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Yesterday our son Mark graduated from Moody Bible Institute. The Commencement was held at the historic, 4000-seat Moody Church, a mile or so from the MBI campus. A few notes from the ceremony . . . We started right on time at 10 AM . . . It appeared that every seat in the house was filled . . . Paul Johnson, Chairman of the Board of Trustees, said there are 37,000 alumni of the Institute, nearly all of them in fulltime Christian service . . . Moody Church has a very powerful pipe organ . . . Michael Easley, the new president, presented outgoing president, Joe Stowell, with a permanent medallion. If I understood correctly, the incoming president is given a medallion with the names of all past presidents engraved on the back. When he retires as president, his own name is inscribed on the medallion. . . . We ran into several people we knew, including Nick and Senya Bair from Calvary who also graduated yesterday . . . When Michael Easley introduced Joe Stowell before his message, he joked that Joe was 19 years old when he became president. As he began his message, Joe alluded to that comment and then said, "And I was 6'10" when I came to Moody" . . . Deeply moving to join with 4000 people in singing "Great is Thy Faithfulness," the unofficial Moody anthem . . . Before granting the degrees, they asked that there be no applause until everyone had received their diplomas. As time passed, the crowd tended to relax and there were some loud cheers for certain people . . . An extremely loud cell phone went off with some sort of musical ring tone. It seemed to go on for a while, then it stopped, then it started again. I guess the caller tried twice. . . . Julius Wong Loi Sing, a professor at the MBI graduate school, delivered the most memorable prayer. He thanked God for bringing the students to Moody from many nations. Having gathered them, he asked God to scatter them once again so that the name of Jesus might be praised from the rising to the setting of the sun . . . We were in the balcony just above where Mark was sitting. He turned and waved to us several times . . . When all the undergraduates had received their diplomas, the crowd stood and began cheering . . . One of the best moments came with the singing of the "Christian Fellowship Song," which apparently almost no one had ever sung before although it was obviously written 70-80 years ago. It begins like this: "God bless the school that D. L. Moody founded; Firm may she stand tho' by foes of truth surrounded. Riches of grace bestowed may she never squander, Keeping true to God and man her record over yonder." Then the chorus goes, "Glory over yonder, over yonder, When Jesus comes in glory we shall part no more." It appeared to me that very few people knew this song. I was struck by the triple use of the word "yonder." That's a word you hardly hear nowadays. . . .  The ceremony struck a nice balance between solemnity and celebration. . . . Mark's graduating class chose as its motto: "Strong to the end." It is a noble goal and