Today is graduation day at Lock Haven University.  I have butterflies of excitement in my stomach for all of the graduates who are waking up and preparing for this special celebration.  We have three students from New Life who are graduating today and each of them have been such hard working, dedicated students who have so much to offer the world. A social worker, a teacher, and a business management major.  What a beautiful example of how God gives each of us different interests, talents, and abilities and then sets us loose in a world that doesn't recognize Him so that we can go into schools, businesses, nonprofit agencies, and homes and make Him famous through our actions, values, words and attitudes.  
I remember my own graduation day with great clarity.  Parts of it were so precious and memorable and parts were somehow, anticlimactic, and yet the result was the same - finality & new beginnings.  Closing the chapter on one phase of life and opening the next.  From now on, life will be a little less "cut and dry" for these young adults.  Choices will be weightier than "should I go to class today or not", or  "should I stay up and study for that test or go to bed and get up early to study?"  They will weigh career options, most likely move to new cities, find new churches, make new friends, and launch out on a new path.  

One thing won't change today though.  The God who brought them through the past several years of college studies, will continue to walk with them, guiding and directing them into the next phase of life, not letting a single success, setback, love story, heart break, detour, or challenge be wasted.  As unknown as the future may be to our graduates, it is fully known to the One who made them and planned out their days.  He is not up in heaven wringing His hands and hoping they will make wise choices.  He has a plan to preserve them and keep them and grow their character and use them in beautiful ways.  

I will be praying for you, class of 2011.  May you rest in His assurance and go in His favor and share with the world your story of the God who upholds it all.

Today was joy-filled, grace-filled, delightful.  Today, my husband graduated from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary with a Master of Arts degree in Christian Education.  This was his second Master's degree.  Quite an accomplishment, I would say.  It was such an accomplishment that many people have been referring to him as Dr. Ritz today.  We chuckle at that... It seems to some that two Master's should equal one Doctorate (although I am certain that those who have completed the rigorous doctoral program at the Seminary would disagree).  Still others have wanted to begin calling Jason, "Pastor" or "Reverend" today.  This makes us smile as well.  Jason is who he is.  He is no less or more himself today than he was yesterday before he walked down the aisle of the Alumni Chapel to the organ's anthem and shook the hand of the Seminary President and accepted his diploma.  The celebration of his accomplishment today, while noteworthy on earth, hasn't caused a single angel in heaven to rejoice.  The knowledge that he has gained while studying under so many learned professors only has heavenly value when it is put into practice, lived out, and shared with a hurting world.  I have had the privilege of seeing my husband live this out for the past two years as a campus minister, and I look forward to seeing him keep right on living it out for as many years as the Lord gives us.  I hope that I am able to match him step for step along the way.  So what can you call him now, you ask?  How about "At Your Service."  You can call me the same.