Minority whip addresses Judson grads

For the second year in a row, Judson University graduates got to hear from someone with a background in religion and public policy.

Last year, it was a clergyman active in politics -- the Rev. Richard Cizik, vice president for governmental affairs at the National Association of Evangelicals.

This year, it was a politician whose resume includes a four-year stint as president of a Baptist university -- U.S. Congressman and Republican minority whip Roy Blunt.

Blunt addressed 182 bachelor's degree holders and eight master's recipients during Judson University's 58th commencement Saturday -- the school's first spring commencement since changing its name last year.

Blunt drew on his experience as president of the Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar, Mo., in his keynote address at Judson's Robert D. Linder Fitness Center.

The congressman said that as university president, he would stop students he passed on campus and ask what their plans were for next year.

The most troubling response, Blunt said, was when students told him they were waiting to discover God's plan for them.

"Maybe if you fill out some applications, you can help God," he told students.

Throughout his 15-minute address, Blunt advised students to trust in God but also to take their future in their own hands.

"Work like everything is up to you, and pray like everything is up to God," he said.

Blunt told a story to illustrate the value of a Judson education in helping prepare people to deal with life in all its unpredictability.

During colonial rule, British officers isolated in a jungle in India built a golf course, he said, but monkeys would keep picking up the golf balls and throwing them.

Despite their best efforts, the officers couldn't get rid of the monkeys.

"You've got to play the ball where the monkeys throw it," Blunt said. "Life is like that."