April 11th

April 11th began like any normal day. I was a bit apprehensive, but only because for the first time, our campus director Kent would not be at our weekly meeting, leaving me and Nikki completely in charge. We had two new band members leading worship for the first time, and Albert would be doing slides because for the first time, I would be giving the message. I was sitting in the Campus Center Plaza about 1 pm working on the finishing touches to my message when I received a call from one of our students, Colton. He said, "One of my roommates was hit by a car this morning and died. Can I invite some of his friends and could we have a time of prayer for his family either before or after Ignite?" Shocked, I of course said yes and began making preparations right away. I sent a message to everyone explaining the situation, and revised the schedule so we would have time at the end of the meeting.

Colton arrived about 3 pm to help us set up. We asked him the name of his roommate. "Brody," he said. My heart stopped. We knew Brody. In fact, Brody was one of the first students I met. He was not a regular Ignite attender, but would come on occasion and also came to Bible study sometimes. I would see him on campus all the time and we'd talk for a bit. He was kind of quiet but friendly, mild-mannered but with a great sense of humor. I couldn't believe it was Brody.

People started trickling in a few minutes before 4 pm. Right before 4, one of our students, Justin, came in looking kind of down. I asked him what was wrong. "Rachel died this morning," he said. Rachel had been a friend of his from the cross country team who had been in a coma for the past week and a half after overdosing on drugs. My heart sank for the second time. "What is going on, God?" I shouted in my head. I quickly informed the rest of the STINTers and we included her in our prayer time at the end.

We honestly had no idea how the meeting would go. I was even unsure if I should give my message at all, but I decided to go ahead and do it. I was so nervous standing up there talking to all these hurting and mourning people, but I shared about surrendering to God and the Gospel of grace and love. then Nikki came up and explained the prayer time, inviting people to come down to the front to pray for both Brody and Rachel's family and friends. it was amazing- everyone came down, held hands with friends and strangers, and prayed. People who had never been to Cru before, people who had never been to church, praying and crying and mourning together. Colton opened the time of prayer, and person after person prayed. It was a powerful time. Afterward, we had a couple closing worship songs, including "Blessed Be Your Name," and i definitely lost it and cried all through worship.

Even though it was a really hard, emotionally-draining day, i'm so glad we were able to have Ignite and be there for Colton, Justin and their friends. unfortunately, right after Ignite, we had to rush to the airport to go to Oahu for the Hawaii Cru Fundraiser Dinner and couldn't stick around. April 11th definitely ended up feeling like 3 different days by the end. Day 1 was before i got the phone call, Day 2 was getting Colton's phone call and Ignite meeting, Day 3 was flying to and arriving in Oahu.

Brody is on the left, Colton center, their roommate Patrick right

here are links to the newspaper articles on Brody and Rachel if you are interested:
http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/story/17389593/20-year-old-bicyclist-killed-in-hilo-crash
http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/story/17405734/police-investigate-death-of-uh-hilo-athlete

next: Oahu.