>> DAVID NASSER: I was sitting in my office
earlier in the week, just preparing for my introduction of the Kelly family and, obviously,
the legend Jim Kelly, and Jill Kelly called and we started to have a conversation and
she just in passing mentioned, "Hey, Virginia's own NFL Hall of Fame inductee, you know, Bruce
Smith, is going to come and hang with us a little bit." She said, "He's just going to come and just
be in the area, he's good buddies with Jim and he just wants to come and hang out a little
bit," and as soon as I heard that I just thought, "We've got to have the guy who was on the
team with him. We've got to have the guy who saw this from
the front line just kind of be the guy who's going to come and introduce him." And so, how amazing is it that we are blessed
today not just to have the Kelly family but the great Bruce Smith with us today, and we've
asked him to come and just say a few words and to introduce his great friend and his
family. And so, Bruce, we're so honored to have you. I'm a huge fan. Huge, huge fan! And we had a helmet back there where we had,
you know, a sharpie and we wanted to get Jim to sign it but then we get to have two Buffalo
Bills sign it today. And so can we just put our hands together
for the great Bruce Smith. Thank you, sir, for being here. >> BRUCE SMITH: Thank you, David. Good morning. To God be the glory. I want to thank Liberty University for allowing
me this opportunity to come and say a couple of kind words about my beloved brother, Jim
Kelly, and his family. Jim and I have been teammates for all of his
NFL career, and I could talk about all of his accolades and his accomplishments--four
straight Super Bowls that he led us to, multiple Pro Bowls, one of the most prolific passers
in NFL history, first ballot Hall of Famer--but the most important thing to me is he is a
brother in Christ. He is a living testament of what God can do
for you in your life. As we watched that video, I lived that firsthand
with him. I saw his struggles, I saw his trials and
tribulations that he had to endure with his family, his son Hunter, and now his battle,
and even dating back to when his mother was diagnosed with emphysema, and I spent a considerable
amount of time with her. But I have such a great deal of respect, a
profound respect for my brother Jim Kelly, as all of our teammates. He is an incredible source of strength, encouragement,
his wisdom and knowledge over the years had grown. His belief in God, his strength, and even
through these trails and tribulations, his faith has not wavered. And that's what's the most impressive thing
to me. During my trips to New York to see him in
the hospital, not being able to move, losing weight by the day, his wife and his kids by
his side every moment that they had, it just showed what love, family, and God is about. And it was incredible to witness. Jim, Jill, Erin, Cameron, I love you guys. I love you with all of my heart. I love you with the love of God, and I want
to thank you for allowing me to be a part of your life and to walk with you and continue
that relationship. It is so good to see you being able to get
around and move freely and talk and I know you're still not out of the woodworks, but
my love for you will be everlasting, and I thank you so much for this opportunity to
introduce my brother and my brother in Christ, Jim Kelly. >> NASSER: So good. Wow. Hey, remain standing just for a second, remain
standing. We thought it would be very, very bad stewardship
if we simply had the greatest quarterback in the history of the planet, in the history
of history, and didn't have him at least throw out a few balls. Can we just do that? Can we just wrangle that in? I brought with me--Jim Kelly, I brought with
me a Sharpie, and Jim brought, he brought for our school some Hall of Fame footballs. Anybody want to catch one of these? Cool. All right. So real quick--oh, you're going to get Bruce? Wow. >> JIM KELLY: Oh yeah, we're going to get
Bruce to sign, too. >> NASSER: You get a double one. You get a double sign. If you put these on eBay, by the way, you
will lose your salvation. Do not put these on eBay. >> JIM KELLY: If I could, David, if I could
say one thing? >> NASSER: Yes? >> JIM KELLY: That's the first time I've ever
heard Bruce Smith talk where he didn't have something crazy or wild to say about me. That was different, thank you, Bruce. And that was an awesome testimony, and--while
Bruce is signing, before I throw those out--I just wanted to say one thing about Bruce. To have him come here is something special. His wife is going through cancer as we speak,
so, for everybody out there, prayers need to go to Bruce's wife also and for him to
come here and be able to share and spend a little time with us, the Kelly family appreciates
Bruce, so thank you very much, buddy. I love you. >> NASSER: Yeah. Praying for you. Absolutely. Well Jim, if you would real quick, I know
we want to get to the interview but, Brother, if you would just sign these with Bruce and--here's
the one rule: if you see one coming, be careful not to hit somebody else on your way down,
