Karen Kingsbury - Liberty University Convocation

[Music] good morning Liberty University will you bow your heads and pray with me real quick Dula thanks so much God for this day we come to you in Halle Lord Jesus and we just are so grateful for all that you do for us and all that you've done for us God thank you so much for waking us up this morning and just give me us another day on this earth every second every day is a gift we did not take that for granted I just want to pray for all the people who are here for sefa god I pray that you give them clarity I pray that you make yourself known to them Lord Jesus I pray that they have an amazing time and I pray that they can like I said just hear from you Lord Jesus I also want to stop and pray for all those people affected in a Thousand Oaks God but the horrible shooting I just want to pray that you put your angels around them god I pray that they feel your presence that you grieve with them Lord Jesus that they can feel your arms wrapping around them that they feel your love God I I pray for today's convocation I pray that you speak through our wonderful speaker Lord Jesus and I pray that we hear from you and Jesus name I pray amen my name is Austin and I'm a junior here at Liberty University and it is it is my honor and my privilege to be able to introduce today's convocation speaker she is a number one New York Times bestselling author she has over 25 million books in print she is an adjunct professor here at Liberty University and her brand-new book you just saw the trailer for is called when we were young and it is amazing and so go check that out but more importantly more than that she is a godly woman she is an amazing wife she is a wonderful mom to me and my siblings and I just feel so blessed every single day to be able to call her mom and it is so cool to watch how she has stayed the same throughout her whole career and how she is just the most genuine person you will ever meet and I know that she is gonna have an amazing amazing talk for you guys today we are doing not we but she is doing a book signing tomorrow at 2 p.m. at the bookstore so come by meet her I'll also be there so meet me if you would like will be signing books and yeah goodbye meet us but without further ado give a warm welcome to Karen Kingsbury my mom good well hello Liberty this is so great I love being here welcome to all of you who are here for seesaw and today we're just gonna share a few stories and lead in a little closer to Jesus so sometimes when I'm writing I find myself so caught up and the characters and people say to me what is that like spending so much time with people who don't technically exist and then I tell them about a moment when I was writing the final pages of a character named Ervil she had kind of become like a grandmother to me and I was sitting in my chair in my bedroom with my laptop and I found myself writing more and more slowly because I knew that it was time for Irbil to go to heaven and I was so sad even though I knew she'd be better off there I just was sad about losing her so I wrote the last words she took her final breath and then I had to just take my laptop and set it down beside my chair and have a good cry over losing Ervil you know how it is and that's where I was when my husband came bounding into the room to get a sweatshirt he was outside playing ball with the boys and he saw me crying just weeping and he stopped and he said Karen know what's wrong with heaven well he got this concerned look and kind of his face went pale the blood drained and he said oh no do we know Orville from church or from school well he rolled his eyes all the way to the ceiling and he said I don't feel sorry for you I mean you killed her I love the way God is using the power of story I always say when Jesus wanted to tell you straight he just told you straight when he wanted to make a point he turned over a table but when he wanted to touch your heart he told the story and I feel so privileged to do that but I will say at the end of the day when my family and friends are gathered around at my memorial service I don't want them to talk about how many books were sold I don't want to hear anything about the New York Times all I want them to say is mom she wrote a best-seller with the days of her life and that's the story that you are here Liberty students and see Foss tudents and parents that's the story that you want to write a best-seller with the days of your life now along the way as I've been working on that story which has a finite number of pages and chapters God has pressed on my heart some things that just kind of work to make it more of a best-seller and I think they would work for you too the first thing is to love well now I know we talk about love a lot we can throw that word around you know we can say I love pizza sure do love Fridays but I'm talking about a difficult all in kind of love so in the story that you were writing with the days of your life some of the characters are a little harder to love right and that was true with my story when I was growing up my brother David was just so hard to love he was always yelling he was always fighting with my