Pray for the Missing Climbers
Students in my grad class on women are well familiar with Carolyn Custis James. Her book, When Life and Beliefs Collide, is required reading. Those who took the class in 2005 met her when she came to speak. And readers of Kindred Spirit saw the profile on her that ran in the last issue. In May my assistant editor and I talked with her and her husband, Frank, in Orlando, which you may have read about here.
This past Sunday, Dec. 10, Carolyn and Frank received one of those when-life-and-beliefs-collide midnight phone calls. Frank’s mom was on the line telling them that Frank's brother Kelly and his two climbing partners, Brian Hall and Jerry “Nikko” Cooke, are lost on Mt. Hood in Oregon.
Kelly is married with four kids and he is in a snow cave near the summit. The three climbers expected to complete their climb of Mt. Hood by Saturday. But something went wrong (the family is not sure exactly what), so they dug a snow cave to keep Kelly safe, while Brian and Jerry went down the mountain for help.
Carolyn writes, "On Sunday, Kelly contacted his wife on his cell phone and received a second call from his son Jason. These calls were brief and didn’t provide much detail. But at least we knew he was alive. T-Mobile and other organizations are using cell phone signals to pinpoint Kelly’s location. There is no news at all about Brian and Nikko. All three men are believers. All three are expert, highly experienced climbers."
"The three families are together, supporting each other, praying and waiting. Brian’s parents, Dwight and Clara Hall, his sister, Angela, and Nikko's wife Makayla are also there. Frank's mother, LouAnn Cameron, and his sister, Traci Hale, are en route. [Traci and Frank were on CNN tonight talking with both Larry King and Anderson Cooper.] As you can imagine this is an unbearably difficult time for all of them."
"The weather has been about as bad as possible—blizzard conditions with hurricane-force winds—so rescue workers haven’t been able to climb high enough to get to Kelly. If the weather follows the current forecast, there’s no possibility of reaching him until Friday or Saturday, and time is of the essence."
"Please join me in praying for all of them—the three climbers, the rescue teams, the technical experts, the worried family members." Carolyn also asks prayer for Frank as he "supports and cares for family members, works with the media, and waits anxiously for his brother’s safe return."
She adds, "We believe God is in this. It is a painful, heart wrenching ordeal for everyone involved. But He loves us and knows what He is doing with us. He knows exactly where all three men are and He can still the storm. Our hope is in Him."