Leaving a Legacy

This week we received a list of names of people and churches that had recently given monetary gifts to the ministry of Christ In Youth. This is an update we get periodically and in most cases I don't recognize the names of the people, some of the churches are familiar to me, rarely the people. This time, however, there was a name on the list that stood out to me.

Sometime after I came to CIY on a full-time basis (circa 2003) the president of the CIY at that time (Paul Smith) told me of a letter he had received back in the spring of 2000 from a regular donor imploring him to hire someone named Ryan Claborn as an intern. At that time Paul had no idea who I was, this was prior to my first summer as an intern. By the time the letter was received and Paul checked into it, I had already been asked to intern that summer (and had accepted). The letter came from the grandmother of a friend of mine from OSU.

This friend of mine, who knew that I was applying for the internship had clearly said something about it to his grandmother, who felt compelled to write a letter on my behalf. I never had the pleasure of meeting the sweet lady who wrote the letter, but have always had a sense of appreciation for her and for her grandson who thought enough of me to give such a recommendation that others were stirred to act.

I post this now in her honor as the gift she recently gave to CIY was from her trust as she has now gone on to be with the Lord. I have recently corresponded with my friend (her grandson) who expressed that the last few months had been difficult for his dad (her son) in dealing with her passing and the estate details that inevitably follow. I don't know much about her, only that her faith prompted her to act on more than one occasion. My prayer today is that my own faith would be one that prompts me to act - whether that is in a matter of giving, sharing my faith, serving others, or something else. Clearly she leaves a legacy of faith for her family and was willing to show the depth of that commitment by entrusting some of the resources God had put in her care to the ministry of Christ In Youth. I pray that this ministry will always strive to be faithful in the stewardship of those resources and that God would continue to raise up men and women of faith who are willing to support the vision and purpose of CIY.

[I have intentionally withheld the names from this account because I have not asked the permission of the family to reveal them. While I don't think they would be offended by me using the names, I want to respect their privacy.]