From Glory to Glory

I sat there on the aluminum bleachers awaiting an eighteen-year-old part of me in motion.  The band was playing.  The sun was bright.  A gentle breeze rolled through the crowd.  It was an absolutely perfect evening for a graduation.

Graduation?  Did I hear that right?  The idea had honestly caught me off guard.  It is one of those moments in life that no matter how aware you are of its coming, it still takes you in an odd spot of curiosity, one in which all your preparedness for the moment is all for naught.  It is similar to a baby’s birth, when the nine-month wait comes to a pinnacle, and before you know it, a young child is sleeping in your arms.  I suppose the time that we are required to wait for such moments tends to come faster than we think.  Yes, last night was our son’s graduation.  Congratulations, Bradley Carr.

It was a commencement ceremony quite different than my own.  I have the uncanny ability to drift back in time, and in frequently doing so, seem to note the differences surrounding me.  

It had been twenty-five years since I walked through the halls of high school.  Twenty-five years since I received my diploma.  Though only twenty-five years, the stark contrast was blatantly obvious.  Was I carbon dating myself?

A global epidemic.  A change in fashion.  The mentality of social norms and beliefs now days.  The ideology of today’s culture.  The evidence of moral and ethical decay.  How different everything had become.  Honestly, while others cheered and boasted of the way the world is spinning, I thought it was very sad.  I can’t say that I am envious of the environment that our children are growing up in this day and age.  If given the chance, I would turn down being young again, as the “young” I knew no longer exists anymore.  The “norm” that our children live in, day in and day out, is not one that I would wish to experience myself as a teenager.  I am, however, and I cannot state this clear enough, very proud of our children for rising above it all.  To have a child graduate from high school in today’s culture is a scary thing for a parent.  Thank God, He holds our children every day.

Some there in the crowd, were not as fortunate as Bradley.  Now make no mistake about it, we have our fair share of problems in the Carr house.  We’ve had hardships.  We’ve seen many hard days.  But as the students walked the field and received their diploma, a man with a pastor’s heart cannot help but think that I was watching many out there that were still searching in life.  We all do, don’t we?  Until one comes to the feet of Jesus and acknowledges their need for salvation, life is an endless search for meaning and purpose.  I suppose that some in the crowd last night had found that purpose.  It was very clear that others had not.

Graduation is a special moment.  You only get the chance to graduate once.

Last night after the ceremony, we ordered Chinese takeout and brought it home and spread out a table of food.  We sat and talked about the moment.  We shared the good moments of the evening.  We laughed.  We enjoyed each other’s company.  We smiled inside that we were able to enjoy the moment with each other, that grandparents were able to come share it with us, and that we had gotten some good pics.  We were excited to pass them around. 

We also spoke our concerns for a generation who still is lost and searching.  There is no judgment.  I needed Jesus as much as anybody. Instead, our heart goes out to them.  We are burdened for those who don’t know the incredible relationship possible with the creator or the world.  We all want the best in life.  Finding Jesus is the only way to achieve that.

Which brings me to the meat of this message.  I sat last night thinking.  We change from glory to glory.  It is a passage so on point for such a moment.

“But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.”- 2 Corinthians 3:16-18

Graduation.

Don’t we all graduate in life one day?

Sooner or later, one day we will all pass from this life to the next.  It will be one of those moments, just like graduating from high school or the birth of a firstborn, that although months or years of preparation go into it, time will not stand still for.  When we pass from one world to the next, will we be ready?  Anticipating it?  Caught off guard?

It brought my accident back to me.  

I told my family the memories that I can clearly relive.  When I was hit in the head, fracturing my skull in two places.  When they came in to load me for the trauma unit.  The moment when everything faded.  My near death experience.

