.: in memoriam :.

Kelly Anne Jackson
March 23, 1980 -- Dec. 23, 2005


Sarah Fox's Tribute

I remember Kelly looking at me when I was crying on the couch. It was the summer of 1999, and we had just finished our freshman year of college.

I avoided Christians when I started my freshman year at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. My bad experiences with some Christians in high school made me suspicious of people who attended church.  I was a Christ-follower myself. But I decided to follow God on my own and avoid religious people, whom I generally saw as fake. (I did know some genuine and very nice Christians in high school as well.)

My strategy of avoiding Christians left me lonely.  I made friends in my dorm. But they did not share all my values and were not really interested in God. I felt disconnected.

I finally caved in to a girl on my dorm floor and started coming to a Bible study with her. I was really skeptical. After several months, I relaxed and decided the girls in the study were safe people. They were not cliquish or fake.

When I came back to Salina for the summer, I started looking for a group like one I'd been in at college. I started going to a college group connected with First Covenant Church. I didn't know anyone well. But I became friends with everyone quickly. We had a lot of fun singing and hanging out that summer. I had gotten over most of my suspicion.

One night, we were singing a beautiful song I've never heard since that summer. The final verse says, "All of my trials, Lord, are lost in Your love."

I started crying as I sang. I was thinking of my troubles and how God really did love me. Kelly looked at me and smiled, and squeezed my hand.

I've never seen Kelly since that summer. I am thankful for her heart that watched others and empathized with them. I know she played a part in my becoming less skeptical of Christians.

The song we used to sing that summer seems fitting for Kelly's life and death.


Sweet Adoration

Sweet Adoration flows from your children;
glory and honor and praise are a part of our
constant devotion
love set in motion
for the Divine One who reigns in our hearts.

When I am troubled by heartache and sorrow,
I come and adore You, You take me away from all
worldly sensations
and endless temptation
All of my trials are lost in Your love.

All of my trials, Lord, are lost in Your love.


-- Sarah Fox
Atchison, KS

("Sweet Adoration" is by Brown Bannister, Dawn Rodgers and Lynn Sutter. Copyright 1980 Word Music, Inc.)


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