2016 Baccalaureate - Crash The Chatterbox

Baccalaureate

May 26, 2016

WOW! It’s hard to believe we’ve been in Alexandria for almost 9 years. I remember many of you from the 4th grade. And I can still picture you from way back then. You’ve all grown up!! Where has the time gone?

For me, time has flown by. I remember thinking about graduation in August, and here we are. It seems like the year has flown by. Joshua must have misread something on that paper he read. I’m not 35, I’m 57! And you know what happens this year for me? This year is my 40th High School reunion. Can you imagine what it was like way back then . . .

We didn’t have remotes for televisions, Atari just came out with pong, phones had cords, cell phones, the internet, snapchat, facebook, instagram! When I went to college I used to call my parents once a week. That was it. I would make a collect call - - - ask your parents what that is. We had a code word, it let my parents know if I was OK, then they would call me and pay the long distance charges!

And that’s what I want to talk about for awhile tonight - - - - Communication! Have you ever noticed how much noise there is in the world? One thing that’s changed because of technology, and yet has never changed is the noise. I’m talking about all of the chatter.

With all of the technology and ways we can escape from reality, we still have to return to reality, and when we do . . . sometimes we listen to what is not good. Sometimes the one telling us what’s not so good is you! Understand this . . . we all have fears . . . we all have questions. Especially, when you move from one chapter of life to another.

A lot of the chatter you hear is not good. You can fill in the blank - - -

I am not ____________ enough! Fill in the blank.

Smart Experienced Good

Strong Loved Rich

Organized Awesome Pretty Tall

Have you ever been there? Maybe you’re there right now. Maybe you’re all excited and scared about the future.

This is part of the chatter we hear in our head and heart. The sentiment which tells us we are not ____ enough.

We all go through it. We all question, we all wonder - - - does anyone really care? What difference have I made? Why am I stressing over all this? Does it matter?

what’s the matter with me?

You always do this.

You’re just like . . .

You’re screwing up your life?

If only people knew how bad you are.

You’re a stupid idiot.

Add whatever you hear!

Then you think about what God thinks about you. How disappointed is God in me . . . and I’m worthless.

And the chatterbox is chirping. It’s not loud, it’s subtle comments in our heart and head. We hear things like ~

If God loved you, you, you wouldn’t be going through this right now.

If you had more faith, things would be better.

If things were going to change, it would have already happened.

God’s not listening to you! Who are you that God should care?

Why would God pay attention to you?

You see, we get all hung up on so many different things in life and when we do - - we lose focus. We lose our bearings, we get ourselves lost. Have you ever been lost? Not like you didn’t know what street you were supposed to turn on. But really, really lost. You’re in the woods and you don’t know how to get out.

There was a time when I was snorkeling in the Florida Keys. I was with a group of people and I was swimming right over a bunch of coral - - - and there was about 20 seconds, where I had absolutely no idea where anyone was. I felt totally lost and since I was right above the coral I didn’t want to kick it and cut my leg open. I could feel the panic, the dread coming over me. I was swimming in circles and couldn’t get my bearings. Finally, obviously I did.

But that’s the type of lost I’m talking about. When we’re totally uncertain. When we’re there it’s easy to get down on ourselves. It’s easy to tell ourselves we are no good. We hear all of the lies and we remind ourselves of all of the bad things about ourselves. It’s all of that chatter we hear and ultimately we start to believe it. And it sucks the life out of us.

Add to that our obsession with social media. We worry about how many likes we have. How many likes did I get on my tweet, or instagram post. Honestly, who cares! Really! Is that what life is all about? Yet we obsess about it. Why didn’t so and so like it. When I post a picture, do I want people to like it, sure, but I don’t care if you do or don’t. That does not determine my self-worth.