Craig Steven Bell was born October 19th, 1988, to Chris and Linda Bell as the middle child of three. Craig was a sweet little boy who was always interested in how things worked, figuring out how to "fix" things, and could frequently be found with a screwdriver in his hand. Even into his older years, he enjoyed working with his hands in some capacity including fixing things around the house, helping his parents build their house addition, gardening, selling at farmers market, pouring over seed and flower catalogs for just the right seed order, building elaborate forts, and later in life building his kids an outdoor playhouse and indoor jungle gym as well as more intricate woodworking projects. Craig was a natural athlete excelling in baseball, soccer, basketball, and football. He was involved in homeschool extracurriculars, 4H, helping with many litters of German shepherd puppies, hiking, sailing, water and snow skiing, and lots of fun family times.
He loved his church family at Countryside, had lots of great friendships, and considered serving at junior camp a huge highlight of his year. Sadly, this whole time Craig thought he was saved and sometimes would talk about having "dry devotional times" and "struggling with habitual sin" but still read his Bible almost daily and maintained he was a Christian when discussion attempts were made. Looking back now, we understand he was a "cultural Christian" and never truly regenerated from the heart. His actions as an adult when tested showed that he, like all of us, choose sin over God apart from God's grace.
Craig pursued a career in chemical engineering from KU where he met Jalashree, and though she was Hindu and he was still a professing Christian, they married and subsequently began to distance themselves from everything in Craig's life, including family and friends. They moved to Houston and had two children (Arlen and Evren) during their 8 years of married life. Although they had much going for them externally, Craig made a host of serious and devastating life choices that ended in divorce and isolation from almost everyone and everything.
Soon after, Craig was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) with the high-risk 7q- subtype and later the FLT3 mutation which have very poor prognoses. He weathered rigorous chemo and a stem cell transplant relatively well, but the cancer had an early recurrence at the 100-day milestone. To make matters worse, the cancer was found in his spinal fluid meaning the central nervous system was affected. Two lumbar punctures per week to bathe his brain and spinal fluid with chemo followed by radiation to his brain and spine left Craig with the rare, but debilitating, side effect of permanent paralysis from the ribs down. Despite all, Craig kept a positive attitude and fought hard to live even though the prognosis was grim. He managed to complete his Master's degree in chemical engineering and maintain his job remotely until September when he was too diminished to work.
Craig was hospitalized continuously from July 2024 until his passing March 28, 2025. Although his heart was harder than ever toward God and anybody associated with Christianity, he needed help and asked his mom to come help care for him for the last 6 months. Although he was very guarded and rarely allowed meaningful conversation, Craig moderated over time and had an increasingly improved relationship with his parents. However, positive thinking had become his god, and he continued to reject that his cancer was terminal.
Amazingly, on March 21st, 2025, God did a miracle: Craig gave his life to Christ! His conversion was witnessed in-person by his parents and virtually by his siblings and best friend from high school. Not only had decades of prayer from hundreds of people been answered, but God even gave us the gift of seeing immediate, undeniable spiritual fruit in Craig's life as he firmly cut off sin and sought to make amends with people in his life. He had a new-found passion to share Christ with others, listened intently to Scripture being read, and wholly embraced family relationships for the first time in 13 years. A week after his spiritual rebirth, Craig went to heaven to be with Jesus. Though we grieve his earthly death, we rejoice that he is spiritually more alive than ever and take great hope in knowing we will see him again!
"So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed." John 8:36
Our son is in heaven!! We are so grateful to God for saving Craig that we want to share this story with you at an informal praise/testimony/memorial service on Friday, April 11th at 7:00 pm at Countryside Church in Overland Park, KS. Come as you are and help us praise God! We, of course, are grieving but with incredible joy and peace.
Chris and Linda Bell