Stanford students are nearing the end of their third week of online classes this fall, and I’m sure they are experiencing about as wide a range of emotions as you can imagine. I’m so glad you’re receiving this letter so that we can, for a moment, join our voices together in prayer for these students!
A number of our returning students are living together in Palo Alto, Menlo Park, San Francisco, and even Seattle. Others remain home with family. My heart especially goes out to the throng of admitted students who are beginning their Stanford experience online. Many of the incoming freshmen I’ve interacted with already feel completely overwhelmed by the workload.
And then there is a significant percentage of admitted students who are taking a gap year, or returning students who are taking time off from classes. They are hoping that the next one, two, or three quarters will be better spent pursuing various internships, jobs, experiences, and self-directed studies than matriculating in an online Stanford. I’m praying that God will fulfill those hopes, to the glory of his name. Many of them don’t yet know what this next year holds.
Would you pray for each of these categories of students, in their varying degrees of community and isolation? I am reminded of David’s words in Psalm 139:7-12:
Where shall I go from your Spirit?
Or where shall I flee from your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, you are there!
If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me.
If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,
and the light about me be night,”
even the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is bright as the day,
for darkness is as light with you.
God is omnipresent; nothing is hidden from his sight or beyond his reach. But may his hand also be leading—and his right hand holding—these students! May they know his presence is with them to guide and to bless.
And in a bit of extremely welcome and encouraging news, we are praising God that a generous donor has given to Christian Union Caritas so that Abi Carreon can continue her part-time role as a ministry fellow, focused on serving undergraduate women at Stanford. Wow! Thank you, Lord! Please pray for Abi as she graciously and joyfully steps back into her role, reconnects with returning students, and attempts to connect with incoming freshmen. May her ministry be fruitful beyond what human effort can explain, for the sake of Christ.
Thank you for continuing to pray for Garrett, Jim, and their families as they transition to other avenues of ministry. Please give thanks to God for Garrett’s new role as Executive Pastor at Fair Oaks Church in Sacramento! And please pray that God will make a way for Jim to continue to pour his life out for the sake of the faith of students and athletes at Stanford. And of course also join us in praying for their wives, children, and circles of friends and family—that God would be a Rock to them as everything else is rightly exposed as shifting sand. “For who is God, but the LORD? And who is a rock, except our God?—the God who equipped me with strength and made my way blameless. … You gave a wide place for my steps under me, and my feet did not slip” (Psalm 18:31-32, 36).
May it be so for the students of Stanford University—and for these dear ministers of the gospel and their families—who put their trust in Him!
So grateful to God for your partnership in prayer,
Justin Woyak
Senior Ministry Fellow
Christian Union Caritas
Please note: if you would like to receive regular updates on how to pray for Christian Union's work, please email prayer@christianunion.org.
