This year's chapel theme is, “What are your roots?” I have decided to integrate my senior speech with this year's theme. Although my roots are not as deep as others, they are just as strong.
When I came to Darlington, I was an atheist. I didn’t step inside a church until I was a junior. I know this probably sounds crazy to a lot of you, but in my family it was normal. Sundays were always spent at the soccer fields. I never understood the importance of believing until my junior year when I met my best friend, Erin Massey.
As soon as Erin found out I was an atheist, she invited me to church. And I guess that is a southern thing because no one had ever invited me to church before. I was scared and nervous. She would ask every Saturday night if I wanted to go the next day, and it took me two months to finally say yes. Everyone was so welcoming as soon as I walked in. I enjoyed going but still never truly grasped the concept of faith.
Later that year, in January, my grandfather got severely sick. Luckily, I had a chance to see him. We visited him in the hospital in Texas and in his room, he had a cross and a prayer verse on the nurse’s whiteboard. I will never forget the words I read over and over again. It read, "Isaiah 41:10, Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."
The nurse had angled it so my grandfather could see it laying down. At the time, I didn’t realize the effect those words had on me. My grandfather was a deacon of his church and in all ways a good Christian man. Sitting alone in the San Antonio airport a few days later, I kept thinking of the verse. His cancer was getting worse and I knew that I most likely wouldn’t see him again and I didn’t want it to be that way. I prayed asking for forgiveness and I was saved.
It wasn’t until April, however, that I decided to get baptized. That was the best day of my life. And the worst day of my life followed five days later. I can attest to God’s timing of things being perfect.
On April 13, 2014, I publicly expressed my faith at Northside Church. I was more than excited because Easter was the following weekend. Erin and I had made plans to go to the lake that weekend and then to church for my first real Easter. God, however, had completely different plans. On April 18, 2014, after a long day of urgent cares, emergency rooms, and ambulances, Erin was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia.
I was lost for words. I had no idea why God would do something like this to my friend literally a week after I was baptized. I didn’t know what to think and I was too busy asking all the wrong questions. I was angry and thought Why her? Why now? I couldn’t understand God’s plan. That first weekend was the hardest of all of them. I spent the nights with her and her mom in the hospital room. Erin slept a lot of the time, but when she was awake, we all knew. I tried to be as positive as I could. At 5 a.m. every morning, a nurse who we liked to call "the evil blood lady," came in her room, turned on all the lights, and took her blood. I guess they don’t really care about your comfort sleeping when they need to take vitals.
Erin kept telling me that God had a plan and together, we stayed positive. When I had to leave to come back to school after, it was the hardest thing I had ever done. She was getting worse. They had to move her to the intensive care unit. I knew that she would be taken care of but it was hard walking down the hall seeing everyone else in their rooms with their own health problems.
I had to think to myself, maybe Erin doesn’t have it as bad as other people do right now. When you subtract yourself from equation of everyday life and look around at the people you wouldn’t normally notice or think about daily, you can learn a lot. I had an introspective experience and the exposure to so much pain and sickness gave me time to reflect upon my life. Health is a gift people often take for granted.
As I stood in the ICU room watching Erin, I realized life is precious. Throughout her hospital stay, I learned to put aside my own trivial wants to focus on making her comfortable. When I had to leave, I felt like everything was out of my control. After many tears, I told her I would be back as soon as I could.
Later that night after I got back to school, I remembered about Mr. Garrett's rocket project. Our first draft of our rocket was due the next day and, well, let's just say I hadn’t started it yet. For all you physics people, do not procrastinate the rocket project, just don’t. You know you have a true friend when it is 9 at night and they bring you a Steak 'N' Shake cookies and cream milkshake to cheer you up. Thank you, Grace Welborn. I remember laughing and crying hysterically that night as we tried to assemble cardboard and make it in the form of a rocket. Let’s just say I am happy that was a first draft because my cardboard and glue looked nothing like a rocket at all. Looking down at the mess I created, I felt like the rocket was a metaphor to my life. You can’t just sit there and act like everything is okay and attempt to put more “glue” on to fix the problem. I realized, by doing that project, that Erin’s battle was going to last a long time and that I had to take it one step at a time.
The first thing I did to help out was sell shirts and bracelets for Erin’s cause. The support that I received from Darlington was overwhelming. Erin was a member of the Soccer Academy but never attended school here. All of my teachers were understanding, especially Coach Hembree and Mr. Holmes.
For all of you CALC AB students, you know how tedious those flash cards are. They were due last year the day after I returned from the hospital and, trust me, no one wants to make those flash cards in a hospital. I emailed Coach Hembree nervously letting him know the news of my friends diagnosis and asking for an extension. He responded asking for Erin’s name letting me know that he wanted to pray for her with his family. I realized how much power there really is in prayer. He closed the email with Romans 8:28, “And we know all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”
As Darlington students, we are called to do so much more than just receive the knowledge; we are called to serve our community, to share what we know with others, and to go out into the world with confidence in ourselves and our beliefs, we are called to make relationships and push ourselves to the limit. Here at school, we are afforded so many of these opportunities and they are made possible by the people who call Darlington home.
We are truly lucky to have such close relationships with the faculty and for that I am forever thankful. Sophomore year, I came to Darlington for the Soccer Academy. And now, as I am about to cross the stage in 38 -- yes, 38 -- days, I have gained so much more than just the Academy.
So as I conclude my speech, I hope that you take away something from the scriptures briefly read before and from my story I have shared with you today.
1) Do not be afraid of the unknown.
2) Do not be afraid to try new things.
3) God always has a plan, so sometimes it’s okay to let go.
4) Be thankful for the little things in life, especially our health.
5) Do not procrastinate the rocket project.
6) Reach out to as many faculty members as you can, they are here for you.
7) Find friends. They could be people you least expect, but they will be friends that you keep for a lifetime.
8) Get yourself involved, Join the Lady Tigers Basketball team, those girls are awesome.
9) Trust in others, you can’t do everything alone.
10) Lastly, enjoy your time at Darlington, it goes by fast and won’t last forever.
Everyone has had or will have the opportunity to plant their roots at Darlington, don’t pass it by.
