Commencement Speech

“Homeschool” is pretty self-explanatory. Going to school at home probably conjures a mental picture for you that involves stacks of books and chalkboards and math flashcards. Well, don’t forget to include rows of empty coffee cups-for both Mom and kid-scattered all over the house. And a kitchen table that is covered-no-buried in schoolwork to be graded. Well, I could talk about that. Or, I could talk about how every homeschool family eventually learns to take misunderstanding in stride. Relatives, friends, and strangers never seem to comprehend that homeschool is a legitimate way to get an education. But today, in honor of my sister and in tribute to my mother, I will tell instead about the ‘secret life’ of our homeschool family.
Beneath the appearance of everyday dullness and toil is a hidden structure, built through us by the patient of labor of the Spirit of God. Every family experiences this, and our homeschooling years have made us even more aware of it. Our daily struggle together to get along, to accomplish something in a day, to finish our schoolwork before noon or to get supper cooked made us tired sometimes. There are days that you just wish you’d picked another way. At any time, we know life can be shredded into a million pieces, and we wonder if working this hard is going to make a difference. There is no peaceful serenity involved in the word, ‘homeschool’, in fact, the picture that comes to my mind is more like crossing the Atlantic on a raft. Some triumphs, lots of tragedy, a little comedy and a whole lot of fighting the weather. I don’t know what it was like for mom, but sharing the glorious moments made it all worth it. Not glorious moments like this, but glorious moments that came when we didn’t expect them.
Homeschoolers and their parents have regular epiphanies, and those are such rich times-when we discover some great truth and come bounding into the kitchen with new knowledge on the tip of our tongue. I can’t count the times that our day has been paused, suspended in air, to make time for a long discussion about Biblical truth, church history, American history, or something else that lets us see our world in a truer light. We’ve gone to school in the barn, horseback in the pasture, in stock tanks, and even sometimes in bed! When you learn to learn wherever you are, you learn wherever you go. This is what fills the ordinary days with those glorious moments.
Tests come. Not just in school, but in life. And this is when we are sent tumbling by circumstance or events, but we land on the invisible structure God has built up under us. He strengthens it with our growing wisdom and understanding of the truth even in the everyday dullness. He fastens us together with strong bonds of love between us so that in the test, we are able to rise by His strength again, and move on. I remember the times we have looked back as a family, humbled to recognize that all along, He was strengthening us for the tests ahead. It was Him, all along, and it still is-for we are merely ordinary, flawed human beings!
Neither Callie nor I really loved learning in the beginning. For me, it took the first seven years of coercion, bribery, and spanking to get through school-the rest of my years as a student were smooth except for book reports. For Callie, I think it just took watching me and deciding not to make it so hard on herself! Both of us, thanks to our peculiar education, have felt at times that we were living a double life. Our education has been consistently Christ-centered and classically structured. Our thoughts and conversations around our dinner table sometimes find us discussing theology, or literature, or political theory, or philosophy. At home, we engage the spectrum of worldviews with our intellect; we speak freely and have developed passion for truth, for godliness, and for beauty. Outside of home, we have learned to temper these passions, not wanting to hear another homeschooler joke. We aren’t more important or special than anybody else, and boy, do we know it! But I can witness to you the truth of Galatians 6:7-8. Our parents sowed Spiritual seed in us, and we reap Spiritual fruit. If you find yourself discouraged as a parent or as a homeschooler, you’ve just gotta hear this one more time: Don’t give up!
The secret life of our homeschool family is hidden with Christ in God, a sweet, special fellowship whose journey has been more rewarding than anyone outside of us could fathom. We have experienced the blessing of obedience, thanks to Mom’s faithfulness to God’s calling to homeschool. And thanks to her faith and God’s grace, we’ve been able to overcome the obstacles, even when we were the obstacles.
Allow me to insert here, a sincere thanks to Mom. She did it. Ask her sometime if homeschooling hellion ranch kids was as easy as it sounds! Thanks for the times you let us go ride instead of do school. You seemed to always know when enough was enough. Mom, you make us proud to be your children and proud to have been your students. I can’t put a price tag on what you taught us, but it is something we hope to pass on: Loving God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength. Thank you.
Callie, I address you now, about this double life that we have led: part of our lives spent under the watchcare and nurturing of our family in the Lord; and part of it lived outside in the open air of this culture around us. It seems not to be as much an issue for you as it has been for me. But in case it becomes so, I must speak to you about your further calling to wisdom, understanding, and truth.
It is well known among Christians that we do not choose God, but he chooses us. We know that it is by his unlimited grace that we, through faith, are qualified to serve Him. We can approach the Father and know His will not by our own merit, but that of Jesus Christ, whose work on the cross bought us freedom from slavery. And we know He has given us the Spirit of Promise, who dwells within us, reveals God’s will in our hearts, and builds the hope of eternal life in us. Callie, you are of great value, but not because of any quality you possess. It is the Cross that has made you shine so purely among your peers.
You and others like you have been called and set apart for God’s use in a time that will require every strength and every skill you possess. You may wish you lived in a quieter, less serious time. To quote you-know-who, “So do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we must decide is what to do with the time that is given to us. There are other forces at work in this world besides the rule of evil.” Like others, you have been entrusted with a great treasure. It is not merely an education that you have. It is not merely a family that you love, but it is a calling and a fellowship that God has arranged around you, to strengthen you for the tests that are coming. I know it is comforting to hear someone encourage you to follow your dreams, especially, as you are searching for some path that will take you higher than others have gone. The worlds’ smooth speech matches our natural desire to be made content and happy, but it sells us a cheap imitation of peace. You know, sister, and I know, that we are citizens of another far country, and we will never be content here. Because you are set apart, it is your duty to set your course on God’s will, not on your dreams.
It is my hope that after you have surrendered the bright unknown to the Lord, that His will becomes your dream. I pray that in the decisions you face in the months and years to come, that you are true to the Lord Jesus in everything. Remember that what you have been entrusted with is of too great a value to set aside or to be spent on lesser pursuits. May you grow strong and prosper beside the Living Water. I leave you with His words from John 15. “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it is in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from Me, you can do nothing.”