I turned to my wife.  I could relive it plain as day.  I told her that in that exact moment, when I closed my eyes expecting to wake up in glory, I have never experienced a peace like I did in that specific moment.  I’m 43 years old.  I’ve lived a good span of time.  But never in my life had I experienced a peace wash over me like that moment.  The only way to describe it is total peace.  Just like the waiting on a baby to be born and the moment hits and you can’t believe it is actually happening, so was the knowledge that I was dying that day.  I thought to myself, “I can’t believe it’s actually happening.”  Realization occurred, and I figured you only get the chance to die once, and so I better enjoy it.  The paramedic had spoken that I had thrown up pure blood.  My brother had whispered in my ear.  In the moments after that, everything faded away.  Nothing was important anymore.  I didn’t need to say anything.  I didn’t have any last wishes.  I didn’t need to see anyone.  The only thing I did was ask God to receive my spirit.  A complete peace was all around me.  My eyes were closed.  I fully expected to wake up in glory.  

Graduation.

From glory to glory.

My wife knew it well.  “That’s because you knew where you were going.”

Well, she’s right.  And sadly, I think of all those who would not have the same peace if they were in that situation.

Today, instead of a challenge, I want to send you an invite.  Some of you reading this might disagree with me.  Some of you, if you were in an accident like mine, and you thought you were on your way out, would not have the same peace.  Some of you might be in sheer panic.  Some of you might not even have peace right now just reading this.  I watched a whole class of students graduate from high school last night.  None, after receiving their diploma, will ever be the same.  They cannot go back into line and do it over again.  They can’t have a “redo” on their senior year.  Life passes in a continuum, and there is no rewind button.  My invite for you today is not to turn that opportunity down. 

My story will be from glory to glory.  The savior is waiting with a whole bunch more of life for me when I pass from this life to the next.  Are you confident that you will receive the same?

There is no judgment.  I needed a savior.  At one time I was lost and searching for meaning and purpose too.  Some might have said that I was a good teen in high school, but if I would have died before reaching Jesus, I would have been the best teen to ever be rejected from God’s kingdom.  It’s not about how good our life “GPA” is.  It’s not about good works.  It’s not about being a nice person.  

Actually, it is much, much easier than that.

The Bible clearly says in Romans 10:9 “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”  Salvation has nothing to do with us, our attempts to live good, or to be a loving person.  It is all about accepting what Jesus did, not what we do.  

Today, it would be my dearest pleasure to invite you to graduate as I did.  When we accept the Lord Jesus, we have confidence that one day we will pass from one form of glory to another.  That peace that I have already lived once will bathe me again.  One day it will happen for real.  If you know Jesus, one day it will wash over you.  Just like a birth.  Just like a graduation ceremony.  One day we will see heaven’s gates.

How glorious that will be.

If you would like help knowing how to receive Jesus as your savior, it is as simple as pie (I like key lime).  Just get somewhere that you can focus on what you are doing.  Here is a prayer that I would love to pray with you:

Jesus, 

I acknowledge that it is impossible for me to be saved on my own.  I need your salvation.  I want you to come into my life and take control of it.  I want to be freed from the sin that I carry.  I want you to be my Lord and Savior, and I accept that since you died on the cross for me, I can now be in heaven with you some day.  I believe that you died and rose again for me.  Thank you.  Show me how to live from this day forward.  

Amen.

If you just prayed that prayer for the first time, second time, or hundredth time, I rejoice along with you.  Please let someone know that you have made this decision.  Find a pastor.  Find a friend.  Find someone that you love and care about and tell them the choice that you made.  Even if nobody else around you knows Jesus, we are globally connected in a social way and there are a ton of people out there that can help you.  Get online.  Find another Christian.  They can help you get planted in a body of other believers like you in which you can feed off of each other as you grow in Jesus.  If you can’t find anybody. . . email me.  I’d love to be there for you.

The privilege of seeing Bradley graduate last night was phenomenal.

The privilege of helping you go from glory to glory would exceed that exponentially.

Thanks for taking the time to hear me out today.

I hope to see you in that glory.

By Chuck Carr