I’m looking forward to being the commencement speaker for our 12th grade graduates from Grace Christian Academy in Grand Rapids on Friday evening. I love graduation messages—and the opportunities they bring to speak into the lives of our dear young adults.
In the Reformed churches in Grand Rapids there is also the custom of having large picnic celebrations of well wishes (usually combined with pulled pork and coleslaw) for each of the graduates. Sometimes two or three of the graduates celebrate together at one picnic. Often a few hundred people come out for these celebrations (photo 1); the fellowship is always robust. As a pastor, my wife and I have the privilege of being invited to many of them from near the end of May to mid-June, so my wife gets out of cooking for many a night during these weeks! Tonight we went to the first of many of these picnics that we were able to attend, so here I am with three of our graduates, Kyle, Samuel, and Nathan (photo 2). It is always a delight, too, to have a private time of prayer with the graduates—and we love to give them great books that, with the Spirit’s blessing, can impact their lives in major ways. These are happy times; please pray that God will convert them all and use them mightily in His kingdom.
