Convocation Address: Alone?

“Alone”

The following is a transcript from the 2022 Convocation Address at Trinity Academy. These are the speaker’s notes.

Recently, my family and I have taken to watching the show, … Alone. In essence, the show deals with a human, a set of tools, obstacles [e.g. real bears], and a potential award.

The more I watch … Alone the more I realize that it is better for a person to not be. The stuff they endure is preposterous.

Naturally, as I watch the show, I imagine myself in their situation. As they walk in the bitter cold, starving, lonely, filthy, and crying out to heaven for the luxury of a sip of clean water, I watch knowing that, on about Day 2, I would pick up that yellow Sat. phone, press a series of buttons and say,

“Hello? Yes, I want to order an evacuation and a 4 piece Supreme dinner. It’s Go Time and it’s Bo Time.”

BUT THE CONTESTANTS DON’T DO THIS. They rally their wits and, before long, they have a cabin, a fire, a bed, a chair – one guy was even whittling toys for his children – it’s amazing.

But here’s the thing: even though each contestant receives similar tools, they are placed in the same terrain, in the same weather, with the same advantages and the same dangers – the levels of success are wildly different.

So much relies on one factor. The sooner they realize that there is no blaming to be done, the better they do in the contest. The essence of Alone is that there is no one around to blame for anything.

The truly successful contestants eventual arrive at a frame of mind that says:

“Here I am. This is what I have. Time to get to work.”

So, students, let us take stock of where you are:

You are surrounded by:

Almost zero bears.

Teachers who want to teach you, and more books than you can carry.

Coaches who want to coach you, and fans who will cheer you on.

Friends who will encourage you, friends who need to be encouraged by you.

Here you are. This is what you have. Are you going to get to work, or are you going to look for something or someone to blame?

You have been placed here. You are afforded a set of tools. There are unavoidable difficulties and those difficulties are not to be minimized.

And there are great rewards in store.

The reward is not money. The reward is having the chance to be more than someone who was just dropped into this terrain waiting for an escape.

The reward comes the moment you realize that if you squander the opportunities you have, there is no one to blame.

So that you do not squander this year, I would like to quote from an Honor Code from a classical school in Florida:

For the glory of God

For the honor of your family

For the good of your neighbor

For the health of your soul

Avoid foolishness and vice, and discourage them in others.

Pursue wisdom and virtue, and encourage them in others.

And, by the grace of God, and for Heaven’s sake, take the resources that have been given to you and do something meaningful.

But know this:

All the tools in the world cannot build the most important things in life.

In fact, receiving the most important thing in the world requires that we first drop all of our tools, all of our supposed righteousness, and simply humble ourselves before God, believing that Christ came into this world to redeem us – to forgive us if our sins as we place our faith in what he has done for us.

But[a] God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

The old hymn says it this way,

“Nothing in my hands I bring, simply to thy cross I cling.”

But from there, the Lord grants us His spirit, and through His spirit he grants us gifts, and through these gifts he grants us the joy of doing good works for the glory of God and the good of our neighbors.

The Apostle Paul said it this way:

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Call to Action

Each year, I pray that the Lord would raise up even a few who take this charge seriously. Believing and doing. Not blaming and complaining.

By faith saying, “This is where I am. This is what I have. Now, by God’s grace, let us do great things.”

I want to see young men and women trusting the Lord, working with zeal, and encouraging other students in their faith.

Leave bitterness aside as far too common a thing.

Be full of faith and be exceptional, even if it means you have to stand “alone.”