My Commencement Speech

President Kemper, Dean Sweet, Distinguished Board Members, Administrators, Faculty and Staff, 2008 Graduates, Parents and Family of Graduates, Friends and Students of the college,

Thank you for giving me the honor of speaking at this ceremony.

I’ve been at Grace for a few years now. I have developed some amazing friendships during my time at Grace. I’ve had friends who have come and gone—and come back again. Some of my friends were able to graduate after a mere 4 years of college. Others, like myself, are working on this whole “super senior” title. I figure, it can’t be too bad, it kind of makes me sound like a superhero, and superheroes are pretty cool.

The experiences I’ve had at Grace Bible College are ones that will stick with me for the rest of my life. I still remember my freshman year trying to explain to people that we hadn’t had any snow days—but we had, in fact, had two squirrel days. To those of you still unsure of what this means, on two separate occasions, a squirrel decided to jump into our generator and kill the electricity on the whole campus, thus cancelling school. Then there was the time when one of my friends fell into a random sinkhole that appeared in the middle of the quad. There were trips to the tire swing and late night runs to Taco Bell. Studying for Bible tests during lunch and hanging out at a Blue Stage on Friday night.

I learned a lot through my classes too. I will never in my life forget how to write a paper in MLA format. I know how to label all kinds of crazy chords, and even how to write a song using the 12 tone method. I will never forget Vygotsky or how to write a Madeline Hunter lesson plan.

It was through Grace that I had the opportunity to go to Israel and eventually Costa Rica. These trips helped me to realize the importance of not just believing in Christ, but truly living every moment of my life for him.

In the passage of scripture that was just read, Jesus says, “You are the light of the world…let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” Jesus says that WE are the light of the world. We are not to hide this light and be ashamed. But rather, in this broken, depraved, dark world, we are to let our light shine for the whole world to see. Paul says that we are to “live as children of light” (Eph. 5:8).

Now, that being said, I don’t recommend that you put on your Sunday best and go tell random people that you’re part of the “children of light” and you want them to shine with you. That has just a little bit of a cultish feel to it.

But I also caution you. Do not dim your light in fear of offending someone. Do not water down your message. In a world that is so unwilling to state its belief in absolute truths, do not forget that your life, your light, should be a proclamation of the one and only true God, who sent his son to a cross to die for our sins, so that whoever believes in him, shall not die but have eternal life. That’s what our light must say. Philippians 2:15 urges us to “become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which [we] shine like stars in the universe.”

            That doesn’t mean it’s easy. This last semester of school, my student teaching, was the hardest semester I’ve ever had. I was angry with God for the situations he had placed me in. I questioned God and his plan for my life. I wrestled with feelings of failure night after night. Through this time, there was part of a song by Aaron Shust that continuously came back to me. “All of my plans, all of my dreams, I lay then down before your feet. All of my time, all that was mine, I now submit to your design.” This has become the theme song of my life. I trust that even when it was hard, when I felt a total lack of purpose, if my light made an impact on even one child, then that is why God placed me there. I still have tons to learn. God is revealing more of his design to me daily. And I am daily learning how to be that light that I was called to be.

            Fellow graduates, as we enter this next stage of our lives, ask yourself if you are shining like stars in the universe. Are you living a blameless and pure life? Are you submitting to Christ’s design for you? He knows what he’s doing with our lives—which is a good thing, cause I sure don’t. When you are discouraged, confused, and broken, trust in him. Lean on him.

When I was in high school, we used to end every youth group with a song we called the benediction. The words seem fitting. “My friends, may you grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior. My friends, may you grow in grace and in the knowledge of Jesus Christ.

To God be the glory, now and forever! Amen.”

-Ryanne van der Maas, Grace Bible College, 2008 Commencement