Dear FCC Family & Friends,
What a difference a week can make.
Like most of you, my heart breaks for the thousands personally impacted by the tragedy on the Virginia Tech campus. Just a few months ago I was in that neck of the woods immediately following my father’s heart surgery. Not only is it a beautiful and peaceful part of our country, nestled in the majestic Blue Ridge Mountains; but, I found the people of this region to be its finest feature. Most I met were hard-working, community-minded, wholesome folks who took great pride in their state, their history, their universities and their way of living.
This week I was sadly reminded that one of our own FCC family members is a VT graduate who spent six years of her life in Blacksburg – Lauren Parker. Lauren faithfully serves in our Creative Arts Ministry. She emailed me this week - “There are no words to express the way all of us around the world in the Hokie Family are feeling. Horrified, overwhelmed, shocked, sad, and speechless. We call each other and sit on the phone talking about how we don't even know what to say, how we couldn't have ever imagined feeling the pain we do, the sense of loss, the sense that our beautiful and beloved home will always have this shadow cast over it.”
In the midst of such needless violence and heartache, Lauren added to the delight of this head-wagging pastor, “God is at work on that campus despite the evil thing that has occurred. There are some amazing churches and Christian student organizations who are reaching out to support each other, the school and the local community, to be God's instruments shining light in the darkness, but they are in mourning as well and need to be girded by the strength of our prayers.”
What a gleaming reminder from Lauren, that in the middle of national darkness, the light of Jesus Christ’s love and hope still shines so brightly.
Please join us this Sunday as we take a few moments to pray for Lauren, the “Hokie Family” and the family and friends of those who left this life too early.
In the Fight,
Steve Kiefer
www.1stchristianchurch.org
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