all right? So, Jim, will you just throw out a few of
these, Brother? Here we go. Fantastic. One more. >> JIM KELLY: Wow, I'll have to throw them
a little deeper. >> NASSER: That's amazing. Unbelievable. That's
so good. By the way, Jim, while you're signing that,
I noticed that Jim is actually not just signing his name; he's signing "Number 12." I don't know if you know this, but no other
Buffalo Bill will ever be number 12. That is your number, my brother. And so, that's amazing. Here we go. Wow. Now Jim, you were backstage telling me that
you've been hearing a little bit about one of our students and that you actually wanted
to throw out one particular ball to one student. Nico, you were mentioning Nico to me. I haven't met Nico, but apparently you have. Where is Nico? Is Nico here? Can you guys point to Nico? Where's our own guy, here? Where's Nico? Nico, will you wave? Where you at, Nico? Are you here, buddy? There he is. You see Nico? Hey, let's give it up for Nico everybody,
come on. Liberty Flames' own, Nico! >> JIM KELLY: I've met him before and he said
he's a big Buffalo Bills fan and I'm going to hold him to that, but I wasn't able to
throw it--back in the day, I might have been able to throw a football that far, but not
anymore. Sixty pounds lighter, slim and trim Jim they
call me know. I used to be bigger than Bruce after I retired. >> NASSER: That's awesome. Have a seat, have a seat, let's get with the
interview. What a great day it's already been. Nico, we love you, man. Did that not just make your entire year, my
brother? How great was this? Amazing. Amazing. Well, just real quick, obviously, unless you've
been living under a rock or, I don't know, living in a rock, are you kidding me? We have the single greatest quarterback that
ever hiked a ball and threw the ball four consecutive Super Bowls in a row, probably
will never ever happen again, but more than that we have a man who has been on this campus
several different times, not just as a guy who's come to be a part of Convo or as a football
legend who's championing different things as a great businessman, but really as a dad
who's come here with his own wife to visit his own daughter and so, it is just good to
have you back. Welcome home, Kelly family. So excited to have you. Can you just tell us a little bit about your
career, just take us, just give us the 60-second Wikipedia quick, where you started, just your
grassroots from high school all the way through. I know you don't really want to brag but it
ain't bragging if it's true, all right, so tell us a little bit about yourself. >> JIM KELLY: Well to make long stories short,
I grew up in a family of six boys. I was the fourth son and of course my mother
talked my dad into giving her one more try for a girl; had twin boys to make it six boys,
and throughout my career I was very blessed. I had a great mother and father, they pushed
us to a certain point but we knew what real respect was and as time went on, I really,
to be honest with you, wanted to play for Penn State, I wanted to be a quarterback for
Penn State--I don't cheer anymore for them because Joe Paterno said, "You know what,
we already signed our All-State quarterbacks and we'll give you a scholarship as a linebacker." And I said, "No thanks, I want to be a quarterback." So to fast forward, my red shirt freshman
year we traveled to Penn State; I'm the backup quarterback, and our coach at the time was
Howard Schnellenberger. And right before the game, right after pre-game
meal--I still haven't played a game yet--we're at Penn State in front of 90,000 people and
he came up to me and said, "Jim, we decided we're going to start you today." I said, "What?" He said, "Yeah, you've earned the right to
show us you can play," and first thing I did was I excused myself and I went into the bathroom
and I threw up for about 20 minutes. I was so nervous. But we wind up beating Penn State and my first
four starts as a freshman quarterback--and I came from a little high school with only
60 in my graduating class, 23 players on my football team--Penn State, Alabama, Notre
Dame, and Florida, and that was my first four games as a college freshman. But thank God I went off and had a good college
career. My career ended in college against Virginia
Tech, which Miami beat last night. Bruce, sorry about that. And I blew up my right arm. Fourth game of the season, and they told me
I would never play football again. And one of the things that as, you know, as
a little boy growing up and my dream was to play in the NFL, to take care of the two people
I loved and that was my mom and my dad, and of course take care of my brothers also, and
they told me I would never play again. Well I got on my knees, I prayed, I continued
to pray and I worked very hard and I became the first-round draft pick of the Buffalo
Bills and I told them I did not want to play for Buffalo. When the draft was held, and that was when
John Elway said he didn't want to play for Baltimore, and they said, "Is there any teams
