Tomorrowland

When I look back at all the memories I have from my experiences at Northside Christian School (in Westerville, OH) and Bob Jones University (in Greenville, SC), it makes me realize just how much my education has shaped me into exactly the man God intended me to be today.

There is one item that stands out among the rest that I received for congratulating me for completing my education. The greeting card picture and welcome on the front are vague enough that it could apply to either my high school (or college graduation).

Both my mother and I are uncertain as to the time period it was sent from Suzanne Leezer (signer of the card) gave it to me, and entered the environment of the Kinker family.

I lost contact with Suzanne a long time ago (because of the business of my life). At this time, Suzanne was a good family friend and a unique personality from the church my family of four attended, Fellowship Baptist Church, in Columbus, OH. The inside of her card was a takeoff of the 1895 poem “If” by Rudyard Kipling:

If you can keep your head when life’s temptations

Are bidding you to heed their beck and call,

If you can dream and have high expectations

Yet not mind working hard to win it all.                

If you can take advice from those who love you

Yet learn to make decisions for yourself,

If you can cheer as others pass above you,

And put your disappointments on the shelf.

If you can work and not make toil your master,

If you can gain and not make gold your aim,

If, whether you meet triumph or disaster,

You can be proud of how you “played the game”.

If you can smile when all odds are all against you,

Determined to try even harder still,

If, when your foes have practically convinced you

“You can’t” – you buckle down and say – “I will”.

If friends count more with you than wealth or power

And you’re at home alike with great and small,

If you can you can know success’ finest hour

Yet place respect and honor over all.

If you can be unselfish and forgiving,

And give thanks for the blessings you’ve received,

If you can face the challenges of living

And, chose right from wrong, are not deceived.

If you can put your heart into attaining

The goal you seek, and do your best each day

Yet, without hesitating or complaining,

Help others gladly as you go your way.

If you can live the Golden Rule each minute,

And shape your course according to God’s plan,

Yours is the world – and everything in it

And, what is more – you’ll really be [wise].*

It is always important to plan for one’s future. (Proverbs 23:19, 29:18) No one (except the Almighty) knows what tomorrow holds. In His all-knowing wisdom, the Heavenly Father may choose to take your life down an alternate direction that you could never have anticipated.  Be emotionally flexible. God knows the “big picture” of where your life will progress. (Psalm 139:1-6)  

The Christian group, 33 Miles, expresses a needed view on the future that we should all be reminded of in the song, Today. Do the following lyrics apply to you?

Verse One

Worry keeps waking me up

Calling me at 3am

Fear wants to shut me down

Telling me what might happen

Doubt plays with my mind

Trying to twist the truth

All these distractions, beg a reaction

Here’s what I’m gonna do

Chorus

I know you hold

The things I can’t control

So I am letting go

Right here, right now

I’m living for You and nothing else

Yesterday is history

And tomorrow’s gonna write itself

All I got is the moment I’m in

And I don’t ever want to waste

This gift, this chance, right here

Verse Two

Today - joy is what I choose

When my blue sky turns to gray

Faith is where I turn

When the world says there’s no way

And peace is what I find

Resting in Your hands

And Your love is more than enough

To keep my heart content

Chorus

*Adapted from the Buzza Greeting Card, “If” (For a Fine Young Man at Graduation).

The inspiration