I. GETTING STARTED
Ø “Today is your day. You’re off to Great Places! You’re off and away.”
Ø “You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You’re on your own. AND YOU KNOW WHAT YOU KNOW. And YOU are the guy who’ll decide where to go.”
II. FLYING HIGH – GOOD TIMES
Ø Quick mention of Job when EVERYTHING was going His way.
Ø He HAD everything: 7 sons, 3 daughters, 7 thousand sheep, 3 Thousand Camels, 5 Hundred Oxen, and 5 Hundred Donkeys.
Ø The Bible describes Job as:
o “A perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and shuns evil. (Job 1:8)
Ø You are going to do great things in your life & everything is going to go great.
Ø “Except when you don’t. Because sometimes, you won’t.”
III. IN A SLUMP
Ø Quick mention of Job when nothing was going His way.
Ø He LOST everything: 7 sons, 3 daughters, 7 thousand sheep, 3 Thousand Camels, 5 Hundred Oxen, and 5 Hundred Donkeys.
§ “And said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.” (Job 1:21)
Ø When you’re in a slump that’s where your integrity & character are made.
Ø When you’re in a slump lift up your eyes.
§ “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the LORD.” (Psalm 121:1-2)
§ “Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise.” (Micah 7:8)
§ “In all of this Job sinned not.” (Job 1:22)
Ø Because Job trusted in God and did not sin. God doubled everything that He took away from Job.
Ø 7 Sons, 3 daughters, 14 Thousand Sheep, 6 Thousand Camels, 1 Thousand Oxen, 1 Thousand Donkeys.
IV. CHOICES
Ø “You will come to a place where the streets are not marked. Some windows are lighted. But mostly they’re darked. A place you could sprain both your elbow and chin!
Ø Do you dare to stay out? Do you dare to go in? How much can you lose? How much can you win?”
Ø “And if you go in, should you turn left or right . . . or right-and-three quarters?
Ø Or, maybe, not quite? Or go around back and sneak in from behind? Simple it’s not, I’m afraid you will find, for a mind-maker-upper-to make up his mind.”
§ And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD. (Joshua 24:15)
Ø You can get so confused that you’ll start in to race
Ø down long wiggled roads at a break-necking pace
Ø and grind on for miles across weirdish wild space,
Ø headed for, I fear, towards a most useless place. THE WAITING PLACE . . .
V. THE WAITING PLACE
Ø “ . . . for people just waiting. Waiting for a train to go or a bus to come, or a plane to go or the mail to come, or the rain to go or the phone to ring, or the snow to snow or waiting around for a yes or a no or waiting for their hair to grow. Everyone is just waiting.”
Ø “Waiting for the fish to bite or waiting for the wind to fly a kite or waiting around for a Friday night or waiting, perhaps, for their Uncle Jake or a pot to boil, or a better break or a string of pearls, or a pair of pants or a wig with curls, or another chance. Everyone is just waiting.”
§ But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint. (Isaiah 40:31)
VI. ON YOU WILL GO
Ø “No! That’s not for you! Somehow you’ll escape all that waiting and staying. You’ll find the bright places where the boom bands are playing.”
Ø “On you will go though the weather be foul. On you will go though your enemies prowl. On you will go though the Hakken-Kraks howl. Onward up many a frightening creek, though your arms may get sore and your sneaker may leak.”
Ø “On and on you will hike. And I know you’ll hike far and face up to your problems whatever they are.”
Ø “You’ll get mixed up, of course, as you already know. You’ll get mixed up with many strange birds as you go. So be sure when you step. Step with care and great tact and remember that Life’s a Great Balancing Act. Just never forget to be dexterous and deft. And never mix up your right foot with your left.”
§ Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, 14. I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:13-14)
VII. YOU WILL SUCCEED!
Ø “And will you succeed? Yes! You will, indeed! (98 and 3/4 percent guaranteed.)
Ø Class of 2010, you’ll move mountains.”
Ø So . . . Be your name Buxbaum or Bixby or Bray, or Mordecai Ali Van Allen O’shea,
Ø You’re off to Great Places! Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting. So… get on your way!”
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