Remembering Kaci Ronne

On Saturday a dear friend of ours went to be with Jesus. Today we will be attending her "celebration of life" along with many others who have been blessed by her time on earth. Please keep the Ronne and Reid families in your prayers. Follow their story here: http://theronnes.blogspot.com.

In loving memory...

We have more than a few wonderful memories of Kaci Ronne; but, there is one story that comes to mind that best describes who Kaci was to us.

When Ryan and Kaci were doing God's work in Albania, Careese (my wife) and Kaci would periodically talk via Skype. One day Kaci sensed that my wife (who was 8 months pregnant at the time with our youngest child) was having a particularly rough day. Kaci had a gift for deeply empathizing with people. She exemplified the old Bible verse "Bear ye one another's burdens". Kaci told my wife not to cook that night because she was going to take care of it. Anyone who knew Kaci knows that arguing against her benevolence would have been futile. Papa Johns pizza showed up on our doorstep for dinner that night...ordered from Albania. Several more times throughout the next few months we received messages that dinner was "taken care of". Whether it was Jason's Deli or pizza or something else, the Ronnes timing was always perfect--their little food blessings always arrived at the height of our exhaustion and were a blessed reminder that someone was thinking of and praying for us. On one hand we felt like we were a part of a modern day miracle--Jesus feeds the 5,000 reshaped into Jesus feeds the Wood family of 8 via the Ronnes from the opposite side of Earth. On the other hand...how to put it?...

...well...those of you who have done so know that it is incredibly humbling to have the opportunity to support missionaries abroad. The realization that we were being supported by missionaries who lived abroad was even more humbling.

That was Kaci. Nevermind that they were living in a third world country. The Ronnes somehow found a way to be Jesus to us. To us, that is the legacy that she left: a shining example of Christ in this crazy world--an example that modern Christianity could learn a thing or two from.

It has been our great privilege to watch the Ronne family, including Kaci's wonderful parents John and Deena, be Jesus to so many. Each of their faith, service, selflessness, and realness has been and will continue to be an absolute inspiration to us. Our hope and prayer is that everyone who knows this beautiful family will now prayerfully focus on being Jesus to them. May God shine his face upon them and give them peace.

-Josh & Careese Wood