Cedarville Magazine, Spring 2018

Since 2013, Cedarville University has awarded a full-tuition scholarship to a student who has come through the foster care system in Ohio, born out of the University administration’s desire to answer God’s call in James 1:27 to “look after orphans and widows in their distress.” Here are the stories of two scholarship recipients. They found themselves in situations they did not choose, but their stories are stories of hope, stories of answered prayers, and stories of how God can redeem even the hardest situations for His glory. IT’S NOT MY STORY, IT’S HIS From as far back as he can remember, Luke Combs ’19 had a home life that was unstable at best, downright tumultuous at worst. “Social services was part of my life from birth,” he said. “It’s all I knew.” Placed in foster care during the first two years of life, he eventually was sent back to the care of his mother. His father was only sporadically involved in his life. “The dynamic between my parents was all about drugs and fighting,” he explained. Combs found an escape from the turmoil at home in a local church that sent a bus to his neighborhood every Sunday. “I started going because my siblings went,” he said. “My mom let us go just to get rid of us.” But it was there that Luke found hope through a relationship with Jesus Christ, accepting Christ as his Savior between the ages of 4 and 5. “I always knew that I wanted to pursue a relationship with God,” he said. “I knew I wanted that in my life.” Church became an important part of his life, offering him what he wasn’t getting at home — security, stability, love. “I went every chance I could,” he explained. As he got older, he’d even walk to church. “I can remember leaving at 6:30 a.m. to get there on time,” he said. By the time he was 12 years old, things at home had gotten so bad that he was no longer able to live with his mother. He hasn’t seen her since. He went to live with a grandmother and then an aunt for a few years, but eventually found himself placed in a foster home during his freshman year of high school. Through it all, he continued to cling to the hope he had found in Christ. As a cross country runner, Combs began to form a close relationship with his coach, Clinton Murray. Eventually, Murray and his wife, Shelley, became Combs’ guardians in the middle of his freshman year. He lived with the Clintons the rest of high school, and it was there he found stability to begin dreaming about his future. Combs first learned of Cedarville University through attending cross country meets at the University. By his sophomore year of high school, he knew he wanted to come to Cedarville, but financially, it seemed out of reach. Murray and he began to consider local colleges, which seemed more feasible for him. But he never lost his desire to come to Cedarville. During his senior year, “eight things happened FOSTER CARE SCHOLARSHIP FULFILLS JAMES 1:27 BY MICHELE (CUMMINGS) SOLOMON ’91 ADVANCING CEDARVILLE 28 | Cedarville Magazine