The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1939-06-01
Seniors Asked What They
Will Do With Future Life

right VI way III your lie.
mo appraisal of environment /
complete which does not includ
God. He is not supplement t
the universe, but fills it, and make
for the conquest of our lower tend
encies, and the attainment of on
noblest aspirations.
"In our study of heredity, WI
have not reached the end until VIZ
have read again those words o.
John-"Now are we the sons o.
God" In our study of environment
we have not reached the end unit
we acknowledge God as the invis
ible, spiritual force that pervades
all things, who is greater than al
the forces that are against us
There is no heredity so good, but
that needless, selfish mortals may
not misuse it. Nor is there an in
herited tendency so bad, but by the
grace Of God it can be mastered
"And there is no environment
so good, but that those who desire
can pervert everything in it. And
there is no environment so unfav-
orable that, by faith in the unseen
spiritual realities. the determined
soul cannot climb through to the
spiritual highlands.
Let us think of two men who did
not have an equal chance in life,
who played a large part in our ma
tional life. The first is Aaron Burr.
This is Memorial as well as BAG
calaureate Sunday, but we seldom
think of Aaron Burr who brought
honor to his country. He was bril-
liant and gifted; well educated and
fitted to do great service for hui
mainly and God. He had She back
ground, the equipment, and the OPP
portunity. He just missed the at
tainment of the highest office in
the gift of his country. Yet, If
any talented man ever made a mess
of things, he did. You may call
him a traitor, an egotist, suffering
from decisions Of his own grandeur.
You may blame him or not, for
killing Alexander Hamilton. The
fact remains, he devoted his I'M
usual powers to selfish ends. He
proved beyond doubt that a good
inheritance, a favorable environ
ment, with every advantage that
can be given a man cannot compel
him to be noble and fine and use
full if he does not want to be.
"And that the outcome was a
matter of free choice, there is no
doubt. While a student in college
he came to a moral and spiritual
crises. He faced the question of
what he would do with life and his
responsibility to God. He deliber-
ately took a week to come to a
decision. He sought solitude, and
there for a week debating the ques-
ton from every angle, decided in
the negative. He turned his back
on God and religion. And from
that day, as far as we know, never
troubled his head about it.
That other man is Dwight l..
Moody. He was the ordinary child
of humble and poor parents. AS
a boy, he was a shoe clerk, with
out College education, special tai
ent, or unusual promise. He was
Just such a boy as one in a hun
dred thousand, who would pass thru
the world, and never make a ripple
on the sea Of life.
But Moody made two moment
Gus decisions. First, he decided to
become a Christian. When he hop
ed to join the church, the officials
kept him waiting a full year before
they would admit him. Not long
after, he made his other great de-
cision. Without the slightest idea
of what it would mean to him or
the world, he said, II am going to
see what God can do with a sur
rendered life" That quiet, modest
man of mediocre ability, became a
Christian leader Of world wide in
fluence. Under his plain but search
ing preaching, hundreds Of thous-
ands were converted; among them,
Henry Drumond, university profess
sor, scientist, and religious leader.
Also Wilfred Grenfel, apostle to
the Labrador. Conscious of his own
lack of education, and sympathetic
with those who wanted it, he found
ed two schools for young people
at Mortified, and Mt. Hermon. He
initiated a movement for the better
treatment of the inmates Of our
prisons and jails. He founded the
Moody Bible Institute, which con-
tinues to do vast amount Of good.
THAT one boy, plus an all i'm
portant decision, plus the power Of
God, lifted the life Of countless mill
lions to higher levels, and became
one Of the imortals. Those two
men prove that we with our power
Of choice, can do almost any thing
we want to with our lives.
There are those who think that
until the environment is changed,
there is no chance of survival. A
teacher wrote one Of our pastors
II would rather commit suicide
than go back to the class ROOM"
We have been deluded by the old
proverb, God tempers the wind
to the shorn lamb" That is Meth
er Biblical nor true. He doesn't
temper the wind. He builds the
lamb up to it.
have in mind two men who rec
emily suffered heavy financial loss
es. One had sufficient to keep him
in comfort the rest of his days,
yet he locked himself in a room
and took his life. The other had
nothing left, but is living more
abundantly than ever before, and
ie oxyo,o ohla m thanh God for that