With that having been said, let me invite you to turn in your Bibles to Hebrews, I'm sorry, Hebrews 11. Hebrews chapter 11. If you want to give a title to the message this morning, it would be for the salvation of his family. For the salvation of his family.
This will be a little bit different of a sermon. this, this morning, I'll be spending most of my time doing some, speaking somewhat biographically and reflecting on Ways that my own father contributed to the salvation of his family. When I share my testimony, faith in Christ, and I've got any length of time to share that with people, I normally do not begin the story of my conversion with the weeks or the months leading up to, my conversion. I normally begin my testimony by telling people about my dad because what happened to him is a vital part of my own gospel narrative.
My dad grew up in Detroit, Michigan, in a godless family characterized by brokenness and by no religious training. his parents divorced when he was young, and his only memories of his biological father were the times when his dad would bring by the alimony check to his mom every other week. My dad's mom remarried a few years after her divorce and my dad had a stormy and distant relationship with his stepdad. At the age of 17, my dad was going nowhere fast, frequently in trouble with the law.
My dad found himself in 1959 standing before the juvenile judge at the Wayne County Courthouse in Detroit, Michigan, and the judge told him, if I see you in my courtroom again, I'm going to put you in prison. He strongly advised my dad to join the Marine Corps. On that occasion, and he framed my dad's choice in the following terms, 4 in the cops or 10 in the pen. My dad used to tell us that he was not good at math back then, but he thought to himself, 4 years in the Marines seems like a better deal than 10 years in prison....
