97 Years

September 20, 2019

September 20, 1922. It was a different world back then. Warren Harding was president, the Roaring Twenties were in full swing with flappers, Prohibition, and bootleg liquor. The “War to End All Wars” had come to an end, the stock market was booming. The airplane was in its infancy; long distance travel was by train or steamer. The Model T was still king of the road, life in America was good, and my mother was born. 

Her childhood was defined by the Great Depression that hit when she was seven years old. She once told me of her parents going without meals so she and her sister could eat, and of her feelings of being unwanted when she was sent to her grandmother’s farm where they grew plenty of food, and her parents would have one less mouth to feed. She first met my father when she was in ninth grade; their marriage lasted for over sixty years until his death on Father’s Day in 2012. 

She knew the heartache of a miscarriage, the worries of a son in the military during Vietnam, and the difficult decision during a missionary conference to stand in support of her second son’s decision to follow whatever path God might choose in ministry. Her decision to start going to church started a chain of events that literally transformed my life when a couple years later I responded to a Gospel invitation to receive Christ.

One of the most important life lessons I ever learned came from her lips: “You always stick to your first commitment even if something better comes along.” Those words have saved me a lifetime of second-guessing and waffling, making many decisions much simpler. Together with my father, she left a legacy of faith and faithfulness that has resulted in my family alone, three children and nine grandchildren following Christ, in addition to many others who have come to Christ in my nearly fifty years of ministry. 

This evening, I recounted some of this to her. “I guess I’ve had more of an influence than I thought,” she said softly, tears welling in her eyes. Yes, mom, you have, and I am not the only one to give thanks tonight. I know you are looking forward to the day when you see Jesus face to face. You are going to be surprised to see all the others who will greet you and say, “Thank you for living the life you lived. I’m here because of you.”