The Times and Democrat - Sen. Scott Tells Students to 'Work Hard in the Word'

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By Martha Rose Brown

"I lived life like a person who thought life wasn't fair," U.S. Sen. Tim Scott said Tuesday.

Speaking at Voorhees College's historic St. Philip's Episcopal Chapel during its weekly worship service, Scott told the crowd of students, "God has taken your mess, given you a message, so you can be a messenger."

Scott, a Republican who succeeded former U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint in 2013, encouraged the students to work hard and "work hard in the Word."

Scott recalled that in his early teen years, his parents divorced.

He also observed that there were other individuals who weren't leading successful lives and he determined that was also his destiny.

"Having started out on the way wrong side of the tracks, it consistently reinforced that fact that I was not going to do well," he said.

He graduated from North Charleston's Stall High School, but he had a tough go at it.

He managed to graduate "on time," but not before he failed world geography, civics, Spanish and English.

"God had a plan, though," he said.

Just two years before graduating from high school, Scott worked at a local movie theater and met his mentor.

"He changed my life," Scott said. "You can think your way out of poverty."

By the time he finished up high school, Scott obtained a small football scholarship and headed to college.

"I believe God understands where you are … and how to get you where He needs you to be," he said.

In 1985, Scott graduated from Charleston Southern University with an undergraduate degree in political science.

"I'm here to tell you that there is a God who sees you," he said. And God has deposited seeds in each of us.

Scott, 48, said about 15 years ago he began to recognize that the seed God planted in him was not dormant -- it was growing and maturing at God's rate, not his own.

Scott became an entrepreneur. And saw the fruits of his labor grow and ripen.

He started Tim Scott Allstate and was a partner of Pathway Real Estate Group.

He likened his road of life as having "pot holes," explaining, "Obstacles have always come my way."

Scott said overcoming the challenges has resulted in God giving him opportunities to, "share the hard time of life and the successes of life with a Scripture that has never let me down."

He said Ephesians 3:20, which states, "Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us…" captures the greatness of God at work in spite of times that are difficult.

After the chapel service dismissed, Corey Lane, a freshman from Philadelphia, Pa., said he found Scott's message "inspirational."

He identified with Scott's experience of realizing that dreams of success in football weren't part of God's plan for him. Lane said pursuing a career in medicine is the route he was destined to take.

Also, freshman Lacina Karamoko of Philadelphia remarked that Scott's message "was really wonderful."

"I really like his speech," he said.

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