parents when he wanted to make a point sometimes he would take a dish out of the cupboard and throw it against the wall I was actually afraid of him much of my life but as I became a believer in my early 20s and as my relationship with Christ grew I prayed for David I prayed and I prayed that God would get his attention and I would give Dave a Bible or I would get in a CD and he just didn't want anything to do with Jesus well one day I got a phone call in my office and the caller ID said that it was him and by that point Dave would only call when he needed something gas money that kind of thing well Dave called and I answer the phone I didn't even want to pick it up I could hear God say you never stop loving never so I answered the phone and in the background blaring through my brother's apartment was the song I can only imagine and my brother says Karen you weren't gonna believe it it's like I finally get it about Jesus and I want to dance before Jesus one day and I want to be in heaven with him I can only imagine what that would be like and hey can I go to church with you this Sunday so of course I had to check caller ID yes they've come we would love for you to come so he came and I remember my brother you know six foot five big guy kind of like my son Austin and he could say more with a hug then I could say with a hundred thousand words so I remember coming into church that week and Dave stepped out in the aisle he was up front yet his hands raised I mean this is a total transformation and I walked up to him people were already standing so kind of just discreetly came up and he gave me the biggest hug and he said Karen thank you for never giving up on me you want to write a best-seller with the days of your life love well read first John four read the whole chapter we love because he loved us first don't give up on the hard characters in your life the second thing that will make your story a best-seller last Austin like okay life is just too serious I mean people get offended so easily and and it's just a difficult time I think sometimes we're even afraid to crack a smile that might offend someone well this was when we learned the lesson in our family that hey we're gonna laugh about it later so we might as well laugh about it now and we learned that lesson one spring break when we took a trip to Sea World now this was before we adopted our boys from Haiti so we had Kelsey and she was eight Tyler was five and Austin was one and we were going to take this trip and I'm a planner so I wanted to be ready and I went to the camping store and I bought a backpack rated for forty days in the wilderness a huge backpack for one day at SeaWorld and in that backpack I stuffed to five coats in case we got cold Sun screen if it got too hot an umbrella in case it started to rain I had apples if we needed a healthy snack bottles of water if we got thirsty at the first aid kit why would you bring so many things to SeaWorld but it was important to me and I was ready we got to the parking lot we climb out Austin it's just one years old so he's in the little front pack that my husband's got him it's got the metal bars and the contraption around the waist and Austin's legs kind of off to the side and he's looking out forward I've got the backpack and then we take the kids by the hands and we look like nomads from the lost land with all of our worldly belongings we make our way to the gate and they give us a schedule and me a firstborn I love a schedule and I looked at that schedule and I said sea lion show ten minutes that's us so we walk through the gates and there to decide our swings and a slide like you can get for free in your own neighborhood and the children say we must swing and my husband who is sometimes the oldest of the children since we have time to swing so we go to the swings the children are having a wonderful time and I am looking at my watch and I'm keeping a count and I say okay so eight minutes except a sea lion show and seven minutes into the sea lion show and finally I just say that's it we have had enough fun we must go so now the children have alarmed looks on their faces there's more people so we're pulling them this way and then this way we're darting through the crowd and we get around the park to the sea lion Stadium and there is an ice cream stand and my husband and children are in line before we can say anything about that time the music started for the sea lion show and I knew it was about to begin well working behind the counter that day at the ice cream stand were two teens from Stepford on low battery because it took two of them to hold the cone up to the soft-serve ice cream and pull the lever and the ice cream would go around and around the edge of the cone but never in the cone and it would get so high and then it would just fall to the ground like it was gonna get back in the car so we finally have our count and we begin to run now toward the steps to get to the sea lion Stadium my cone that I'm holding for Austin falls mid stride and settles into my shoe between my toes I ran back and got a bowl for him and now we're finally at the top of the stadium and the sea lions are already on the stage