This is the time of year when we are all invited to attend graduations. We even had one in our family this year as our son-in-law Steve graduated with an MBA from Brandeis. It was a very special day because his parents who are missionaries in Africa were able to attend. But overall, graduations are not usually too much fun or too interesting. Often they are long, and we soon forget what the speakers say. We go because we care about the graduates and want to show our support for the effort and hard work that they have put into their program of studies.

However, on May 21st we went to a different type of graduation. Eugene graduated from a Salvation Army program in Cambridge, MA. He had moved through the phases of the program and had completed the final phase. His success in the program was an answer to prayers for him over a number of years.

I first heard about Eugene shortly after we came to First Baptist Arlington. At that time, we had a Tuesday night Bible study, and Bill often requested that we pray for his brother Eugene. The family did not know where Eugene was. In fact, they had not heard from him in years. But we faithfully prayed. Some time later, Eugene contacted his family and began to rebuild relationships. Then, unexpectedly Eugene had a stroke and needed help. Bill brought him to MA and helped him get medical help. During that time, Eugene took the Alpha course with us. I was sitting in class one night, looked over at Eugene, and realized that I was seeing the answer to our prayers; and I hadn't even realized it.

I think that there is a real lesson for us all in this story. First, we should pray and seek God's help with problems that we don't know how to solve. We need to trust God to care about those we are concerned with and to work in their lives in ways that we never dreamed possible. Finally we need to recognize what God in doing in answer to our prayers and to praise Him for loving us enough to answer our prayers.