New School Year - Rough Start

This is a new school year. New students arrived on-campus last week and classes started today. This year has been a bit rougher in its start than I would've liked to anticipate.

Three weeks ago, I received notice that MG had accepted another part-time position and would need to cut her hours with PHC. I'm now in the middle of trying to conduct interviews around everything else happening with the start of the semester.

Last week, I heard that one of the new students was driving between PHC and Leesburg with her family when they were in an accident that totaled their car. Other than some stitches, bruising, and soreness, there were no injuries. However, this was on top of the fact that her father had died about two months ago. (I don't know the circumstances.)

This morning, e-mails and chapel announcements made known that the father of another of our new students died unexpectedly (heart attack) over the weekend.

I know many of your pray regularly for me, but perhaps of even more urgent need right now is for the protection of our students and their families. Whether this is a spiritual attack or natural events in a sinful world, the impact on the individual students and on their new found friends is significant as they are trying to adjust to being away from home for the first time and adapting to a new level of study and independence. I know at least one student decided during orientation last week that this isn't where God wants her and she has headed back home. I respect her decision, but it is a reminder that moving away to college is not done easily or lightly.