Speaker Mike Patin Advises Students To 'seek, Include And Choose' God In Their Lives

Everybody on earth is seeking or looking for something, according to Mike Patin.

That could be attention, acceptance, popularity, success, friends, a significant other, pizza pie or less stress, Patin explained recently to more than 600 seventh- and eighth-grade students from Evansville-area Catholic schools.

Patin, a husband, dad and self-proclaimed “Faith Horticulturalist,” spoke to the students during a morning presentation on Feb. 12 at St. John the Baptist School in Newburgh. A nationally-known Catholic speaker since 2003, Patin is a former high school teacher and youth minister. He focuses on affirmation, challenge and encouragement during his appearances in which he said he plants and waters seeds of faith.

While he was in Evansville, Patin also presented a 3-day nightly mission for St. John the Baptist Parish.

Patin told students there are well-meaning people in our lives who offer guidance to help us achieve what we may be seeking. But, he said, sometimes those people tell us to go in the opposite direction.

For example, Patin chose four kids from the crowd and had them play a game. Students were blindfolded, and then the crowd had to direct them to the location of foam noodles that were spread across the gym floor.

Kids were shouting and yelling directions to those who were blindfolded and scrambling to find a foam noodle. While one student did find one, the others kept roaming aimlessly.

Patin noted it’s all about “point of view.” You see, he said to students, the crowd told the blindfolded students to go left, and they listened, but their left is the opposite of yours.

So sometimes, Patin said, people who mean well may tell us to go in the opposite direction God intends.

“In the middle of all of that (noise), even at your age, God is trying to get in there, too,” Patin said. “He’s trying to give us some idea of what might work, but He’s not as loud as the other voices.”

During the game, students who were blindfolded often couldn’t hear what their peers were shouting.

God’s voice is frequently the quietest, Patin explained.

“You see, sometimes in our rush we look for stuff and we’re looking in the wrong places,” he said.

When we’re seeking something, Patin advised kids to tell God about it first.

Patin suggested students shouldn’t choose between what they’re seeking and God, but instead should include God in their lives and not shut Him out.

It’s not easy to keep the attention of about 600 students, but Patin didn’t seem to have a problem with it. During the roughly hour-long presentation, he used a series of games and ice breakers to keep kids engaged. Those included rock, paper, scissor; clapping when kids were too loud; and a heads or tails game.

After all the games, Patin told students they had a choice for how to play, just like everyone has a choice for how they respond to whatever happens to them in life. 

“It’s in your hands,” he said. “The next choice is completely up to you. … Some of the things you’re looking for in your life right now, some of the things you and I, even at my age, seek are going to become a lot clearer to us if we include God in the choices we make.”

Numerous times during the presentation Patin had the students repeat: “seek, include and choose.”

He closed with a group prayer.

“God help all of us, no matter our age, to seek you, to include you and to choose you.”

The Message photo by Megan Erbacher.