the whole place is packed there's just one row open and it's about 3/4 of the way down and I say that's us let's go now remember I've got the giant backpack on my back and I remember thinking hmm these stairs are very steep but you almost needed a lead rope to get down the stairs and I found out later how they do that a regular step a half step regular half step well I got my regular foot on the regular step and then I hit nothing but air and I begin to roll and tumble down the steps and it bursts I know because I saw them video cameras swinging my way about that time rolling still tumbling I realized my backpack was unzipped because these are preceding me down the stairs water bottle a sweater an umbrella the first aid kit that we wouldn't need later as it turned out rolling tumbling now the crowd begins to realize I'm not part of the show you see them go from [Music] and they begin to stick out our leg and i'm just still rolling and tumbling the ice-cream is still between my toes and I finally come to a stop and I come right at my ro so I stood up and I brushed myself off I waved off the crowd and then I look back to where my husband was still at the top of the stairs an indescribable look on his face I just said to wit to release the children to gather our belongings and we all sat down at I don't remember anything about the sea lion show but except halfway through it Austin was eating his ice cream from the bowl his chocolate ice cream when he sneezed and if you were the woman in front of me with the white shirt I apologize because I didn't say a thing and when it was all over I turned to my husband who really to his eternal credit up until that time had not cracked the smile just eyes on the sea lions just people are filing out now and I said so you know how did that look rolling and backpack how did that look and he began to laugh no y'all he started to cry couldn't breathe he slithered to the ground and when he could finally speak he's [Music] [Music] every woman's dream hope that your husband tells you look like a sea turtle at least once in your life proverbs 17 laughter is good medicine good good medicines from God so laughs lighten up laugh about it now I did ask them to put this here so I wouldn't fall off the stage I mean I don't want to do it again but we laugh often love well laugh often look for the miraculous the third thing that will mark your story as a bestseller with the finite number of pages and chapters that you have from God look for the miraculous there is so much more to life than the deadlines and assignments and bills than just getting up and just clocking the hours going back to bed starting all over again on Monday God has given us an adventure and bait and we had the choice to have the eyes to see it my dad was easily my biggest fan my mom loved my books she would help correct the spelling but my dad when I was 13 14 he would say Karen one day everyone is gonna know your writing it's so strong and you know Karen someone has to be the next best-selling author I think it's gonna be you my dad I was in Atlanta when I got the phone call I was at a book conference that my dad had suffered a massive heart attack 2007 and I really just had one prayer that he would live long enough for me to come home and say goodbye back at home my mom was in the house with my dad when the heart-attack literally took him from wide-awake to completely out and my nephew Andrew was home he was only 12 he said grandma I think something's really wrong with Papa and so he called 9-1-1 and the operator walked him through giving my dad cpr in a lazy boy chair for 19 minutes until paramedics came but when they got there my dad was blue non-responsive not breathing no heartbeat andrew ran into the next room and he just began to sob because he thought it was his fault and papa was gonna die because of him so paramedics are working and they're working frantically on my dad they're trying to get life but they're getting ready to call the time of death when a police officer runs into the house and he runs up to my mom and he takes hold of her hands where she's standing about ten feet away from my dad he says ma'am do you believe in jesus does your family believe in jesus and she says yes yes we do believe and he said well then we need to pray right now that the power that raised lazarus from the dead would breathe life into your husband right now so that that young man out there does not grow up thinking this was his fault so they prayed a mighty prayer and as soon as they said in jesus name amen in the other room where my dad was being worked on the paramedics yelled out we have a heartbeat praise God right we had six more weeks at the hospital with my dad everything we ever wanted to say was said we held his hands we sang over him Andrew of course was the the good guy the one who had rescued Papa after he he died and was buried when the memorial service was over my mom said well I got a call that officer thanked him I've got his name and his badge number so she put in the call to the local police department and she was passed from one person to the next and finally to the head of personnel and he said ma'am I'm sorry