O.K. Graduating Class of 2002, this is it. Adrian's words of wisdom to send you out into the wild and wonderful world. And what have I got for you? I'll show you. A lunch box. Useful little item. You may have already derived much benefit from deep within one of these.

When I was in school I did not like the school meals, so everyday my Mum made me a sandwich, a packet of chips and gave me a drink. When I got out of school and worked in the big city, again, Mr. Lunch Box came to my rescue. I used to catch a train to the office that was full of people who had very important looking briefcases except for lunch boxes that contained a sandwich, a packet of chips and a drink.

Over the past few years, being responsible parents, our children have been dispatched to school, with, guess what? Well, sometimes a dollar to buy lunch, but for most of their lives, a lunch box with, a sandwich, a packet of chips and a drink.

All of which brings us to our bible story. Jesus, feeding the five thousand. At the centre of the story is a kid with a lunch box. Now this kid's lunch wasn't a sandwich, a packet of chips and a drink but, five loaves and two fishes. Wouldn't exactly be my choice of lunch, but if that's what mum packs for you, that's lunch.

So there's the kid, amongst a crowd of thousands, and everybody's getting hungry. The kid's a bright one. Picks up on a conversation between Jesus and the disciples and how Jesus wanted to feed everybody and the disciples having no way of providing the food they needed.

We don't know exactly what is going through the little guy's mind, but he wanted to do something to help. So he goes up to Andrew, one of the disciples, and says something along the lines of, "Hey, you need some help feeding the crowd, look I've got my lunch box. You could share what's in my lunch box around if it would help".

Andrew, being such an important, know it all, adult, mature disciple, thinks it's kind of cute, but stupid, that the kid offers his lunch. He goes to Jesus and says if verse John 6: 37, "There's a lad here with 5 barley loaves and 2 small fish, but what are they amongst so many"?

In the hands of Jesus, what the little lad offered turned out to be a whole lot more than anybody could of imagined. Miraculously everybody goes home happy, and the disciples on clean up crew discover baskets of food left over. All this because of one little guy who was prepared to offer the contents of his lunch box over to Jesus.

Graduating Class of 2002, you have been here at Fayetteville High School for the past few years, getting the lunch box of your life filled up with the sort of education necessary for you to leave this place. You've had to study some stuff that you chose to, and some other stuff that you had to. You have learned some things that you will never forget and a whole lot of things that you probably will. You are ready to move on. Your lunch box is packed.

I have had the good fortune to have been on the sidelines as your lunches have been packed. Some of you, I have cheered on at games, a few of you we have traveled to strange places together. Some of you I know only a little, others I know you real well. One of you I know really well because I have loved you since the day you were born and when your Mum hasn't been the one packing the lunch box, I made the sandwich. So this is really special to me, to have this opportunity to speak to my daughter's Graduating Class.

And the entire thing I want to say to you is this; Remember what the little lad in the crowd did with his lunch. He gave it over to God, passed it up into the hands of Jesus, and amazing things happened.

Who was this kid? Nobody special. Just a face in the crowd. There were thousands there that day that could have made a difference. Like these next few weeks. Thousands of people in the U.S. are graduating. Thousands have had their lunch box full of an education. But, how many are prepared to offer it over to God?

Maybe, someone of them think of it as Andrew thought of the boy's lunch. "It's only five loaves and two fishes, what good can that do"? There are people out there who will look down their noses at you, just because you are young and you come from a small town, and a small school in West Virginia. Go tell them to rent a copy of Rocket Boys. It's not where you are from, it's who you are and what you do with what you've got, be it a lot or a little, that makes a difference.

I'm guessing most of you are going on to college. I came back yesterday from helping lead a beach retreat for some students belonging to Marshall University's Christian groups. I've been asking them all week, "How does College compare to High School?"

Even those who liked High School said, "It's a whole lot more". They told me College was really helping them discover things about themselves and what they could achieve. One of them even said it was like having new things in your lunch box, one of those things being freedom, the other, responsibility.

Whilst there was a danger of 'pigging out' on the freedom if you took it with a side of responsibility then it added a whole new dimension to life. Giving that freedom over to God made another enormous difference. But that's all for you to discover in the next chapter of your lives.

Graduating? Wow! I hardly feel that I should be up here talking to you at all. When I left school, I really didn't have a whole lot in my lunch box. In England, where I went to school, we didn't even have a graduation. You just finished school with a whimper! No Prom, no Celebration, no Fanfare, pick up you hat, your coat, your lunch box and get out of here.

School days, the best days of your life? I went through mine with a tremendous amount of apathy and indifference and I believe my school felt much the same about me. If you had suggested to my teachers that one day I would be addressing a Baccalaureate Class on their Graduation, they may well have laughed out loud.

I went through the whole of my school days holding on to my lunch box. I wasn't going to share my cheese sandwich with anybody. Give my life over to God? I wasn't even convinced that there was a God. And if there was, what could God do with a loser like me?

Then, for me, a miracle happened. God broke through into my life and gave me the notion that I was a winner who just hadn't realized it yet. That the best thing I could do was offer over whatever I had in the lunch box of my life over to Jesus to do whatever Jesus could do with it.

Sure, I had my plans and my dreams and my hopes, but that simple act of "Look, this is who I am, this is all I've got, a lot of people don't think it's "all that", and I tend to agree with them, but Lord, take it and use it how you want to", saying that made all the difference.

If each of you were able do that with your lives as you graduate from this place, then I am not even going to try and predict where life will lead you. A nameless kid in a crowd of five thousand have the little he had to Jesus and miracle took place.

That's it. That's the entire message I've got for you. Remember what the little guy did with the five loaves and two fishes. Gave it over to Jesus and amazing things started to happen.

Ever since I realized that God was real, I've tried to do that. Give over who I am and see where it might lead. I've never been disappointed yet.

See this sun burnt nose? God took me to the beach last week. Brought me here today to spend time with you most excellent people. Class of 2002, I salute you, no, more than that, I shake my lunch box at you and invite you to place your future in God's hands and expect miracles for the days to come. Go from here with God's blessing. Get out of here and use all the stuff that's packed into the lunch box of your life to feed a hungry world. AMEN!