you don't want to play for?" Now remember, I went to Miami of Florida. I said, "Yeah, I don't want to play for Green
Bay Packers, I don't want to play for Minnesota Vikings, and I sure don't want to play for
the Buffalo Bills." Needless to say the Buffalo Bills drafted
me and I went to the USFL for two years, but to be honest with you, one of the greatest
moments of my life was becoming a Buffalo Bill in 1986 and teaming up with guys like
number 78, Bruce Smith, and been able to have the career that I had and make the friendship
that we--we bonded so closely together, our team, we're like one big family. It all starts with leadership, and we had
great leadership, not only from Bruce Smith, but all the way up to our head coach Marv
Levy. I've been very blessed to be around some great
people. Yeah, I made the Hall of Fame but there's
so many people that helped me get there and Bruce is one of them. >> NASSER: Wow, it's just amazing to hear,
just humble roots, strong family ethics and how of that just poured into your leadership
as a quarterback when the whole world was watching. But I'm interested in knowing how you guys
met. Jill, how did you meet and can you give us,
can we just get honest-- >> JILL KELLY: There are two sides to that
story. There's always two versions. >> NASSER: Your version and his version? >> JILL KELLY: Mine is the true one, okay. But I'll share, yeah. It's interesting because I was fresh out of
college when I met Jim. I was 21 years old and pretty close to the
age of most of you maybe in this room, and I was invited by a friend who knew a friend
who knew a friend who knew a friend - because this was the Super Bowl years - to a party
at his house. Now obviously you had to know someone pretty
important to get invited to that party. And so, I was invited to the party and I went
with a sorority sister friend of mine and we walked in and of course it was everything
you can imagine. The players were there, there were lots of
girls there, and all the other stuff that happens at parties and so - >> NASSER: It was a Bible Study? Was it a Bible Study? Is that what it was? >> JILL KELLY: Yeah! Yeah, actually--this was B.C. David; we're
talking B.C. And so, eventually I was introduced to Jim,
and, you know, it's a big deal. He's the quarterback that goes to the Super
Bowl four times in a row, you know. And we're excited and my friend and I, we're
running into the bathroom laughing our heads off because eventually he starts flirting
with me, okay. Girls, listen up. And so he starts throwing ice cubes at me
and I'm like, "Oh my goodness." >> JIM KELLY: I don't remember that part,
maybe it's because of the radiation and chemo I forgot those things. >> JILL KELLY: No you--that was like how many
years ago? So anyway, so at the end of the night he comes
up--or I run up to him because, you know, we weren't going to be the ones that hang
around to the last minute, you know, so my friend and I, we went up and we said, "Thank
you so much, it was a great party," and all that, and he said to me, he said, "Well, how
do I get a hold of you?" And I said-- >> NASSER: Is this where the story has two
versions? >> JILL KELLY: This is the best part! No, no, no, we have the same version; he just
tells it differently. He said, "How do I get a hold of you?" And I said, "Well, you don't, but thank you
so much and great party." See the thing is, God was working in me before
I even knew God, okay? That was a God thing, but I, you know, I wasn't
going to--and, you know what? There's no social media at this point in time. There's no Facebook, there's no cell phones--I
didn't have a cell phone. There's no Instagram, there's no Twitter,
there's no possible way that this guy can get a hold of me. I didn't give him my phone number. And, you know, I love sharing that. Of course I love sharing that in front of
our daughters because it's so easy now. It's so easy for girls, you put so much out
there, I mean you don't leave much to the imagination, and so, you know-- >> JIM KELLY: But my side-- >> JILL KELLY: Okay, his side of the story. Go ahead. >> JIM KELLY: No, no, I'll make it real quick. Most of that I do remember. I don't remember the ice cubes but if I did
throw it, I probably hit you. I usually hit my target. But the reason I found out that she did not
give me her phone number is she had a boyfriend at the time. Well then I found out she broke up with her
boyfriend, and, needless to say, I found out where she worked and flowers, dinner, after,
and here we are now: three beautiful children. >> NASSER: Unbelievable. >> JIM KELLY: Quarterbacks usually get what
they want down the road. Sometimes it takes a little time. >> NASSER: So basically it wasn't a Bible
Study, it was a worship service but a different kind of a worship service. That does pose a question as I'm hearing you
guys talk about how you met, you know, Erin actually works in my department, she works
in the Office of Spiritual Programs and as I was hearing that and I was watching you
listen to your mom and dad talk about how they met and dating, are you dating anybody,
Erin? >> JIM KELLY: Hey, hey, hey! >> NASSER: I'm about to get beat up by a Hall