No.7

Please read 2 Chronicles 6:12-42.
If you have not been paying attention to current events, or if you find it too depressing to think about, I ask you to overcome this immaturity now, before you are caught off guard, and your fears become reality because you were too complacent to speak up.

I'm sorry I haven't been fighting and speaking up all along. I've been where you may be now. I liked ignorance because it didn't require anything of me. I liked not caring because I felt it removed the responsibility from me. But it doesn't. Whether you speak up or not, whether you care or not, what is happening in America now WILL AFFECT YOU. So you can stand up and speak out or you can sit down and shut up, but either way, what's coming is coming.

Many of you have been standing and speaking up long before me. And I wish I had listened to you earlier. Some of you are offended by what I have just said, concluding it's none of my business and that you've already done everything you can-why am I so pushy? You want me to stop prodding, because it's just making you mad.

If you feel that way, it's because I'm preaching to the choir, right? Why am I preaching to the choir, I wonder? Where is everybody? I'm so sorry to hammer on people who get it already. That's not what I'm trying to do.

Today, May 13, 2010, every one of us has access to all the information we could possibly want. It's been this way since the internet opened up the world at the touch of a button. But this, my friends, will change. And what I've put up on this blog might become treason, and it might become censored. In a short time, you might not be able to speak your mind without being censored yourself. Now, you are free to do and say whatever you want. How do you use that freedom? What is it worth to you?

It's true and has been true time out of mind that "you don't know what you have until it's gone". If you don't get to read blogs like mine, see facebook posts, read email alerts, hear things like talk radio or Christian radio, watch stuff like Fox News on TV...would you feel you were alone? Would standing alone be scary enough to keep you quiet? It might. Those who oppose us are COUNTING ON IT. They are banking on you shutting up when you can't hear anyone else. What are you going to do?

I pray I have the courage on the day I lose my freedom to speak. I pray I can say before God and my peers that I used my freedom to speak for a cause greater than myself. I pray I can look back and know I did my level best to honor God and speak the Truth. And I pray that on that day, I will look forward to laboring and fighting for the RESTORATION OF WHAT WE HAVE LOST, because I know that it is right to preserve and cherish, even to the point of shedding blood.

Men and women you know have willingly given their youth, their mental health and peace of mind, their relationships and families, even their lives to fight for the preservation of this freedom we possess. They volunteered to do this. Can you sacrifice a little 'social discomfort' for the truth, for what is right and good? Can you? Because if you can, you are on your way to having the kind of commitment our soldiers have to their country. If you can't, I'm sorry for you. You will look back and wish you had.

I know that if you are reading this, you probably are one of those people who do speak out, stand up, pray, and vote according your faith and Biblical principles. But you know someone who is on the fence, and that's who I'm talking to now. Say this to them: If you do not stand for something, you will fall for anything. What do you stand for?

