11 Rules for Graduates

GRADUATION

Kyle         Matthew           Amy         Rachael            Shauna              Carie

Graduation!  “Graduation” comes from the Latin word "gradus." And that dear Latin word means “STEP.”

So Graduation is a step, a beginning, a looking back at past steps to see how far these “graduates (steps) have come, and a looking forward to more steps (ORU for Carie Marie) to see where they, their next six steps are going to take them, and how far it is. Do you remember any of your graduations? How about pre-school, kindergarden, first grade, sixth grade, eight grade, freshman, high school? Do you remember what was said at those graduations? Do you know what I remember from my all of my graduation cermonies? “Congratulations.”

The speakers would say one sentence to us personally ("This is a beautiful day") and the rest was about challenge, success, opportunity, morals, ethics, enterprise, business, etc. I however, do not want to stand up here and bore you.

But, I do know what I want to say at this graduation to the graduates and perhaps a little overflow of the message will get to the rest of the audience as well.

Today's world is challenging. Today's world is exciting. Today's world is filled with both challenges and temptations. But to hear them again at this time of excitement and promise sometimes brings renewal, re-firing, or the charging up of one's life. And, as the speaker this evening, I am more inspired than the "victims" who must listen to me because I have had time to saturate myself in the Word and Spirt of God’s heart of the message.

Graduation is a "step" yes, a step in the right direction. At the final graduation, where we shall all pass and enter heaven, the diploma will be a hug from the Good Lord. So get ready....and be grateful.

Dr. John W. Worley’s Rules for Life

Graduation June 1, 2001

RULE 1   - Life is not fair - get used to it.

RULE 2   - The world won't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish

       something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.

RULE 3   - You will NOT make 40 thousand dollars a year right out of high school. You

       won't be a vice president with a car phone, until you earn both.

RULE 4   - If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss. He doesn't have

       tenure.

RULE 5   - Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your grandparents had a

       different word for burger flipping - they called it opportunity.

RULE 6 - If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about your mistakes,

     learn from them.

RULE 7 - Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got

that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk     about how cool you are. So   before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent's generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.

RULE 8 - Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life has not. In

some schools they have abolished failing grades and they'll give you as many times as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.

RULE 9 - Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few

     employers are interested in helping you find yourself. Do that on your own time.

RULE 10 - Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee

       shop and go to jobs.

RULE 11 - Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.

RULE 12 - God is ALWAYS there to help you and your Christian family, be it father and

mother, grand-parents, spouse, pastor, children, close friends, or a therapist put back the broken pieces and restore the damage done because of your determination to “do it your way.”

GOD’S RULE FOR LIFE

RULE 13 -  IF - - IF YOU - - IF YOU CAN “KEEP YOUR EYES ON JESUS” (Til the final step of your life) Guess What? You take the FINAL STEP – FINAL STEP into Eternal Life and Satan Loses!