I don't know what to tell you but we've never had a police officer by that name and we've never assigned that badge number to anyone all I know is Hebrews 13 tells us be careful to entertain strangers for in doing so some of you have entertained angels without knowing you look for the miraculous my dad had a favorite song have I told you lately that I love you by Rod Stewart long before he ever died and long before he ever got sick he said whenever you hear this song I want you to think of me we even played it those six weeks in the ICU we played it several times with some of his other hymns he loved but then this song was the one that just spoke to him about how much he loved us have I told you lately that I love you it's funny because he wasn't really a Rod Stewart guy but that song really really meant something to him so we had those words engraved on his tombstone when he passed have I told you lately that I love you and Daniel we began to hear that song at the strangest time and I know that you know what I mean maybe for you it's that bird that lands on the fence or a cloud in a certain shape when you just know that you know that you know that God is saying to you hey I see you I see what you're going through I know what you're hurting I know the loss it's gonna be okay God is doing miraculous things around us we heard that song at Austin's baseball playoffs my dad wouldn't have missed a game we get in the car afterwards we turn the engine on and we don't get to the edge of the parking lot and Rod Stewart's have I told you lately that I love you comes on one of our other son said mom I think you should turn it it's too sad I said you know I'm gonna turn it up I said I don't get it but I'll take it God has you in his heart he loves you he's doing miraculous things we went through the Bahamas and we all were excited to be there together as a family and we finally got into our room and we get up onto our balcony and we're looking around we're so amazed and down by the pool the Bahamian man begins to play Rod Stewart's have I told you lately that I love you and I was so glad I looked around I said you hear this right I said I need witnesses I mean I make things out for a living so then we go to New York I've got a big meeting my publishers super excited about my books and it's kind of the the pinnacle of a career when you're an author to be in New York City to be at the Simon and Schuster building on Avenue of the Americas it was just incredible and we were talking about the books and they were so excited and at the end of the meeting the CEO she said you know Karen you ought to go down to Highline Park I don't know what you were gonna do today but you and your family would love Highline it's beautiful - railroad track that's kind of built above the city with a garden on it you can walk it's pretty so as I'm leaving there's a security guard and he is there guarding kind of a law being in the lobby there are all these glass cases with my book and it's kind of like the cover my face the cover of my face so it's a lot of my face and Malathi and the security guard sees me and it kind of looks and he kind of goes like this and he says hey that's you I said yeah yeah it is and he said well look at that you made it and I said thank you and as I walked out and got in the cab with Kelsey and Kyle who were in New York with me all I could think was I want to call heaven I miss my dad he saw this he believed this moment would happen but he rose New York City I'm not gonna hear that song I mean it is what it is so we drove down the High Line and one thing or another we get to the top or we're taking pictures now we actually had a camera with us which for you younger people that's it took pictures but you couldn't text or anything on it so and was really hard to take a selfie but we were trying to get a good selfie of us when when this gentleman walked by and he said I'll take that picture for you and so Kelsey showed him how to use the camera and then he looked at it after he took the picture and he said that is really lovely and so he handed it back to us and as he walked off Kelsey said do you know who that was I said no a hipster yet I don't know she said mom that was right I said no just I guess I was showing him how to use the camera and you said I'm usually on the other side of this thing but this will be fun so now I'm not wanting to look entirely crazy I began to run after the man and so he stopped and he looked that guy said sir you just took our picture and I'm catching up to him and I think he thought I was having an episode of some kind and put his hand on my arm and I put my hand on his and he said are you okay and I said I am but are you Rod Stewart but he said well yeah yes I am I am I'm here in town for my book tour no I didn't tell him I was an author I said can I tell you about my dad so I told Rod Stewart about my dad and about how have I told you lately that I love you was engraved on my dad's tombstone Rod Stewart puts his hands together he says I can only tell you you will never know what that meant to me and then he says can I give you a hug again because of this what are the odds that you go with so