{"id":16103,"date":"2022-05-28T04:55:52","date_gmt":"2022-05-28T09:55:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/?p=16103"},"modified":"2022-05-28T04:56:00","modified_gmt":"2022-05-28T09:56:00","slug":"the-gift-of-faith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/?p=16103","title":{"rendered":"The Gift of Faith"},"content":{"rendered":"\n


Friday night. Baccalaureate for Regent\u2019s School of Austin High School graduates. Shawntel and I went to watch Brennan, whose title from Junior to Senior was given to him because it was the last day of his Junior year. He would receive his stole from a graduating senior as a new senior at Regent\u2019s. Baccalaureate meant \u201cA Service of Evening Prayer\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shawntel and I teared up. We visualized Brennan\u2019s high school graduation next year. We watched proud moms and dads catching the moments. We were catching the moments ourselves.
This was a beautiful and solemn night of gratitude, faith and honoring God for His tender mercies to these young people. First was the processional of all the faculty and advisors, then the Seniors wearing their gowns with their stoles on, followed in by all the Juniors in their matching jackets \u2013 moving to their designated seating areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The officiant, gave the invocation: \u201cWe gather together this evening to celebrate God\u2019s tender goodness, the mercy He has shown us in Christ, and the blessings He has bestowed on us in our work together. In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The guest speaker stepped up to the podium. The speaker was Reid Ryan, President of the Houston Astros and the son of Nolan Ryan, Hall of Fame baseball pitcher. I was grateful I had my little notebook on hand. I thought: \u201cThis is going to be a memorable speech!\u201d It was.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Right away, Reid asked the graduates: \u201cDid any of you get a graduation gift yet?\u201d No responses. He said: \u201cMaybe you\u2019re expecting a Ferrari. Anyone get a Ferrari?\u201d No responses. \u201cDid any of you get a 143-day around-the-world cruise?\u201d No responses. \u201cDid any of you get a cash gift of $250,000?\u201d No responses. \u201cWell, if you tally up the expenses your parents have paid for you to be in private school, sports teams, and the host of other expenses to get you here today \u2013 you will have received \u2013 over $250,000.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou have been given an incredible gift \u2013 especially to have been given a gift of attending a Christ-founded school to bring out your God-given abilities. Like Jesus, you have been given the gift of being raised like Jesus as it says in Luke 2:52: \u2018And He grew in wisdom and stature and favor with God and people.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Reid went on: \u201cThis 12+ years have given you a great foundation. Luke 12:48 says \u201cTo whom much is given, much will be required. If you have heard that line of wisdom, you know it means we are held responsible for what we have been given. What are you going to do with the gifts you have been given?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou are an influencer. You have been social media influencers. Now, more than ever, your wisdom and talents are needed in this world. Our country, colleges, businesses need you as Christ followers and to be His influencers. Think critically. Live Biblically. Be that influencer \u2013 not just the seller of products or how many social media followers you have. \u2018To much is given; much is required.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was enamored with Reid AND Reid\u2019s talk. He is an influencer. I am an influencer. You are an influencer. What kind of influencer are we?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Followed by Reid\u2019s speech was the Stole Ceremony where each Junior stood in front of a Senior. The Seniors took off their stoles and placed them on the Juniors. The school head described the meaning. \u201cThe stoles commemorate how Jesus washed His disciples feet. Seniors, you, in essence are serving the Junior Class and anyone who crosses your path. Condescend to be like Jesus. And, Juniors, let the stoles prompt you to dedicate your life to be an influencer for Christ.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Won\u2019t you join me and those students to be an influencer for Christ, too?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTherefore, we are ambassadors for Christ.\u201d 2 Corinthians 5:20<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Friday night. Baccalaureate for Regent\u2019s School of Austin High School graduates. Shawntel and I went to watch Brennan, whose title from Junior to Senior was given to him because it was the last day of his Junior year. He would receive his stole from a graduating senior as a new senior at Regent\u2019s. Baccalaureate meant…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16104,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[21677,23733,23734],"tags":[21675,23722,1210,9168,23721,23732,23731,23730,4631,23727,23723,23728,23724,6770,23726,23725],"class_list":["post-16103","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ambassador-for-christ","category-baccalaureate","category-stole-ceremony","tag-ambassadors-for-christ","tag-baccalaureate","tag-blog","tag-favor-with-god-and-man","tag-gift-of-faith","tag-god-given-abilities-2","tag-graduation-gift","tag-houston-astros","tag-influencer","tag-invocation","tag-regents-school-of-austin","tag-reid-ryan","tag-service-of-evening-prayer","tag-stature","tag-stole","tag-stole-ceremony"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16103","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16103"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16103\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16109,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16103\/revisions\/16109"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16104"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16103"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16103"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16103"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}