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By Robert Docter –
At the College for Officer Training at Crestmont June 13, 57 cadets of the Disciples of the Cross session officially completed training and many received diplomas after earning an associate’s degree over the past two years.
General Paul and Commissioner Kay Rader (Ret.) attended the ceremony as guest leaders for the weekend events. Kay Rader spoke on how design and destiny can make a difference. She drew on examples from the careers of Evangeline Booth and Amy Carmichael, two women with plans and a destiny to achieve. She said Booth’s contributions helped shape The Salvation Army’s image in the United States. Carmichael, two years younger than Evangeline, embodied the topic of how we design our own destiny, Rader said.
“She was full of life,” Rader said, recounting that Carmichael made India her home, living there for 53 years. She’s now buried there. Rader said that in devoting herself to rescuing the children of that nation, Carmichael entered a lifestyle she had never experienced but asked herself often “If not I, then who?”
“Cadets, you seek to make a difference,” Rader said. “You, for the most part, are millennials—tech savvy, civic minded, with a strong sense of personal identity…Today, you signal your rejection of narcissism and become ‘others’ oriented. Today marks an important turning point in your lives. Let the Holy Spirit design your destiny. Make your daily prayer: ‘Holy Spirit, stay with me. What you will, I want to be.’”
