Torch, Summer 1994

on line With /'~v:r President Cedarville College Facing the Challenge Together R oscoe Smith, associate director of admissions at Cedarville College and avid outdoorsman, was diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia on Memorial Day, 1988. Initially, Roscoe experienced the disbelief and denial that something could be seriously wrong with him. He was 27, healthy, never been hospitalized, and never had any serious medical problems. He had always felt that the worst thing that could happen to him or to anyone was to die from cancer. During his chemotherapy treatments at the hospital, Roscoe says that he was amazed at the outpouring of prayer support that he received from people all over the country. Word about his situation spread around the Cedarville campus and, as students went home for the summer, they asked people in their home churches to pray for Roscoe. Encouragement cards flowed in, some on a regular basis from the same people. Roscoe explains that he was just amazed as he sensed the power of those prayers. Roscoe's last chemotherapy treatment was in December 1991. He 2 Torch was declared free and clear of the leukemia! God's grace had helped him overcome a deadly disease. But the doctors had explained that chemotherapy usually brings about sterility in 90 percent of the patients. Roscoe and his wife, Rhonda, accepted the fact that they would probably never have children and thought about adopting a child. The Lord, however, had other plans. On Labor Day weekend in 1992, Roscoe and Rhonda found out that she was pregnant. Rhonda gave birth to a healthy girl, Kaylee, in June, 1993. Roscoe and Rhonda Smith praise the Lord as they now enjoy, together, their daughter's new life. Through the grace of God, Roscoe Smith is an overcomer. Our Cedarville College family is made up of trustees, administrators, faculty, staff, students, alumni, parents, and friends who get sick, who go to hospitals, who face the reality of death, who bleed, who experience problems with their children, and who are tempted to sin. We should not expect to be "bionic" Christians-impervious to problems as we go through life. Sometimes we don't do so well. Other times we are victorious. Many, like Roscoe Smith, are overcomers. The Bible is filled with the accounts of men and women who overcome life's temptations and trials. Christians and non-Christians experience the storms of life. The difference is that we have Jesus Christ to go through the storm with us. This issue of the Torch is dedicated to the challenge of being "overcoIJling Christians." Roscoe Smith is happy to once again pursue sports like rock climbing.