Football star Kris Ryan and two other students spoke at yesterday's Jesus Week event. Kris Ryan had something other than touchdowns and tackles on his mind yesterday afternoon. The star running back of the Penn football, who was known for crossing himself every time he scored a touchdown during his breakout season last fall, discussed his faith in Jesus Christ before a crowd of about 225 students who braved the rain on College Green. Ryan, a College sophomore, has become the poster-child for Jesus Week 2000, inspiring the orange "i agree with kris" posters and T-shirts that have been displayed on Locust Walk. During yesterday's event three students offered testimonies about their strong religious convictions and relationships with God. Jesus Week -- an independent, student -organized event not affiliated with any Christian group on campus -- is a five-day celebration of the life of Jesus. A variety of speakers will discuss various issues concerning Christianity throughout the week. A five-cent advice table and lemonade stand have been set up on the Walk for the entire week. Ryan discussed his parents' divorce and his stepfather's drug abuse and outbursts of domestic violence. "It was a really hard time for me and for her -- he started hitting her," he said to the crowd, in reference to his mother. "One day, I went to see my mom in her bedroom, and she wasn't there. She left us, and I wondered why she would leave us," he added. Four months later, Ryan's mother, who had moved to another city, returned to retrieve him. "I questioned things: If there is a God, and I do believe there is one, why would He put me through this, why would He put my family through this?" Interestingly, Ryan said, his family had never been churchgoers when he was a young boy. Seeing the evolution of his mother from downtrodden to confident, Ryan began his own quest to understand God's role in his life. "If [God] could do this to my mother after all she's been through? I believed he could do this to me." "Living in welfare conditions, living through domestic abuse and now being at a prestigious university is a blessing," he added. Regarding the T-shirts that bore his name, Ryan expressed irritation. "It's been frustrating to see all these shirts," Ryan said. "I don't want people to think this is about me because everything I am I owe to Him." The next person to take the microphone was Wharton senior Art Canning, who used his personal tale of undergoing cancer treatment to illustrate his growing religious faith. Canning was recently told that he was suffering from Hodgkins disease, a type of cancer. That night, Canning explained, he went to bed "telling God that whatever happens to me is up to you." "When I woke up, I felt this confidence that God was going to take care of me," Canning said. "Since then, I've been through surgery, my hair is falling out -- I'm going through hard things right now, but it's so amazing -- the strength and optimism in how I'm dealing with it is coming not from me but from above," Canning explained. Finally, College sophomore Kate Moore had a rather different story to tell. Unlike Ryan or Canning, who had been skeptics, Moore always believed in God. "There were all these roles and expectations of me. I didn't want to disappoint God," Moore explained. Her feeling of "incredible condemnation" led her to develop an eating disorder. It was not until last year that Moore understood that meeting perfection was not an aspect of Christianity because God "looks at you without condemnation."
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