The Rev. Troy Easley told Jefferson City High School graduating seniors success in life isn't an accident, it's a choice, and the decisions they make in the next few years will shape their lives.
He acknowledged to the seniors they've worked hard to get to this point, but garnered laughter when he added: "Congratulations, you've made it through the easiest 13 years of your life."
He also told parents just because they got their children to the point of graduation doesn't mean their jobs are finished. "They're going to need your prayers, your support and, of course, your money," he said.
In the next decade, he told the graduation candidates, they will make some of the biggest decisions of their lives: whether to attend college and what to study, who to date and marry and whether to have children.
"These decisions will impact your future," he said to a nearly packed crowd at the Miller Performing Arts Center..
He said he wished it was possible for people to input individual decisions into a computer database and have it tell the outcome in life. But even if this was possible, people still wouldn't always do the right thing.
"We all make poor decisions in our lives, not the for the lack of information, but for a lack of attention," he said, in a nearly nine-minute speech.
Even small decisions can have a huge impact, like the theory of a butterfly that flaps its wings in Brazil, causing a chain reaction that leads to a hurricane in the South Pacific or a wind storm in Kansas.
"Success is not an accident. It's a choice. So are the habits you have for today on par with the dreams you have for tomorrow?" he asked.
He quoted the book of Proverbs: "In all your ways, acknowledge Him, and he will make your paths straight."
He emphasized the word "all," saying, "Not just in church, but in your finances, in your relationships, in your environments and all your paths - all you do, go and say - in all those places, acknowledge him and the promise is then he will make your paths straight. He will make your way clear. He will make your way plain."
He said it's easy to get lost in life, and so many people do, because they miss or ignore God's clear direction.
"My prayer is that you set your feet to the track, and will not be distracted ... to make Godly decisions to end at your destinations.