of Famer. >> JIM KELLY: I thought I knew everything;
I wanted her here this morning. Now-- >> ERIN KELLY: Well, first of all, if anyone
is to date me they have to ask my dad first. He knows that, so-- >> NASSER: There you go. >> ERIN KELLY: But, I am completely trusting
God with that aspect of my life and I have really watched my parents and their relationship
grow and how God has just worked in their lives and in their marriage and so, I completely
trust God with that and that question just reminds me of during his chemo and radiation
and the thought that came to my mind, that "I might not have my dad to walk me down the
aisle one day." And that is one thing that was extremely hard
for me during that time was, that I wanted my dad to be able to walk me down the aisle
and so it is such an answer to prayer and I'm so thankful that he's sitting here right
now today and that one day he will walk me down the aisle, so. >> NASSER: Yeah. Jim and Jill, I want to tell you, before we
move on from that little moment that we have just been so impressed with the daughter that
God has given you the ability to raise and she's such a great leader, a humble leader,
and whatever you did, please write a book on that so that I can help raise my daughter
as you've raised Erin and you should just be really, really proud of just the godly
example and leader that she is. I know, though, that cancer wasn't the first
huge affliction moment, the first huge obstacle that you faced even in the midst of your marriage. I know that obviously Hunter's story was all
over the news. Even as a fan before I ever had the chance
to meet you I remember watching on ESPN, watching all over the world just news media outlets
about how you guys were going through that season of your life. Can you tell us a little bit about that? >> JIM KELLY: Yeah. Well, for most parents and most people that
plan on getting married, they plan on having children and same with me. I came from a family, as I said before, six
boys, and when I retired from the NFL with the Buffalo Bills in 1996, Jill was pregnant,
we'd already had Erin, and course I was hoping for a son, and I remember the day when Jill
came to me, she said, "My water broke," and I'm thinking, "Wow, it's Valentine’s Day;
it's my birthday." So on the way to the hospital I automatically
thought, "Boy, wouldn't it be great to have a son born on daddy's birthday?" And of course that happened. Out pops Hunter and I was so excited, I don't
think there was a man on this earth that could be as excited as I was, thanking the good
Lord for everything that He's given me, and of course, you know, after taking him home
and being so excited and everything, finding out four months into his life he was diagnosed
with a fatal disease called Krabbe Leukodystrophy and from that point on I know that it was
tough on all of us and one of the things that we learned was not to treat Hunter like he
was dying. To treat him like he was living. We didn't know every day we woke up, we didn't
know--every day when we woke up, we didn't know if our son was going to be there or not
the next day, and it was driving us crazy. Then we decided, because the help of my mother-in-law
that, "Well let's treat Hunter like he's living." So we started doing different things: horseback
riding with him, on a snowmobile course, some off-roading after we snowmobile, and a couple
other things. But our time during those moments was very
tough, and I know that I have to say, “Thank the good Lord,” because we, as husband and
wife, it wasn't going very well and we needed our faith and I can honestly say when I look
at my wife's eyes and speak that, I thank the good Lord for her every day because she
not only had to go through what Hunter went through for eight years, but now, come full
turn, now she has to take care of me and the things that I've been going through, and she
is such a strong woman. She is such a strong woman of faith. I know that the man's got to be the leader
of the house; she's the leader of faith in our house. She's what drives me each and every day and
through my tough times, you know we talk about the Kelly Tough and things like that. I needed help, not only from a physical side,
which I grew up having, but for the mental side. You always need somebody there, you always
need that support, and I had my wife, I had my two daughters, I had my mother-in-law,
but more importantly I had the good Lord behind me, and I've never given up. And for all those people out there--there
are kids out there having a tough time--remember, tomorrow brings another special day. Keep working at it. And I did. I never ever gave up on anything I've ever
done in my life. And don't stop, don't stop just fighting. Fight till the end. That's what I'm doing. Yeah there are days that we all have that
are not, you know, you don't wake up to the sunshine every day, but I'll tell you what:
get on your knees and pray, because you never know what tomorrow holds. And I live every day like it's my last, but
I enjoy every day. So enjoy every day that you can and be blessed
