Prayers for the University of Alabama

Have you ever worried about your kids at college?  Wondered if they're eating right, getting enough sleep, hanging out with the right people and staying out of trouble?  If you've had a child away at college, I already know your answer.  We all worry about our children, but I can count on a couple of fingers the number of times I've worried about them because of the weather.

An ex-colleague of mine, who happens to share my last name though no relation to my husband, has a daughter at the University of Alabama.  She's an excellent athlete, one whom I frequently claimed as my own when people would compliment me on her wins in tennis or basketball.  She's playing tennis in Tuscaloosa, and she's good enough to have won conference player of the week twice this season as a junior.

As a high school player she was undefeated.  (She also scored more than 1000 points in basketball.)  As an SEC freshman she played number 2 singles.  As a sophomore, she and her partner were ranked number 16 in the national rankings.  Just a week ago she was named the SEC women's tennis scholar athlete of the year as a junior. This girl is the real deal.

So imagine what must have been going through the minds of her parents yesterday.  If you've been hiding under a rock somewhere you might have missed the news accounts of the mile-wide tornado that leveled Tuscaloosa.  Because of this devastation, classes have been cancelled, as have final exams, and graduation, which was planned for May 7th, has been postponed until August 6th.  Two students, at last count, are among the 32 confirmed dead in this city alone.

My friend's daughter was not one of these students.  I haven't heard her personal story, but I understand from other friends that she is fine.  Praise God.  However, I'm sure that no one at the University of Alabama will be the same again.  The campus appears to have missed a direct hit, but the off-campus housing areas resembled  a war zone.  Reality has shifted for these students.

Again, I've never really thought about the weather when I've worried about my college senior.  This is what I know now:  you don't ever know, do you?  You tell them you love them, you kiss them when they leave, and you tell them to be careful on the drive back to school.  And you pray God will take care of them, as I pray He'll take care of these students and their families.

This Auburn tiger would like to ask you to pray for the Crimson Tide families, as well as the families of the 250+ dead and the untold number of people who are now homeless.

Never thought I'd say this, but Roll Tide.