May God, who knows the hearts of every one of us, see fit to spare us from the worst. But even if he does not, my course is set. Remember: "He is good, and His steadfast love endure forever."

No. 6

There are a great many things in our republic today that demand our attention. It seems that crises are multiplying, and we become numb, and ask ourselves: “Why should I care?”

After a while of being alarmed and stunned by recent events, it seems the adrenaline lets off, and we turn our minds to everyday things again. After all, it’s not really affecting everyday things right now. And those people who seem to stay stirred up over it, they annoy us. Inevitably, we justify our apathy by secretly telling ourselves we’d rather not sound crazy like them.

Citizen, if the republic falls, who will answer for it? Will you blame God, saying it was his will? Will it be fate if the republic crumbles? Or perhaps you are so uncertain, you would say there is no way to tell, and if we fall it was pure chance?

I say not by fate, nor by chance! I am not willing to trust my sacred liberty to either of these. If we have prayed, if we have sought the face of Almighty God, if we have turned from our wicked ways then GOD WILL KEEP HIS PROMISE! Have you lost heart and have your eyes been darkened so that you forget the character of your God? Citizen-Christian!-have faith! Have faith.

Have you, in the back of your mind, thought that God weighs the good and the bad, and if the bad is heavier, then no amount of righteous praying will influence him? Maybe in your judgment you think that this country deserves what it gets. Yes, this nation is full of wicked people, perverted justice, and rampant disregard for God. But you are here. You are a righteous person, made so by the blood of Christ on the cross. You are praying. You have faith. And if you know God firsthand from the accounts in Scripture, then be assured God will keep his promises to you. “For the Lord is our judge; the Lord is our lawgiver; the Lord is our king, he will save us.” Isaiah 33:22

Am I arguing that we all ask God to take us back to the way it was before 9/11? I am not. Are you? When we pray and ask Him to heal our land, we are asking for what He wants, not what we want. What would a healed America look like? When we pray, are we trying to control the outcome, or do we trust Him that the product of our prayers will be His greater glory? Give your patriotism to God. Do not pray like a patriot, pray like a Christian. What is God’s heart for our republic? Let us ask Him to give us His heart for this nation, so that we pray according to His will.

These hard times will make or break the republic. And perhaps us, as well. We Christians are being tested, here…now. What are we called to do? Be engaged in prayer, stay stirred up, let ourselves really care about what is going on in America…or, pray out of obligation and do our best to get lost in everyday life, avoiding those extreme people who annoy us?

Have you ever met a person who likes being awakened in the middle of the night and made to stay awake for the rest of it? No. But we as a people have been stirred awake. Will you go back to sleep, or is a burning republic important enough to keep you out of bed? The watchmen have sounded the alarm. Again, ask yourself: “Why should I care?”

Patrick Henry's guest post...

I don't think any of us can improve on ways to say this. Please welcome Patrick Henry, March 23, 1775.

"No man thinks more highly than I do of the patriotism, as well as abilities, of the very worthy gentlemen who have just addressed the House. But different men often see the same subject in different lights; and, therefore, I hope it will not be thought disrespectful to those gentlemen if, entertaining as I do opinions of a character very opposite to theirs, I shall speak forth my sentiments freely and without reserve. This is no time for ceremony. The questing before the House is one of awful moment to this country. For my own part, I consider it as nothing less than a question of freedom or slavery; and in proportion to the magnitude of the subject ought to be the freedom of the debate. It is only in this way that we can hope to arrive at truth, and fulfill the great responsibility which we hold to God and our country. Should I keep back my opinions at such a time, through fear of giving offense, I should consider myself as guilty of treason towards my country, and of an act of disloyalty toward the Majesty of Heaven, which I revere above all earthly kings.

Mr. President, it is natural to man to indulge in the illusions of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth, and listen to the song of that siren till she transforms us into beasts. Is this the part of wise men, engaged in a great and arduous struggle for liberty? Are we disposed to be of the number of those who, having eyes, see not, and, having ears, hear not, the things which so nearly concern their temporal salvation? For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth; to know the worst, and to provide for it.

