And You Thought I Graduated

Life is full of graduations – pre-school, kindergarten, elementary school, middle school, high school, college. Feel free to correct me if I missed one.

But I never graduated.

No matter how much success I achieve or how much value I bring to an organization, I am constantly faced with reminders that I never graduated.

The Reason I Never Graduated

It was 9pm and I was on Facebook checking my newsfeed. I hear the familiar Facebook message “blip.” I open up the chat window to find a message from a parent in our church youth group.

“Hi Dave! My daughter is co leading a faith based group at her school. Her group is sponsoring the “SEE YOU AT THE POLE” tomorrow morning at the school flag pole. She asked another leader if he could come and play guitar, and he cannot do it, and she just learned this tonight. She is wondering if you would please consider this short notice and come tomorrow morning and play guitar and lead a few songs of worship to sing? I know it is totally last minute, she is so sorry. It is from 7:30-8:10am. Officially the meeting is 7:45-8:00am is all. There will be donuts!!!

To be perfectly honest, at first I did not want to do it. It would be so easy to say, “No,” because it was last minute. I took a few moments before responding and thought to myself, “I could go and support this student who is being bold and courageous by leading a faith-based group at her public school or I could not go. It is at times like this, I remember that I never graduated.

I need constant reminders like this so I don’t forget that I never graduated from serving others. No matter what the stage of my career, I will never graduate from becoming more like Jesus and serving the interests of other people above my own.

The Reason You Will Never Graduate

The greatest servant who ever lived was Jesus. Everything he did was to benefit others. In his final act before death he submitted himself to taking on the punishment that everyone else deserved. His life was marked by service. Though he died and was resurrected, he has yet to graduate from the school of service.

Being a leader means you, too, will never receive a diploma. Your call to serve others never stops.

So next time that student’s parent Facebooks you at 9pm asking you to show up the next morning, remember that you haven’t graduated from serving others… if anything, you should take view opportunity as a way to recruit others to join you in the school of service.