Of course, he’s not graduating in the traditional sense with his classmates, that has been cancelled. He will be filmed walking across a stage as a handful of us (four) wearing masks watch him receive his diploma. This will occur hundreds of times with hundreds of families across Bluffton. This is happening not just locally but throughout every high school in America. It is not what any of us hoped for, but it is a sign of the extraordinary times in which we find ourselves. Even though Lisa and I share his disappointment, we feel incredibly hopeful for his future. We have prayed for him since the day he was born. He is the most out-going, compassionate, fun-loving, and charismatic of our six children. We have often laughed that he has the personality of Tom Sawyer, the unique ability to get others to paint the fence and then pay him for it!

Above all we are most proud that he has kept his faith in Jesus Christ. The scriptures teach: “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.” Will cares about his witness, chastity, and his impact on friends. He has a love for all people. Because of this he will be enrolling at a Christian University this fall, Charleston Southern.

Charles Dickens claimed that pride for one’s children is not a sin for it is a mixture of two great Christian virtues: faith and hope. I praise God and thank you, our great Church, for you played a role in all of it!