Inspire, Fall/Winter 2008

16 fall/winter 2008 my cedarv i l le Finding a New Normal I’m still a Cedarville student, studying prelaw, looking for ways God can use me to help people. I have the same sense of humor, the same ambitions, the same passion to serve the Lord with all my heart, soul, and strength. I’m just doing it from a slightly different viewpoint. I wish I could say I broke my neck saving a child from a speeding car or climbing Mt. Everest or doing something equally heroic, but I can’t. All I did was attempt a back flip. That was the day I almost died — physically and spiritually. But let’s go back a bit. I grew up in a Christian home in a suburb of Chicago, son of Bill and Debbie Knudsen. My brother Matt ’05, sister Jen Kraker ’06, identical twin brother Mike ’08, and I were homeschooled and involved in church, Sunday school, youth group, you name it. I lived the good Christian life because that was just the way things were — until junior high, when I decided to make my relationship with Jesus Christ personal. But it was when I got to Cedarville that I went through the most significant growth in my Christian walk and realized how my relationship with God defines why I do what I do. Ask anyone, and you’ll discover that besides my love for the Lord, I’ve always been very sports- minded, playing basketball and soccer in high school and getting involved in intramurals at Cedarville. In fact, I came my freshman year ready to participate in anything and everything. I was elected class vice president, joined a discipleship group, and became a member of Theta Rho Epsilon, or Θ PE — a men’s accountability and service organization. By itself, Cedarville is an amazing place to be. Add Θ PE, and my desire to grow in Christ took another step forward. I also went on my first overseas missions trip, to Germany in May 2005, and loved it. The biggest thing was realizing God outside of America. Seeing Him at work in another country was something I had never experienced before. I gained a global picture of God, and I knew I wanted to do more short-term missions trips in the future. So, I joined another team that was going to Mexico over spring break of 2007 during my junior year. My group was in charge of all the programming at a camp for missionary kids. Two significant things happened before that trip, though. One, I was drawing closer to God than I had ever been. I couldn’t wait to spend time with Him and study His Word each day. I was purposefully looking for opportunities to witness. I just wanted to know Him better. And two, I took a half-semester tumbling class. That’s where I learned how to do a back flip. “I Can’t Breathe” We flew down to Puebla, Mexico, ready to spend a week watching God work in the lives of our team and the campers. I served on the activities team and praise band and worked as a cabin counselor. I loved everything about that week. Every year, there is a talent show on the last night of camp. It was a tradition for five of the male leaders to do a boy band-like lip sync performance, and I thought it would be cool to throw in a back flip at the end. It was Friday afternoon, March 9, 2007, only hours before the show. I went outside to practice the back flip — but something went wrong. I don’t remember exactly what happened, but I later learned that I had broken my neck between n one hand, you could say my life changed drastically that Friday in March 2007 … and yet, it didn’t. by Cedarville student Dan Knudsen ’10, as told to Sharyn Kopf