In January 1982 God gave us the gift of our second son, our third child. We named him Christopher. We prayed that he would live up to his name and be a “Follower of Christ.”

Just after he turned 3 years old, Christopher was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. It was an aggressive cancer, and we were told that he would probably live to only age 5 or 6. During the next 2 years of cancer treatment, at the age of 4, Christopher suffered a stroke, which left him with a learning disability. All of the progress that had been made to recover from the brain tumor seemed suddenly lost. He couldn’t walk or speak clearly, and all of his fine motor skills were gone. He went through years of speech therapy and occupational therapy to recover and learn to cope with his disability.

After 15 years of MRIs without recurrence of the cancer, and so many hours spent in doctors’ offices, Christopher was finally released from the doctors’ care. He was a walking miracle from God’s hand to our family, a life lived to 30-years-old, at 5 feet tall and only 100 pounds. Chris got a certificate of completion to graduate from high school. Then he insisted that he would do whatever it took to get a university degree. He worked hard, became an encouraging friend, enjoyed laughter with those friends, and was known for his contagious smile. He was learning to trust God with details in his everyday life. In 2006 Chris graduated with an Associate’s Degree from Taylor University.

Here are Chris’ words to tell his life story:

“putting together the peaces of my life and who i am as a person. I often come back to my story, to remind my self that i am not my own but rather God's, for he is the one who has saved me, and to Him i owe my life.

Chris continues with these words:

“Working to serve my king...
Some times i thank God for my learning disability, i feel like it slows things down, allowing me to think be for i react to a situation, like saying something that dose not need to be said. other times i would rather just be normal. it is never easy to explain to some one my disability once it comes to reading and how it takes me longer to read though a sentence.

Although some things are harder for me in this world, God has ben teaching me to be thankful for what gifts i do have as a person. and there for i have ben trying to focus on the strengths and blessings that He has given me. be thankful for who you are! We all are beautiful in God's eye's! we all are made differently, some smarter then others, some small, some tall. it dose not matter, we are just skin and bones. as Coldplay puts it "Look at the stars, look how they shine for you." the stars in the sky are just a glimpse of the blessings God has givin me and there for I shall continue to praise Him for what He is doing in my life.

Losing my life for God so i may gain it.” (Chris wrote these words in June 2012.)

Christopher went home to heaven on August 19, 2012, quite unexpectedly. He left behind a legacy of seeking God’s will for his life, of being the best barista to ever make Starbucks coffee, of coping with a learning disability, of passing on incredible joy to all who came to know him.

Some days we may all feel like Paul expressed in II Corinthians 1:8-9 “We were crushed and overwhelmed beyond our ability to endure, and we thought we would never live through it. In fact, we expected to die.” But with Paul, our family stopped relying on ourselves and learned to rely only on God.

We are sharing Chris’s story today because we want to encourage you to be thankful for how God made you. “Be thankful for who you are.”

Every October we host the Chris Pegg Walk to raise funds for the Christopher M. Pegg Memorial Scholarship to benefit students with a learning disability at Taylor University. We would be so honored if you would walk with us.

Register

Please choose “Christopher Pegg Scholarship” from the dropdown menu.