Milestones

Milestones help mark significant events and accomplishments.  This month will be full of celebratory moments of anniversaries, graduations, and other milestones that are marked and acknowledged.  Goals have been set and achieved.  Some have been completed after a few days or months while others have been in process for years.    

Last weekend was a time of remembering, rejoicing, giving thanks, and celebrating Duane Brooks’ 20th anniversary as pastor of Tallowood Baptist Church.  God has worked in and through Duane to model, challenge, convict, encourage, inspire, and lead us to trust and obey God. 

Family, friends, and people in our community are checking off lists of things to complete after the destruction of Hurricane Harvey.  Some are just now moving back into their homes, even if they are not completely restored, while others are continuing to count down the days until they can return.

The season for graduations is also upon us. I look forward to this time of year as goals are accomplished, one chapter ends and another begins, and milestones are reached.  I also enjoy the inspirational and motivational charges that are given by the commencement speakers.  Sometimes I have heard about the person who is giving the speech, but this year I know two of the people who spoke at university graduations.  Because of the milestones they have reached, Frank Jimenez and Robyn Bateman Driskell were chosen to speak at their alma maters. 

Frank Jimenez was one of the young people at University Baptist Church in Coral Gables, Florida, where Larry was the Minister to Youth.  The Jimenez family had come from Cuba to live in Miami.  Frank graduated from the University of Miami with a degree in Biology.  He attended and graduated from Yale Law School and then received a MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.  Among different jobs, Frank worked for a law firm in Miami, was Chief of Staff at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, was the 21^st General Counsel of the U. S. Department of the Navy and is now the Vice-President, general counsel and corporate secretary of Raytheon Company.  In speaking to the graduates at the University of Miami, Frank challenged the graduates to be willing to take risks.  He also spoke about how at times there are other people who throw the switch to help encourage us on our journey and there are times when it is our turn to turn on the switch to help light the way for others to achieve success.

Dr. Robyn Bateman Driskell, who was in the youth group at Tallowood, gave one of the commencement addresses at Baylor University.  After graduating from Baylor, Robyn earned her Ph.D. from Texas A&M University.  Robyn returned to Baylor as a Professor of Sociology.  Later she also served as the Divisional Dean of Humanities and Social Sciences as well as the Department of Sociology’s Graduate Program Director.  Robyn is currently the Chief of Staff to the President and is Vice President of Board Relations at Baylor.  Robyn spoke, on behalf of President Livingstone, of the importance of sharing the light of Jesus wherever you go.  There were also four graduates who spoke of others who had invested in them during university days so that they could now go out and help light the way for others.

Milestones are rarely reached by one person alone. There are times we all need help along the way.  And then there are occasions where it is our time to be the cheerleader, encourager, and helper for someone else on their journey.  It is good to pause and acknowledge our milestones and remember the ways God has provided and will continue to provide for us and others.  For the sake of another milestone, it’s time to pick up the torch and let Jesus’ light shine the way.

In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

Matthew 5:16

And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:19

Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.

1 Thessalonians 5:11

May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had, so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Romans 15:5-6