My students are very dear to me. This may not be evident from my cold and cruel exterior, but it is deeply true and it extends far beyond their time in my classroom. Even those that I taught 10 years ago, I still feel a bond with them and remember them in many cases as if they were here yesterday. I know that the feeling may not be mutual, but that does not change how I feel.
A former student wrote to me today. Andrea was here 7 years ago and she was quite a bubbly and fun student who served as a dorm leader. I don’t have favorites, but if I did, she was one of them. She later married another beloved former IBEXer who was here some years earlier.
Her brother, Erik Greene, is in a coma now. His kidneys have shut down and there are tumors on his brain. Much is still a mystery, but yesterday they inserted a feeding tube and tomorrow they will do a semi-permanent tracheotomy. Doctors think his childhood leukemia may have returned. If the Lord preserves Erik, it looks like it will be a long hard battle.
Erik is 35 and has 4 children. I know exactly how that feels. Though you don’t know him or his family, perhaps you could pray for them today.
James 5:16 “The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.”
UPDATE (3/11): You can keep up with God’s answers to prayers for Erik here. I don’t see an RSS feed for the site.
Do continue to pray for Erik but praise the Lord for how He has manfiested opportunities for witness on the hospital wing. Apparently, the faith of the family, the compassion of the church body in providing for the family, and countless other testimonies of grace are beginning to minister to the attending nurses and doctors. We know the Lord is giving them the opportunity to share His love with many “strangers” during this time and we praise God for that.
It seems that the Lord is using His jars of clay once again to herald His saving Gospel. We are so unworthy and yet so priveleged to do so.
Erik’s children go to the school where I teach. Everyday my students pray for him and his family. I’m constantly amazed at the faithful prayer life of these young students in my class. I know that the Lord does answer prayer, in His own way, in His own time. We are praying that these sweet children will still have their daddy.
I will pray