In October of last year, we celebrated and sent out the first graduates from our school: our six students from second year Graphic Design. This is the first chance we’ve had to see the vision fulfilled in the lives of our students, and our prayer is that the seeds that were planted in their lives would continue to take root as they apply what they’ve learned here—academically and spiritually. Jorge was chosen as the valedictorian for this small class; in the words of our Guatemalan director, Julianna, he “embodies the vision of our school and what we hope to accomplish in the lives of our students.”
For Jorge, it was a long journey from when he first walked into CCAF five years ago to the graduation stage. Although born into a Christian family, Jorge had turned away from God. When he came to our school, though, he felt something different. “Here you can feel the presence of God,” Jorge told us. “This is what impacted me when I came here. I knew about God, but I didn’t truly know him. When I came here, I changed.”
Samuel, one of our Basicos teachers, invited Jorge to a small group—Jorge didn’t know what it was—and he came. Slowly, he said, “I started to behave differently, and this is what impacted my life more than anything else: I met God.”
While we recognize that each student needs God, Samuel didn’t realize the significance of that invitation to Jorge. When sharing his valedictorian speech, Jorge shared with his classmates and everyone present about that time in his life.
“I was on a path that wouldn’t have been good for me…. Before coming to this school, I know that I was making decisions that led to death…. Thanks to the plans He has for me, I know I’ve been saved from a life as an alcoholic, a drug addict.”
When he tried to explain what was different about this school, this place, Jorge kept coming back to devotionals, and what it feels like to be at the school. “In reality, being here isn’t like being in other places. It’s something more than just studying…. I know that God is here and we feel him every morning in the school. God has changed many areas of my life thanks to this presence.”
As he finished his speech, Jorge turned to his fellow graduates and encouraged them to apply the things they learned: “When you go out of this place, don’t just hold on to what you learned, but give your lives to God. Every day you’re confronted with the idea that you can live your life however you want to, but I want to say to you that you should give your lives to him, for he has great plans for your life.”
Reflecting on the graduating class and Jorge, Julianna shared that “[a]s students leave our school where we focus on the Lord, where there are people to support them, they go out into a secular workplace and realize the reality of how people live. Jorge knows firmly who he is in Christ, and knows that he wants to serve God with his life. And that’s it. That’s what we want to do.”
He showed this security in his speech: “I want to be different from every other young person out there. My goal is to be able to follow God and show other young people that they don’t have to live their lives like everyone else; they can live their lives for him. And we can give our youth to God because he has our future in his hands.”
When Jorge was beginning his final practicum, starting the next stage of his life, sent out from our ministry, he said:
“At this point I feel happy, not sad, because while I love the environment and everything here at the school, I believe that it’s time to leave and take responsibility. We shouldn’t just take what we learned here and keep it, but we should give it away to others wherever we go. We can be an example wherever we are and I pray that God will always be at the centre of our hearts.”
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