Let me take this moment to
wholeheartedly congratulate each and every one of you today.
You graduated! You did it.. you made it! Congratulations to you and you did it
all by yourselves, nobody helped you! (joking) You know that's
what I thought when I was.. when I was young I starting to really make it as an
actor. I came in I talked to my mother I said ma "did you think that this was
gonna happen I'd be so big and I'll be able to take care of everybody? And I
can do this and I can do that.." She said, "boy stop it right there,
stop it right there.. stop it right there!" She said, "if you only
knew how many people that have been praying for you?"
How many prayer groups she put together, how many prayer cloths she gave me, how
many times she splashed me with holy water to save my sorry behind as she said it. She said, "oh you did it by yourself, I tell you what you can do by yourself you
can go outside get a mop and a bucket and wash them windows you can do that by
yourself.. superstar!" So I'm saying that to say, I
want to congratulate all the parents and friends and family and aunties and
uncles and grandmothers and grandfathers and teachers and friends and enemies.
It's all the people that helped you to get where you are today. Congratulations
to you all! I'ma tell about two three stories.. I'm
gonna keep it real short. Number one: Put God first! Put God first in
everything you do. Everything that you think you see in me, everything that I've
accomplished, everything that you think I have and I have a few things everything
that I have, is by the grace of God. Understand that it's a gift! 40 years ago
March 27 1975, it was 40 years ago just this past March I was flunking out
of college. I had a 1.7 grade point average.. I hope none of you can relate. I had
a 1.7 grade point average, I was sitting in my mother's beauty shop.. they still
call it beauty shops now? What they call it now? Yeah I was sittin' in the beauty parlor,
I was sitting in my mother's beauty parlor and I'm looking in the mirror and
I see behind me this woman under the dryer. And every time she looked up..
every time I looked up she was looking at me, just looked at me in the eye. I don't
know who she was that I said you know.. She said, "somebody give me a pen give me
give me a pencil, I have a prophecy" March 27 1975 She said, "boy you are gonna travel the
world and speak to millions of people" Now mind you I flunked out of college, I'm
thinking about joining the army I didn't know what I was gonna do and she's
telling me I'm gonna travel the world and speak to millions of people. Well.. I
had traveled the world, and I have spoke to millions of people
but that's not the most important thing. the success that I had. The most
important thing is that what she taught me and what she told me that day has
stayed with me since. I've been protected, I've been directed. I've been corrected.
I've kept God in my life and He's kept me humble. I didn't always stick with Him
but He always stuck with me. So stick with Him, in everything you do!
If you think you want to do what you think I've done then do what I've done
and stick with God. Number two: Fail Big! That's right fail big.. today is the
beginning of the rest of your life and it can be..it could be very
frightening. It's a new world out there, it's a mean world out there and you only
live once. So do what you feel passionate about. Take chances.. professionally. Don't
be afraid to fail. There's an old IQ test was nine dots ,and you had to draw
five lines with a pencil within these nine dots without lifting the pencil. The
only way to do it was to go outside the box..
so don't be afraid to go outside the box. Don't be afraid to think outside the box;
don't be afraid to fail big.. to dream big. But remember, dreams without goals are
just dreams and they ultimately fuel disappointment. So have dreams but have
goals; life goals, yearly goals, monthly goals, daily goals. I try to give myself a
goal every day. Sometimes just to not curse somebody out.. simple goals but have
goals. And understand that to achieve these goals, you must apply discipline
and consistency. In order to achieve your goals you must apply discipline which
you are already done and consistency every day; not just on Tuesdays and miss
a few days. You have to work at it every day; you have to plan every day. You've
heard the saying, 'we don't plan to fail we fail to plan'.. hard work, works! Working
really hard is what successful people do. And in this text, tweet, twerk world that
you've grown up in, remember just because you're doing a lot more doesn't mean
you're getting a lot more done! Remember that just because you're doing a lot
more, doesn't mean you're getting a lot more done. Don't confuse movement with progress. My
mother told me, "so yeah yeah cause you can run in place all the time and never get
anywhere." So continue to strive, continue to have goals, continue to
progress. Number three: You'll Never See A U-haul Behind A Hearse! I'll say it again
you'll never see a u-haul, behind a hearse. I don't care how much money you
make, you can't take it with you, the Egyptians tried it they got robbed
that's all they got robbed. You can't take it with you and it's not how much you have
it's what you do with what you have. We all have different talents, some of you
will be doctors, some lawyers, some scientists, some educators, some nurses
some teachers.. yeah okay some preachers. The most selfish thing you can do in
this world is help someone else. Why is it selfish? Because the gratification, the
goodness that comes to you.. the good feeling, the good feeling that I get from
helping others nothing's better than that well one or two things but
nothing's better than that. Not jewelry, not big house I have, not the
cars but it's the joy. That's where the joy is in helping others, that's
where the success is, in helping others. Finally
I pray that you put your slippers way under the bed tonight, so that when you
wake up in the morning you have to get on your knees to reach them. And while
you're down there say thank you for grace,
thank you for mercy, thank you for understanding,
thank you for wisdom, thank you for parents,
thank you for love, thank you for kindness, thank you for humility,
thank you for peace, thank you for prosperity. Say thank you in advance for
what's already yours. It's how I live my life, that's why I am
one of the reasons why I am today. Say thank you in advance for what is already
yours. True desire in the heart, for anything good, is God's proof to you sent
beforehand to indicate that it's yours already. I'll say it again true desire in
the heart, that itch that you have whatever it is you want to do, that thing
that you want to do to help others and to grow and to make money, that desire that
itch.. that's God's proof to you sent before hand already to indicate that
it's yours. And anything you want, good, you can have..
so claim it, work hard to get it. When you get it, reach back pull someone else up.
Each one..teach one. Don't just aspire to make a living,
aspire to make a difference! Put God First! Put God first in everything you do. I
didn't always stick with Him but He always stuck with me.
So stick with Him in everything you do!
