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PCC Student Speaker
Caleb Acton '08
Pacific Christian College
"I would imagine that all of us sitting up here today feel pretty happy. Putting aside our nervousness, our fear, and our uncertainties for just a few hours, let us revel in this accomplishment that we have attained. Let us rejoice in the freedom we feel from having reached our goal. And let us thank our Lord and Savior, from whom all good things come, that we have had this opportunity for an education.
My friends, these caps and gowns not only signify that we have attained the educational level of a small percentage of the world’s population. This slip of paper which we are about to receive does not just help us get a job. These outfits and papers say something about our character, about our work ethic, and about our desire to learn.
In the three years that Jesus walked the earth, proclaiming the kingdom of God, he had a band of men and women who followed him around. One of these people who followed Jesus around was known as a mathatas, or a disciple. And the mathatas, in its essence, is defined as “one who is a learner”.
We have been learners all our lives, deductively and inductively. We have learned that hot things are hot by getting burned; we have learned how to communicate by mimicking others, and we have learned how to imagine abstract possibilities through books and professors. We have spent, at least, the last 16 years in institutions which seek to cultivate our minds—hoping to plant seeds and grow ideas that will be beneficial to the future of humanity.
Some of us will leave here to pursue further studies at other institutions and some of us may be leaving the world of institutional academia. Regardless of which road you take, I implore you, never cease being a learner. This means, never stop setting goals. Always have something that you are consciously striving for. Be intentional about everything you do. This, in no way, excludes spontaneity, for life is a beautiful dance of surprise and possibility; but in those spontaneous moments let us walk away, knowing confidently that we have learned something.
Let us always be learners of our world. May we continue to grow more and more conscious of the needs of people in our global and local communities. And may we not just learn of these needs, for the purpose of awareness; rather, may our learning of such needs affect our action. Regardless of the amount of influence that our future occupation allows us, let all of us be effective advocates of justice and peace.
Let us always be learners in our faith. Hope International University has done what any good educational institution should do. It has taught us how to think, not what to think. As we continue into the future, part of being a continual learner will be evident by our ability to approach any situation with an open mind. As we encounter new ideas or problems, let us hear arguments from all sides, let us use the skills that we have acquired to study the scriptures, let us use our God-given minds to discern and our God-given communication to pray.
As we continue maturing as people and as we continue learning more about the world around us, so too will we continue learning about what our relationship with Jesus looks like. Besides a mathatas being a continual learner, a disciple is one who has a personal attachment to his teacher—an attachment which shapes the whole life of the disciple in such a way that there is no doubt in anyone’s mind about who the teacher is. In any task or any occupation, in our business ethics, in our treatment of the poor, in our teaching style in the classroom, in our missionary work, in our marketing and media creation, in our love for the oppressed and forgotten and in our psychological counseling—it should be evident to others whom we are a disciple of. We join with the disciples of 2000 years ago as learners of life and lovers of people.
As the graduating class of 2008, let us remember our call to discipleship—as continual learners who reflect the face of Jesus Christ. May you go in peace and the Lord be with you."