I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided, and that is the lamp of experience. I know of no way of judging of the future but by the past. And judging by the past, I wish to know what there has been in the conduct of the British ministry for the last ten years to justify those hopes with which gentlemen have been pleased to solace themselves and the House. Is it that insidious smile with which our petition has been lately received? Trust it not, sir; it will prove a snare to your feet. Suffer not yourselves to be betrayed with a kiss. Ask yourselves how this gracious reception of our petition comports with those warlike preparations which cover our waters and darken our land. Are fleets and armies necessary to a work of love and reconciliation? Have we shown ourselves so unwilling to be reconciled that force must be called in to win back our love? Let us not deceive ourselves, sir. These are the implements of war and subjugation; the last arguments to which kings resort. I ask gentlemen, sir, what means this martial array, if its purpose be not to force us to submission? Can gentlemen assign any other possible motive for it? Has Great Britain any enemy, in this quarter of the world, to call for all this accumulation of navies and armies? No, sir, she has none. They are meant for us: they can be meant for no other. They are sent over to bind and rivet upon us those chains which the British ministry have been so long forging. And what have we to oppose to them? Shall we try argument? Sir, we have been trying that for the last ten years. Have we anything new to offer upon the subject? Nothing. We have held the subject up in every light of which it is capable; but it has been all in vain. Shall we resort to entreaty and humble supplication? What terms shall we find which have not been already exhausted? Let us not, I beseech you, sir, deceive ourselves. Sir, we have done everything that could be done to avert the storm which is now coming on. We have petitioned; we have remonstrated; we have supplicated; we have prostrated ourselves before the throne, and have implored its interposition to arrest the tyrannical hands of the ministry and Parliament. Our petitions have been slighted; our remonstrances have produced additional violence and insult; our supplications have been disregarded; and we have been spurned, with contempt, from the foot of the throne! In vain, after these things, may we indulge the fond hope of peace and reconciliation. There is...."

Read the rest of this amazing speech by clicking on "Patrick Henry's Famous Speech" on the left-hand side bar.

No.5

Many suggest it is the end times or that the tribulation is about to begin and the rapture is soon. This is a hasty conclusion, but if it were true, would this change what we ought to do as Christians in America? Does it mean that by resisting global government and by opposing the destruction of our nations laws, heritage, and freedom we are somehow opposing God? Does God wish for us to be passive in these times? Were we born to live our destinies in this era by being dispassionate observers?

If you are hungry for a taste of theological assumptions and are eager for debate, look elsewhere. A discussion will be welcome, but I mean merely to point out a few things here.

First, I have questioned why some among us feel compelled by God and in Scripture to defend American liberty and some feel God has led them to withdraw. Does this not mean that one is right and one is wrong? And if, on both sides, there is assurance that the Holy Spirit’s direction to them was clear, how can we keep from arguing? How can this not divide us? Is our decision to fight or to retreat made by our first reaction, or is it made with wisdom, considering the whole picture and as much information as we can glean?

Second, I recall that the devil is always plotting and scheming, and every one of his schemes has a common thread: to divide. If he divides a mind, he makes a doubter. If he divides a church, he conquers them, and the battle is his. He knows very well that he must do both to win: he must defeat faith in the individual and unity in the body.

Third, I realize that to hear from God and to receive His comfort, grace, direction, blessing…even his love, I must be surrendered totally to Him. I must be completely His, and trust myself completely to His wisdom. I am only a servant, I am not my own.

Therefore, I have come to this conclusion: That we are all servants of His, unified by His love, one in the Spirit. And each individual must obey the Master’s direction. Our goal is to obey so that he will be glorified. And following this, we realize that to accomplish His purposes-which we do not fully know because we do not know the mind of God-we must obey one step at a time. In doing this, each of us obeying his specific direction, we will all work together to accomplish His greater purpose.

I put it to you this way: When a General goes into battle, he issues every order for the goal of victory. All his men know that victory is their purpose, but he does not proclaim all that is in his mind, all his methods and plans, to every soldier. Instead, he issues orders at precise times to specific soldiers. As each one dutifully obeys the orders he was given, he is confident that his work will serve the common cause. The General does not order all the soldiers to do exactly the same thing, either.

Can you see what I’m driving at? If God has led you to withdraw, to retreat, and to back down from defending American liberty in peaceful assembly, in speech, and in conduct, then those are your orders. Obey them, and I will obey mine. Because American liberty is not my god, it is merely my heritage, which I have been led to defend. I trust that God will accomplish his greater purpose, but I do not first demand a guarantee of success before dedicating my ‘life, my fortune, and my sacred honor’ to this work. Like those others of whom we have read, I know God can preserve us. Whether he will or not, I am resolved to obey his orders, and if I perish, I perish.