We Miss You
There’s hard. And then there’s another level of hard.I’ve thought about this post for nearly 300 days. This marks the 4thyear that I’ve posted a blog calling for prayer for high school and college freshmen. I’ve asked parents of freshmen to submit names and I’ve paired each student with a willing prayer warrior.The bottom line is this: The first 2 months of someone’s freshman year are critical.Whether someone's going from middle to high school or high school to college, change is hard. There’s pressure to fit in, there’s fear or rejection, there are academic expectations... the list goes on and on. And on October 2, 2017, my understanding of the need for prayer for freshmen was taken to a whole new level of urgency.[bctt tweet="The first 2 months of someone’s freshman year are critical."]Last year, as I paired students with prayer warriors, I assigned myself a freshman by the name of Michael Feehan – a first-class young man who was respected and admired by anyone who knew him. A childhood classmate of my own son, he’d developed into the consummate gentleman that any parent of a daughter would long for their girl to bring home. A talented athlete and lover of all things outdoors, Michael headed to the University of Tennessee to start his college career like so many of his friends. But just 6 weeks into his freshman year, Michael’s precious time on earth came to an end by suicide. He now resides in the arms of his Heavenly Father… but the ripple effect of pain left on earth is beyond measure.Real lives of our sons and daughters hang in the balance. We all need prayer, but the internal and external pressures that young men and women face as freshmen must be matched by our willingness to stand in the gap. I want to honor Michael’s precious life and his amazing family by calling us to our knees. The pain his family has walked through should never have to be experienced again. Why my son finished his freshman year of college and Michael didn’t haunts me… but we must not back away from the responsibility we have to pray, to text, to even drop a card in the mail.[bctt tweet="The pressures young people face as freshmen must be matched by our willingness to stand in the gap."]In a few short days, I’ll begin the journey of driving my daughter to drop her off for the start of her freshman year. For girls, the added danger of sexual assault is real. 50% of all college rapes occur in the first 6 months of the freshman year. The police refer to this dangerous period as the red zone. Friend groups are not established. No one knows each other enough to look out for them. Alcohol and drugs are more the norm than the exception.I’m not saying this to scare moms of freshmen. Goodness, I’m right there with you for the second year in a row! Rather, I want to remind us all that there’s a real enemy whose only desire is to steal, kill, and destroy. Michael’s parents did everything right. Michael was as wholesome a kid as I can imagine. This wasn’t a pattern of behavior, but a dark moment. We must double down to stand in the gaps where the enemy wants to infiltrate with doubt and darkness, and we must not allow his destructive plans to happen again. We must labor in prayer so the second half of John 10:10 is what we celebrate: “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”Can you join me in covering our freshmen in prayer? If you’d be willing to pray through Oct 20, please reply. If you have a freshman whom you’d like to be prayed for, please reply with his or her name and school/college.And I ask that we all continue to pray for the Feehans.Michael, we miss you.