Closure & Commencement

(The End of the Beginning) 

Graduating Class of 2018, God's Bible School & College (me, front and center :-) 

A few weeks ago I finally turned the tassel. Having attended God’s Bible School & College as an online student since the fall of 2014, I was very glad to have finally completed my studies and receive my BA in Elementary Education. Around 35 of my friends and family gathered in Cincinnati, Ohio for the occasion (some coming from as far away as Illinois and Alabama). It was a blast and I’m ready to go back to college just so I can graduate again. (Yes… it was that much fun. Pretty sure it was more fun than getting married, but… who am I to know?). 

With Dr. Mark Bird, distance education director

With Dr. Phil Brown, my Hebrew teacher

With my cousins, Ben and Brenda Smith

With my former student, David Hill. I taught him my first two years of college… not to mention tutoring him when I was in high school and being his Sunday School teacher when he was 5 or 6

With my cousins, Bobby and Morganne Pickett

Posing with Education Majors before we came down the aisle — Travis Stroup, Heidi Potter, and Morgan Martin

Fellow distance education student, Wesley Cragun

With my brother, Micah, and his little guy, Corin

This was supposed to be a reshot of a similar pose taken 12 years earlier (as seen in the video to follow). Stephanie was also valedictorian and we got our picture taken after the ceremony in 2006 in this exact spot. I was sharing my honor cords with her here.

These little guys (my nephews, Isaiah and Israel) came running up to me after the class photo

With most of my friends and family that came to the ceremony

With my parents :-)

With my uncle, Dr. Henry Smith (my mom’s oldest brother)

**Note: if the captions on the photos aren't appearing, try turning your mobile device sideways (landscape position).

With the closure of one chapter comes the opening of the next. Over the last several months I keep getting questions like: “What are you going to do now that you’ve graduated?” “Do you have a teaching position yet?” “What are your next plans?” “Are you going to get your Masters now?” You know the drill. And my honest answer to most of these queries is, “I know less what I’m going to do next than when I graduated from high school.” This is a fun place in which to be. I really don’t know. And that’s okay. 

What I do know is that I’ve come to a place of rest. I no longer feel that every 10-minute increment of my day needs to be scheduled and filled. Several people have remarked to me recently that I seem a lot more relaxed and calm since graduating. I know I feel that way on the inside and I’m glad that others can sense that as well. 

The summer ahead will be full of travels: from Pennsylvania, to North Carolina, to Kansas, to Michigan, back to Indiana, and who-knows-where-else-in-between. (Did I mention this last semester took me to Pennsylvania, California, Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Alabama, etc., etc?) These are some of my favorite things: going new places, meeting new people, establishing relationships, revisiting old places and reconnecting with old friends. The music I’ve done this last semester hasn’t always been “center-stage”, but I enjoy playing accompaniment or being a part of congregational worship just as much. Most of the music I do this summer will be just that — gallivanting around the country playing some Floyd Kramer for the Mayhle family or helping with youth music in other venues. These are moments to which I will never be able to return and I’m grateful for the opportunity to invest in others’ ministries in small ways. 

Along the way I plan to do more writing — I have quite a few blog posts “incubating” — and hopefully do some reading for personal enrichment (not just for an “A” in a class). I’ll continue to study Classical Hebrew over the summer and I hope to share some of what I’m learning right here. I’ve already been investing more time into developing my lyrics/music — and for those of you who are always asking about the next project, I trust that the time I devote to these songs over the next several months will yield fruit worth sharing (more on the developing project later.) 

Since beginning this blog, I have endeavored to not write about me, but instead to reflect on spiritual lessons I’m learning or insights I’ve gained. This post has been a little different, but I don’t apologize. I’m overwhelmed by the friends and family that surround me: their love, their support, their cheering me on, their belief in me. I’m blessed by you — you who have never met me, yet read what I write, listen to my music, and support my ministry. I’m underserving of the steadfast love (the hesed) and faithfulness of a God who goes before me, preparing the way, opening and closing doors, guiding with His eye, directing with His voice. The road ahead is being prepared by Him. In that I take comfort. 

This is the video I created to play at the reception following my graduation. Thought I'd share it here. 

“Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”

— Winston Churchill