Final Good-Byes

The campus hosted a memorial service and celebration of Jason Ray's life late this afternoon. Afterwards I was able to meet Jason's dad and hand him several poster boards of prayers that students had written-up at our prayer meeting for him the Sunday after he was hit. His dad clutched them with great joy, describing how meaningful it had been for him to hear how much his son was loved.

Being a dad now myself, I can resonate with this a little bit. If want me to like you, just tell me how much you like my kids.

I'm encouraged by how my students have worked through all this these past couple weeks. Thanks, too, for so many of your prayers. If you're interested, you can donate to the Jason Kendall Ray Memorial Fund via his home church:

Jason Kendall Ray Memorial Fund,
c/o Concord Christian Church
3101 Davidson Highway
Concord, NC 28027

Any questions, please call the church office at 704-788-6315

Late last week we got word about another student that won't get the same type of press but could definitely use your prayers.

Christy Smith was a student involved with IV at UNC for the past couple years. She took off this fall to go to China with YWAM and then was working at Windy Gap, a Young Life camp outside Asheville, NC. She was thrown from a horse last week, hit her head on a post and then hit the ground hard. She's in a coma in Asheville and has had some brain swelling. Doctors are cautiously hopeful that she'll make it, but it could be a long, long, long road to recovery--perhaps a year or more before she'll be able to function independently.

Since she'd been gone for a little while and was a quieter person, this is hitting a smaller portion of my students, but it's still tough. I'd love your prayers for us as we continue to slug through bad/hard news...