Friends Like These

Thanks to Shane Kingery for sharing these thoughts about his sister. We miss her.

Dear Friends,
I’ve tried to sit down and write this e-mail a few times over this past week and I still don’t know what to say. A week and a half ago, March 17th, my sister Kylee was rushed to the hospital where she had an emergency c-section. Her forth child, Caleb Matthew Boden, was healthy for being 5 weeks premature. She, however, had developed eclampsia and had quickly declined after the c-section was performed. We found out early Wednesday afternoon that she had a severe cerebral hemorrhage. About 2 hours after that, she passed away. The days since then have been some of the hardest and darkest our family has ever faced.

Kylee was gifted, wise, creative, funny, beautiful, honest and above all she loved Jesus like crazy. Her husband, Matthew, and children Lydia (5), Seth (5), Sarai (2), and baby Caleb are without a wife and mom. Family and friends have been surrounding them with prayer and support to help carry them through this time (see the bottom of this e-mail for how you can help them out).

My wife, Helen, said a few days after Kylee’s death that this is the perfect definition of a tragedy. There are few people like Kylee whose loss could be grieved literally around the world by the thousands. There were around 1,000 people at her funeral and over 400 who watched it online. The shock of her death still feels tragic. Grief has been rolling in like waves and slowly washing away some of the intense, painful feelings that linger after her death, but the intensity of pain still remains strong. There will be many more waves of grief over this coming season and I imagine that it’s going to be a long road ahead to get to a place where her loss doesn’t feel debilitating. For now, we get to cling to the truth of Christ and grieve the loss of an amazing woman, daughter, sister, mom, wife and friend.

Death has this way of catapulting us into a deeper reality where things that are really important become crystal clear and the rest just fades away. We can briefly see the big picture and see why Christ came to the world to rescue us and we feel the ache of wanting to be reconciled to God through Him. We’re acutely aware—even if for just a brief moment—that the world should not be this way and we all want something, someone to rescue us and make right what is so terribly wrong. I am waiting to see what kind of beautiful story God writes from these ashes. Even though I am still grieving the loss of my sister and close friend, I know that Kylee would have willingly surrendered her life had she known it would bring one person closer to Christ and that makes me smile. That’s quite a legacy for only 31 years of life. It makes me proud to be even called her little brother.

If you’re were touched by Kylee’s life or you’re saddened by her death, take comfort in God’s amazing love for us. He’s not leaving us alone to suffer, but sent his spirit to be with us as a comforter.

"I pray that our of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ for you, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled with the measure of all the fullness of God." —Ephesians 3:15-19

With the love and affection of Jesus,

Shane
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Shane Kingery RN
New Mission Systems Intl.
www.nmsi.org
352.650.8791 - cell
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If you would like to help the Boden family, they are accepting financial donations in three different ways:

Checks made out to NMSI for Matt’s ongoing ministry and living expenses.
He is our Director of Human Resources.
Please put Matt Boden in the memo line or use the online giving site.
(This is tax-deductable)

New Mission Systems International
2701 Cleveland Ave, Suite 7
Ft Myers, FL 33902
Phone 239-337-4336

Checks made out to Matt Boden will go directly to him for additional personal needs.
Erin Schwen or Helen Kingery
2701 Cleveland Ave, Suite 7
Ft Myers, FL 33902

Some of the large needs they have now are a minivan, a home and the medical bills that are not going to be covered by insurance. There is not amount too large or small to help them out. If you have any questions or to get an updated list of needs to help out the Boden family, you can email Erin Schwend and Helen Kingery at celebrating.the.bodens@gmail.com. You can also visit my facebook, I'm part of the Kylee Boden Celebration. There will probably be needs and updates posted on that page. You can also e-mail me if you have questions.