with what you have. >> NASSER: Yeah. So it's amazing. What I love is--by the way, we're kind of
skimming through the top, and in your book, Jill, as I was reading it, what I loved was
your transparency and your honesty in that through what was happening with the birth
of your son Hunter and then discovering that he's not just the colicky baby like Erin was,
alright, but that he actually maybe was going through something or maybe had something and
then you start to get the news and it just starts to unravel in front of you that not
only at that time--you really weren't living for the Lord. God wasn't in the center of your life. You had a history, heritage of faith but you
really weren't living for the Lord. And God, what I love about your book is you
said God didn't just use affliction and hard ship, you know, in my life. God actually--that was the blessing, because
God actually used that really bring you back. Can you talk a little bit about that? >> JILL KELLY: Absolutely. And, you know, when Hunter was diagnosed at
four months, obviously you don't forget that day. I mean, I remember the weather, I remember
the smell of the room of the doctor when we sat across from her at a table and everyone
that was there and, you know, when--and her name was Doctor Duffner, and she said that
"Your son has been diagnosed with Krabbe Leukodystrophy. There's no cure and there's no treatment and
he will probably not live to see his second birthday." Mind you, God in His goodness and mercy and
grace and love allowed Hunter to live to be eight and a half, but in that moment, you
know, all that I have in that moment is what I know. And all that I know in that moment is what
the world has taught me. And so, in that moment I'm thinking--the very
first thought in my mind, and I don't verbalize this, but I'm like, "Wait a minute. Excuse me. This is Jim Kelly's son. There's got to be someone somewhere. We have money, we have connections--where
are we going to take our son?" So in my mind, because that's all that I know,
all that I know is the worldly foundation that I've stood on my entire life. And that comes crumbling down in an instant. And I praise God for that because if there
was a worldly answer, if there was a cure or a treatment or something like that, in
that moment that's what I would have continued to put my hope in. And Jim wasn't going to put on a superman
hero costume, he wasn't going to rescue the day. >> NASSER: He's Kelly Tough. >> JILL KELLY: Well, and that wasn't going
to be the answer either. >> NASSER: He's got all the money; he's got
all the connections. >> JILL KELLY: Exactly. And so in that moment - I praise God now,
obviously - in that moment I was a complete, devastated wreck. I mean, words can't articulate the emotions
you go through as a parent when they say that your child is not going to live to see his
second birthday. And so every day we started to treat him like
he was dying because that's what they told us, until God intervened and brought life
because when Jesus intervenes He changes everything. And so, you know, here we are, we get this
news and I'm completely devastated, Jim and I start running in opposite directions. I start running towards a God who I did not
know, who I had no clue. I knew that the cross was there, but I didn't
know what it meant, I didn't know that I needed it, I didn't know anything about the things
of God, but aren't you so thankful, David, and everyone in here, that God takes us right
where we are? That we don't--He takes us right where we
are! And for me, it was for selfish reasons cause
I want Hunter--I want him to go to heaven. I mean, if he's going to heaven--I don't know
what heaven's about, I don't know anything about it--but if he's going to heaven, well,
I'm going to go there because I'm his mom. So for selfish reasons, you know, I want to
be riding giraffes someday in heaven, I mean, I don't know what they do, but, you know,
it wasn't even about Jesus in that point in time. Again, God is so gracious and I love the fact
that for me, He allowed me to run after the stuff in this world. He allowed me to get caught up in all the
celebrity stuff. He allowed me to chase after the things of
this world that are absolutely empty. Because at the end of all the emptiness that's
there, He's still there. And it took my one and only son--our one and
only son, her only brother--the suffering of our only son to bring us to the only suffering
that matters, and that's the suffering of God's one and only Son. And so, here we are, you know, but it was
the suffering, it was Hunter's every day suffering and challenge and us watching that, to turn
us to the suffering of Christ which is our refuge in times of suffering. We all struggle. We all suffer, and so we run to the cross
because that suffering made the difference. And so, I could go on and on, you know. I could go on. >> NASSER: No, you got to come back. We got to do a whole series on this one. But, so just to hear how God used tragedy
to really create testimony, and God worked all things for the good of His purpose and
