Changed From The Inside Out

At my grandfather's funeral service, the minister preached the gospel message. It was

my grandpa's dying wish that the message of salvation be preached, at his funeral. I

loved my grandpa and spent countless hours with him, one on one. This is how he

finished the race of life.

It wasn't always so. It is my understanding that my great-grandfather was not a good

man. As a young man, my grandpa exceeded his father at the game of "not being a

good man." He was mean and beat his boys, especially the oldest (my uncle) regularly.

My grandparent's neighbor once told my grandma that her husband was going to one

day kill that boy! 

My grandfather was a professional landscaper. My dad as a young boy was given the

task of weeding the lawn one day. He was to place a stick on both ends of the lawn with

a string tied across them, and painstakingly remove each and every weed under that

string. He failed to complete the job to my grandpa's satisfaction and my father was

kicked in the stomach so hard that my dad struggled to breathe.

Then one day…

My grandma was told by her sister about the church of Christ. She began to attend

regularly. I have no idea what, when or why it happened, but Jesus Christ got a hold of

my grandpa's heart. It seems overnight, my grandfather became a completely new man.

Was it because someone provided him with all the right, solid and logical answers to his

questions? Was it his own committed and studious determination to know the truth? I

think it is obvious that Jesus Christ changed him. I do not know how. I do not know why.

I do not know when. I only know he changed. Dramatically and completely!

At present, my grandpa has a legacy for Christ, 5 generations long. This Whitley legacy

goes through my brother's family as well. My father is one of the greatest men I have

ever known. I own his Bible and have learned more from his scriptural notes than I even

learned when he was alive. My son Jacob is a solid man of God. He has exceeded me

in standards, virtue and core values. He is convinced we are in North Carolina because

God intended it to be so. Once the decision to move from California was decided, Jacob

learned, through old census documents that the Whitley family originated here. His son

Liam (the 5th generation) speaks of Jesus with delight and great affection. Just today,

he held Jesus from the family manger decorations and said, “I want to hold Jesus close

to my heart.”

If my grandfather was alive today I would ask, what, why and when Grandpa? I am

convinced, that whatever his answer boiled down to be, he would simply say, it was

Jesus.