Jaime and I went to Akanimo’s graduation service today. He invited us this past week so we wanted to be there for him since he thought to call our attention to it. Some quick thoughts on it:
- The commencement speaker was great. Shared his testimony and gave the graduates some great advice about God’s love for them.
- Graduations in un-air-conditioned rooms are too long, even if they are short. This one took 1:15 to graduate 24 students. Not awful, but still. It was quite stuffy in there.
- I don’t like Alma Mater’s. Not sure why, I just don’t. I didn’t have a problem with it when I was in High School, but now they just seem… I don’t know. My issue I’m sure.
- Akanimo looked to really enjoy the day. Edu loved that we came as well. We loved seeing them both, despite the heat. 🙂
I always have mixed feelings about this time of year. On the one hand, it is wonderful to see our Seniors grow throughout the year and then move on in their journey. We rejoice with them at graduation and look forward to big things from each of them in the future.
But at the same time, it’s a bummer knowing that many of them will not be back to our ministry. We still have Workcamp with a few of them, so we’re not totally bereft of them, but it’s hard nonetheless.
Yes, I know that it is tough. BUT, you have done all that you can in preping them for the next move. The rest is in God’s hands.
I always hated that about youth ministry, too. It’s their job to grow up and move on and if we’re doing ours, we’ll help them do just that. I hate that. And I love that.