exam. Thank you for sharing your hearts. Thank you for your vulnerability at Disicple Now and your incredible hours of hard work in East Austin, Galveston, New Orleans and Tijuana. Thank you for inviting me to your football games, your dance competitions, your orchestra concerts and art shows. Thank you for sharing your hearts and for sharing your lives. It was truly an honor.
So tonight, we remember. We remember the hilarious a bus to Colorado. We remember the late-night conversation that brought a student to Christ. We remember the weeks of carpool and donuts for Sunday school. We remember camping trips. We remember engaging in worship…and what it might have been like to experience for the first time. We remember mentors, leaders and friends. We remember who God has made us to be and to whom we belong.
We also celebrate. Let’s celebrate the memories. Let’s celebrate the hurdles we’ve conquered together. Let’s celebrate the friendships. Let’s celebrate this community. Let’s celebrate this incredible accomplishment.
And lastly, we will charge. We will charge these teenagers to be who they were meant to be. We charge to honor God. We charge them to be above the line. To thive. To love. To question. To serve. We charge them to continue to be children of God that they have become and are becoming.
So, Remember.
Remember.
Over 200 times in Scripture, God tells us to remember. He tells us to take time to remember. There are no new rules. No new encouragement. No new information. He just says to remember. And maybe - just maybe - He knew what he was talking about.
He knew that we’d forget. He knew that we’d get distracted. He knew that we’d need to be reminded. He knew that we would need to remember. He knew that we would be reminded to remember.
You are going to go off to far and distant places. You will be walking around on strange campuses. You will be in unfamiliar territory. You will meet new people and make new friends. You will wrestle with new challenges and be faced with new ways of thinking. You will be in strange places. You will have new jobs and new majors and new organizations. You will discover new passions, interests and skills. You will go to new worlds and discover new adventures.
You will have a lot of new and different over the next few years. For some of you, in about three months, everything you ever knew as normal will change. New roommates. New cities. New classes. New surroundings. Lots of new.
So remember. Remember to remember. We are a forgetful people.
When I think of going off into new and distant lands, I think of a guy we know today as Daniel. Yes, Daniel. Daniel from the Lion’s Den. Daniel from the Old Testament. Daniel.
Daniel was a teenager - probably about your age. Daniel was smart, talented and good-looking. He was athletic - at the top of his class. Daniel was recruited to the best leadership training program in the world. Daniel, and Israelite, was one of those faithful God-worshipping people who found themselves living in exile. The Israelites has been put on a sort of time out, and they were taken from their homes. The King of the bad guys recruited the brightest and the best of the Israelites to put through his own personal training program. And Daniel was at the top of his class.
And it was then that Daniel remembered. Being in a strange and foreign land, he remembered two truths. He remembered who he was, and he remembered whose he was.
He remembered that he was a child of God. He remembered to worship. He remembered that he was an Israelite. He remembered to eat kosher. He remembered to pray. Daniel never once compromised who he was as he was in this new and foreign land. He remembered his parents. He remembered his friends. He remembered his name. He remembered the core of who God made him to be despite how hard his surroundings tried to tell him differently.
You’re going to have a lot of people try to tell you that you’re someone you’re not. You might have someone tell you that you’re a college girl, and that college girls "party." Um...not to have fun you don't have to. You’re going to have someone tell you that you’re not an athlete...guess what? You are! You’re going to have someone tell you that you’re supposed to have a different major. They’re wrong. You’re going to have a lot of opportunities to forget who you are.
So please, remember. Remember to remember.
Remember your name. And with your name comes your first and your last. So remember your parents. Remember your sibling. Remember your friends. Remember the times at DGroup when you prayed for each other. Remember the long rides in the van on the way to summer camp. And remember what it meant to have a community of believers that met each week to play games, worship, learn and pray together.
Remember what you know to be true and measure all else against that. Remember God’s truth.
Daniel also remembered whose he was. As an Israelite, a God-worshipping member of the community, Daniel always acted in a way that reflected his position: he was a child of the King. The Babylonians could threaten anything, but nothing could make him disobey the Lord. He didn’t answer to these men; he answered to the Master and Creator of the universe.
So do you.
You are loved. You were bought with a price. You are loved by a God who so passionately loves you, he’d do anything to get to know you. You are loved by a God who cares for your needs and blesses you abundantly. You are loved by a God who wants to use YOU in his plans to serve and love others. You belong to God, first and foremost.
So remember. Remember who you are. Remember that you’re Jake. Remember that you’re John. Remember Kelsey and Katie. Remember that you are a child of God, belonging to the King.
You will have choices every day. Choices to rise above the stereotypes. Choices to love others. Choices to serve your community. Choices to be above the line. Choices to thrive. Choices to seek out Christian community. Choices to worship. Choices to rest. Choices to play. Choices to rest.
Please...choose to remember.
"She's running. It's early, it's quiet. Just the sound of her feet on the asphalt. She likes to run alone. No pressure, no stress. This is the one place she can be herself. Look any way she wants, dress, think any way she wants. No game playing, no rules."
parents made such a big deal out of stuff like this - and orchestra concerts, tennis tournaments and awards. It was lame, and my mom and dad seemed determined to embarrass me. But this one Sunday a year, I'm given a taste of being that proud mom, sitting in the front row, smiling, listening to every word and being so excited for what these teenagers are doing. 
