The countywide Baccalaureate service was held Sunday at First Baptist Church of Rincon to honor the high school seniors who will graduate later this week.
Former superintendent of Effingham County schools Dr. Michael Moore said he could hardly believe it was time for the students he had watched grow up to graduate.
“I can also hardly believe that at this time next year my wife and I will be celebrating our 40th year as graduates of high school,” he said. “Time moves by quickly.”
Moore said he wanted to talk to the graduates about time and read from the third chapter of Ecclesiastes.
“God tells us through his scripture that everything has a time, and everything has a season,” Moore said. “How you and I choose to use that time is an individual choice.”
He told the students how they choose to use their time in the near future will affect the course of their lives.
“Who has more time than anybody else? Nobody,” Moore said. “You know we all have 24 hours in a day. We’ve all got seven days in a week. We’ve all got 52 weeks in a year. How we choose to use that time is what is important. How we choose to take care of the opportunities that God has given us will make all the difference in the world.”
Moore told the students what has happened in their lives to this point is “over and done with” — it can’t be re-created or changed.
“You can look to the future,” he said.
He said the graduates would have decisions and responsibilities in their lives as they “start a new home and a new family” and he hopes they have lives that are full of joy.
“You know God gives us opportunities for doing many and varied things, and we have to recognize those opportunities,” Moore said.
He said as the students get older they will not want to have regrets of what they should have done that they did not do.
“God provides us moments where we can improve ourselves, and moments where we can help our fellow man,” Moore said. “We have moments of opportunity. We have moments of grief. Everything in life is not fun, and everything in life is not perfect. There are times when grief comes that you can be a great inspiration to somebody else, or someone can be a great inspiration to you.”
He told the students nothing but the love of Jesus is permanent.
“How will you use your time that God gives you to grow spiritually,” Moore said.
He told the students what they choose to do in the future is up to them. He encouraged them to take advantage of the opportunities God will provide to them and encouraged them to nurture their relationship with God.
“Congratulations,” Moore said. “Good luck in the future. I wish God will bless you all the days of your life.”
