09/07/2026
When I was 17, not even out of high school yet, my parents came to me and told me they were going on the road in full-time ministry, to share Jesus with every church that would open its doors. They sold our home and gave away many of their belongings and stayed on the road for 5 years.
My sister Chris was 15. My brothers were 13, 12, and 9.
I thought they had absolutely lost their minds. đ
Until I was about ten, we lived in what I would call a religious home. We went to church on holidays. My parents actually made fun of people who were âradicalâ about Jesus.
And thenâŚthey became those people.
Prayer meetings that lasted for hours. Conferences. Billy Graham. Kenneth Copeland. You name it. We even traveled to Notre Dame for the Catholic Charismatic Conference, which, honestly, was a powerful experience.
Did my parents get everything exactly right? No. None of us do.
But what they did get right was surrender.
They decided that if they were going to follow Jesus, they were going to follow Him with total abandonment.
When they homeschooled my younger siblings and took our family on the road, people criticized them terribly. People said hateful things about them and questioned what they were doing.
It never phased them.
And now, more than 40 years later, Iâve watched them remain faithful.
Faithful in serving the homeless.
Faithful in serving people in need.
Faithful to their children, our spouses, and their 19 grandchildren.
They may not leave us great monetary wealth, but they have given us a kind of wealth that cannot be measured by anything on this earth and I have seen the Lord restore above and beyond what they gave up to follow Him in those early days.
Faith. Strength. Perseverance. The determination to keep going when life gets hard. And a deep-down knowing that Jesus is worth following.
I had to find my own way to Him. For a season, I denied so much of what they taught me.
But God heard their prayers.
And He is still answering themâfrom their oldest child all the way down to their youngest grandchild, who is only three years old.
Thatâs legacy.
Not a perfect family. Believe me, I can attest to the imperfection. đ
But a family determined to love through our differences, conflicts, mistakes, and challengesâand to keep choosing forgiveness.
That is Kingdom commodity.
That is wealth in the eternal.
And this songâŚwow.
We sang it so many times growing up:
âFreely, freely you have received; freely, freely give.
Go in My name, and because you believe, others will know that I live.â
Maybe it really is that simple, yâall.
Go.
Tell somebody what He has done for you.
Love people.
Forgive people.
Give away what He has so freely given you.
And live in such a way that long after youâre gone, somebody else knows Jesus because you were here.
This temporary place will one day pass away, and all things will be made new.
Until then, leave something eternal behind.
Mom and Dad, I love you.
This is your legacy. And weâre living in it. â¤ď¸