into New York City go to different spots wander around your whole life you may not run into each other and yet here I am on a day I'm missing my dad in a Rod Stewart is giving me it did there's no logic a year later he was on The Today Show we were talking about this story and he came on to the Today Show to say it was me I remember it and now I'm reading your books only only guy look for the miraculous but finally the most important if you want to write a best-seller with the days of your life live for Jesus Christ now Liberty students yeah see you are the best of the best this is where you should go if you're here for see fall that will just help you this is where you should go but even at a school like Liberty even for me we can get a little lazy we can get complacent and we have to remember that our faith is not an Instagram post okay living for Christ is life it's everything it's living above the world it's not friendship with the world it's not cussing it's honoring your girlfriend it's living pure we can do that live for Jesus Christ now I am gonna close today by reading a story that I wrote from my kids and I'm particularly wanting to do this because you see fall parents I know what it feels like I remember the year that Austin our youngest came here the summer that that was about to happen all with every heartbeat I would hear August 24th August 24 I felt like I was turning in my resignation on August 24th the day he was gonna leave buddies a junior now so it goes by quickly but so does life so I'm gonna read this I'm going to ask you at the end of this sometime in the next couple hours either give your parents a hug or give them a call all right long ago you came to me a miracle of first first smiles and teeth and baby steps a sunbeam on the burst but one day you will move away and leave to me your past and I will be left thinking of a lifetime of your last the last time that I held a bottle to your baby lips the last time that I lifted you and hell of you on my hip the last night when you woke up crying needing to be walked when last you crawled up with your blanket wanting to be rocked the last time when you ran to me is still small enough to hold the last time that you said you'd marry me when you grew old precious simple moments and bright flashes from your past would I have held on longer if I'd known they were your last our last adventure to the park your final midday nap the last time when you wore your favorite faded baseball cap your last few hours of kindergarten last days of first grade your last at-bat in Little League last colored picture made I never said goodbye to all your yesterday is long past still what about tomorrow will I recognize your laughs the last time that you catch a frog in that old backyard pond the last time that you run barefoot across our fresh cut line silly scattered images will represent your past I keep on taking pictures never quite sure of your lasts the last time that I comb your hair or stop a pillow fight the last time that I pray with you and tuck you in at night the last time when we cuddle with a book just me and you the last time you jump in our bed and sleep between us to last piano lesson last vacation to the lake your last few weeks of middle school last soccer goal you make I look ahead and dream of days haven't come to pass but as I do I sometimes miss today's sweet precious lasts the last time that I help you with a math or spelling test the left time when I shout that yes your room is still a mess the last time that you need me for a ride from here to there the last time that you spend the night with your old tattered bear my life keeps moving faster stealing precious days that pass I want to hold on longer want to recognize your lasts the last time that you need me my help with details of the dance the last time that you asked me for advice about romance the last time that you talked to me about your hopes and dreams the last time that you wear a jersey for your high school team I've watched you grow and barely notice seasons as they pass if I could freeze the hands of time I'd hold on to your lasts for come some bright fall morning you'll be going far away college life will beckon in a brilliant sort of way one last hug one last goodbye when quick and hurried kiss one last time to understand just how much you'll be missed I'll watch you leave and think how fast our time together passed so let me hold on longer guide to every precious last would you pray with me Oh father God we thank you for this time that we could just stop and listen to your voice that you would help us Lord to write a best-seller with the days of our life you would help us Lord to love well and to laugh often to look for the miraculous but most of all to live for Jesus Christ would you be with the sefa families here who have such a big decision ahead and we give them clarity would you help us Lord to hold on to every precious last jesus name amen thank you [Applause]

Channel: Liberty University

Views: 3,545

Rating: 4.9101124 out of 5

Keywords: Liberty University, LibertyU, Liberty, Jerry Falwell

Id: IaOd_LHWPyM

Length: 38min 17sec (2297 seconds)

Published: Mon Nov 12 2018