https://youtu.be/NtxWTRt0vhI

My memory, of my Grandfather Mac is of me sitting on his lap at his home and him reading the Bible and the great stories of Adam and Eve, Noah and the Ark, Jonah and the whale, Moses, Samson, David and Goliath and about Jesus. My Grandpa Mac died of a heart attack walking home from work at noon hour when I was three years old and he was sixty three. My own Father found his Dad dead on the city sidewalk as he also drove home for noon hour.

My Father insisted that we go to church every Sunday. My Dad came from a family of 6 kids and he was the only one that took his family to church every Sunday. My Mother also came from a family of 6 kids and they did not go to church. When I was about 12 years old my Mother asked me how I could believe in God or Jesus when you can’t see them. I asked my Mother, “Do you believe in the wind? You can’t see the wind, but you can feel the wind. I can’t see God, but I feel the presence of God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit in my life.

Both sides of my extended family had issues with sin in their lives, adultery, alcoholism, drug abuse, prostitutes, sexual immorality, divorce, early deaths, suicides, children out of wedlock given up for adoption. My family is probably a lot like your family. We all have problems with sin.

There is a story written in the Touchstone magazine about the truth about men and church. The research is from 1994 and the article is from 2003, but my guess is it is very appropriate still for today. Here is a quote from that shocking article: if Dad does not go to church, no matter how faithful his wife’s devotions, only one child in fifty will become a regular worshipper.

So today, I am humbled, grateful and thankful that my Grandpa Mac and my Dad took our family to church every Sunday back in the day.

Here is a link to the magazine article.

Kevin Stephenson first discovered St. Augustine while in seminary at Oral Roberts University, and wasn’t exactly sure what to make of him. But when Kevin read the Confessions, it moved him deeply; he was able to relate to the struggles of St. Augustine on a very personal level. Kevin was also surprised to see Christianity alive and thriving on Augustine’s home continent of Africa that early in Church history; he had been under the impression that Christianity was relatively new to Africa, and didn’t realize it was one of the first apostolic mission fields. St. Augustine became a Christian in the year 384.