to also--I mean, talk about just what good is it for a man to gain the whole world but
to forfeit his soul? But then the other side of that, to see you
go from Kelly Tough to Jesus Tough, that I don't have what it takes, but I know the One
who does. And so God used that to really build a story
in your life and then little did you know that eventually that wasn't just going to
be about your son but it was going to be about yourself and cancer. Love to hear a little bit about just that
season of your life. >> JIM KELLY: Well for me, you know I wasn't
a Christian. I grew up, you know, in a harsh Catholic family
and yeah I went to church but I didn't know that--I'm sure there's other people out there
that have been through that road, that you go to church, you, you know, you go to Confession,
you say your sins and you think you're good to go for another week until you saw the priest
again. And for me, I lived that life, but as time
went on and I saw what it was doing to our family and the more that I listened to Jill,
the more that I talked to people. And I'm a big believer in it's not what you
say to somebody, it's how you say it to them to get them to not only follow you but join
in your beliefs, that's how it came to me. Christianity was pushed on me early in life
and I was pushed away. But until I really thought about it and really
talked to Jill and really kept listening to how happy Jill was even though we were going
through some tough times, I knew that down the road I wanted to see my son also. But all that's important for me was I wanted
to be able, for my two daughters, to walk in that front door, and when I do to look
at their daddy with respect. I was losing all that, and I knew that if
I exchange my life that I was going to lose everything that I worked so hard for, and
it really--I wish I would have become a Christian a lot earlier because I know how I feel inside. Even though I've been sick with cancer and
I'm still on the fight of my life, I know that God has plans for me, and I believe that,
I really do. Even in my lowest times when I'm not feeling
good, I know that if I just woke up and I continue to pray and just have faith that
something's going to come good out of this. And I know there already has because people
talk about the Kelly Tough and that's all fine and great but I'll tell you what: there's
so many people who have changed my life. Yeah, I mean, yeah, when I walked around the
hospital and I see the other cancer patients that don't have anybody in the room talking
to them, don't have flowers, or don't have balloons, and we're able to say those encouraging
words to them and see what it does for them. The letters, the emails that we've received,
they help me. People say how much I help them; they help
me go through this because I'm just one person but I'll tell you what: in my dire times and
when I really need it and--I guess I shouldn't say "when" I do because I know I need the
good Lord on my side all the time. I don't pray to God, I talk to God, and I
talk to Him in a way that--I don't speak Christianese like my wife does. I don't know all the verses, I don't know
all the things that she says; I'm getting there. But I've always been honest, I've always told
my kids that. I've always been straightforward with them,
told them like it is. My wife knows. She knows where my heart's at, and the good
Lord knows where my heart's at. If I can make a difference for kids out there,
if I can make a difference for adults out there by what I'm going through, thank the
good Lord, because I'll tell you what: all those people out there--they write me letters
and emails--thank you, because you help me. >> NASSER: Wow. Man, you said something pretty powerful there. It really resonated with me as a dad. You said that you want you and your daughters--you
want Cameron, you want Erin to respect their father, and I remember when I first got here,
the very first week I got here, one of the first things that came into my inbox was your
blog, Erin. And just reading the amount of respect that
you have for your father just getting to watch your father suffer well, getting to watch
him grow in his faith, getting to--in his own words--getting to watch him "get there." Can you tell us a little bit about the blog? I know it's now going to be a book and God's
just really using that to let you have a whole new audience to minister to. We'd love to hear just a few seconds about
that. >> ERIN KELLY: Well the blog started, it's
called--the first one was called "Kelly Tough" and then I began to write more blogs just
about what my dad was going through and I was traveling back and forth to New York City
last semester, every weekend to be with him and to help take care of him and it was on
one of those trips where I was sitting in our hotel room and I was back by myself waiting. We were going to go to the hospital and I
just began writing and I remember growing up, my dad has always said to me, "You have
to be Kelly Tough." And I didn't understand the fullness of what
that meant until I actually saw my earthly father be weak, and it just drew me to seek
