Friday, November 2, 2012

Politics & Garrett's TeenPact Speech

Hello blog world, friends, & family =)

We are in the final days before Election 2012, down to the wire.
These last few months {seems like years} have been FULL of campaigns & commercials ...
both of which, I'm not ganna lie, I am quite ready to be over with!
I will not be sad to see those go.
I may be sad about who's in the White House, but not ganna miss the political blah blah blah.

That being said, our household is pretty politically involved.
We have one, however, who is our resident 'future politician'.
Garrett has been interested for as long as I can remember ... & involved for as long as he's been able.
He has worked on various local campaigns, from state representatives to the mayoral campaign.
He attends our local political events & our town hall public meetings each month.
He's attended various rallies, seeing more political figures than I could name off
{George W Bush, McCain, Palin, Christie, & many others}.

He's just got the knack.
He doesn't forget a thing.
He can quote all day long ... knows facts & figures from anything political.
Garrett loves history ... not just world or US, but history of any kind.
Since he was small, he was interested in our family genealogy,
asking lot of questions from his grandparents about our ancestors & heritage.

Lately, we've seen him excel in areas in which he's had no specific training.
He can debate like no body's business & on numerous occasions, he's been asked if he
has studied debate or participates on a debate team.
He hasn't, & to this he replies, 'You just have to know my Dad.' ;)

He's always been well-spoken, a very good communicator,
but has never been involved in speech giving of any kind.
We didn't even study that in homeschool, yet this is another area in which he's been gifted
& we are so grateful!
It's amazing to see how God equips each of us differently, but perfectly according to our nature,
personality, & furthermore, for our specific callings in life.

Back in the spring, Garrett attended TeenPact, a hands-on leadership training course.
Their mission sums them up:
to train youth to understand the political process, value their liberty, 
defend their Christian faith and engage the culture at a time 
in their lives when, typically, they do not care about such things.
 
It was his first time to attend & against the odds, Garrett, an unknown with no family ties
or other previous TeenPact affiliation, was elected governor from 80 of his peers.
This was the highest & most distinguished position to which you could be elected.
Upon election, he had to prepare & deliver a speech {the very next day} to a very large crowd
comprised of fellow TeenPact students, parents, staff, & state coordinators.

He came home that evening & right before bed, he came into our bedroom & said,
"I like I know what I am going to speak about ... Josiah & the lost book of the law."
He shared a few quick thoughts & ideas, getting his Dad's opinion, & off he went.
He never asked us another thing.
We didn't proof it ... he didn't practice it on us ... nothing else.

The next afternoon, in front of a room full of people, in a room at the Indiana Statehouse,
he got up to deliver his speech.
Now, I must say, as a parent, I was nervous for him!
This is something he's never done before ... speech writing, public speaking.
I didn't doubt his abilities, but I was putting myself in his shoes ... & I was nervous!!

But I shouldn't have been.
He nailed it!!
I was trying hard not to jostle my camera around as I was recording, but the tears were sneaking
down my cheeks as I watched & listened to my son deliver an outstanding speech with
a profound message.
I was so proud of him.
Several parents asked us if he wrote his speech himself, because they were so surprised at
the depth of the message he shared.

I am sooo happy to be able to share this video of his entire speech.
{Thanks to our dear friend for tweaking it ... it was really hard to hear & he fixed that}
It's only 5 minutes long ... & it's so, so good.
Take time to listen.



A few weeks ago, Garrett was invited by Generation Joshua to campaign for Senator Murdock.
He leaves today & will be gone until Wednesday.
Generation Joshua is providing all lodging, transportation & food.
He'll be working with Gen-Josh volunteers from around the country, in this last push before election day.
He doesn't even know what all the activities will be, but I know for sure, he'll be happily involved.

He's also been invited to attend a rally at Lucas Oil Stadium from the Mike Pence campaign,
so he's going to try & fit that in, as well.

I don't know what the future holds for Garrett, in the arena of politics or life in general, for that matter,
but I take comfort knowing that God is guiding his every step.
He's opening doors & providing connections & opportunities.
In the meantime, I'll be here on the home front, covering Garrett with a momma's prayers ...
trusting God to lead & protect him.

Join me in praying for our country, now & for the next several days, especially.

My country 'tis of thee, 
sweet land of liberty.
Of thee I sing.
Land where my fathers died.
Land of the pilgrim's pride.
From every mountainside,
Let FREEDOM ring!

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