the strength of my Heavenly Father and it eventually is going to become into a book. The book is called "Kelly Tough" and just
talks about the strength that we find in our weakness, the strength that we find in Christ
alone, but the blog that you are referring to came out of just a very hard, struggling
situation and it was a moment that I'll never forget. My mom and I were in our hotel room and we
were watching an interview that my dad was doing with NBC and obviously they were talking
about death because when someone has cancer you tend to talk about death, and the one
thing that my dad said that really struck all of us hard, he said, "I'm not afraid to
die." And that really resonated with us and we both
just looked at each other and started crying and we had never heard him say anything like
that before, but it allowed us to see that, "Well, I'm not afraid to die either." And it allowed us to look to God's strength
and be like, "Lord, we know that You are good. Even in the midst of this, you are so good,
and you are taking care of every detail and we have nothing to fear because we know that
in death we have life." We have life abundantly, and so, his words
"I'm not afraid to die" led me to just write about that and I was able to share it with
so many people just to encourage them and say, "Look, I don't know what you believe,
but what I know it that there is life abundantly in Christ Jesus" and through this entire experience,
all that we have been through just watching him struggle through that, I've never seen
him be so weak, but I've also never seen him be so strong because he is dependent fully
and completely on the strength of Christ and he cannot do that in and of himself, and it
has been such a huge encouragement to me. And that's why we say "Kelly Tough," that's
where Kelly Tough came from, is our strength that we find in Christ. >> NASSER: Wow, Jim. God's really using you, brother. We're about to leave but look at me, students. I want you to understand that this is more
than just us getting to hear a testimony of a brother, his wife, his daughter. I think God is using this today to really
speak into your life. Can you say what Jim said? Can you say that death has lost its sting? Can you say that you have a foundation in
Christ, that no matter what circumstance you face, even though it's real, even though it's
big, God is bigger? And so can I just get you to bow your heads
for just a second. I wanted Jill just to pray over you and just
to minister over you and, just, with your heads bowed, if today the Holy Spirit's just
used this moment to touch you and to pierce in your heart and to maybe even encourage
you, maybe in this moment you're going through a battle in your life that's just brought
fear upon fear into you and God's really used Jim's story, God's really used Hunter's story,
God's really used Erin's voice today to really minister to you and you want to be prayed
over--it's a moment of humility and vulnerability here. If that's you, will you just stand up? Anybody just say, "Jill, will you pray for
me? I'm going through a really, really tough season
in my life." Just stand up wherever you are if that's you. Just rise up. "Man I'm really going through a moment where
fear has gripped me. I'm just going through a tough time right
now where I just needed to be reminded today that I'm not afraid to die. I need to be reminded today that God is bigger
than the circumstances, the hardship that I'm going through in this temporary season. Just stand up if that's you, would you? Anybody else? Jill, would you just kind of close us out
and just pray over these students and just minister? >> JILL KELLY: Heavenly Father, You are so
good. You are so faithful, merciful, kind, loving,
you are everything that we need. Thank You so much for giving us the greatest
gift we could ever have in Your Son, Jesus. Thank You, Jesus, that you are the Resurrection
and the Life, and that in you we have all that we need. Lord, there are needs here that go beyond
things that have been spoken. Lord, You know every single person, you knit
them together in their mother's wombs, you know every single hair on all of our heads. Lord, You know, you see us right now. You see us right where we are. You know exactly what circumstances we find
ourselves in in this moment, Lord, and You are bigger than the circumstance, you're bigger
than the pain, you're bigger, and yet you meet us right in the midst of it. Lord, I thank you for this place, I thank
you for these students, I thank you that they are being trained to be champions for you
yet the battle is real. But Lord You have said that you will fight
for us. So we depend on that; we lay our lives before
you, we give you all we are and we trust that you will take care of it and that everything
will be okay. It'll be more than okay, it'll be amazing,
and that you'll use every single detail to your glory and for our good. We love you. Help us to know and love you more. In Jesus' name, amen. >> NASSER: Amen. Can we just honor them for just being here? Thank you. Amazing.
