He was born in Franklin, Indiana in 1951 and raised in Columbus, Indiana, the only son of Jack and Dorothy Riley. He has two older sisters and a one younger sister. My grandpa owned and operated a grocery store so he worked long hours. He was also a heavy drinker so the majority of the child raising was left to my grandma.

Through high school and early adulthood he embraced the drug and hippie culture of the time, having fun with friends and driving fast cars. I was conceived out of wedlock when he was 20 and it was around that time that he began to question why he was here and about the meaning of life and about God. The “fun” he had been having began to feel hallow and empty. Over the next couple of years he began a spiritual journey.

Not coming from a Christian home, he was not sure where to turn. He looked into Eastern philosophies and Yoga but found they came up short. He also had some friends at work who where Christians and who told him about Christ and that He desired a personal relationship with him. That began to resonate with my dad and by the time I was 2 years old, my dad had accepted Jesus Christ as his savior and I thank God for Bob and Larry, his friends at work.

That day he came home and emptied out his drugs and paraphernalia, tossed it all in the trash. His life and the course of his family changed for ever that day. He was the first Christian in his family in 3 generations. But, everything wasn’t gumdrops and lollypops after that.

When I was 5, my mom decided that she did not want to be tied down and still wanted that wild life they had lived in the beginning, so she left. My dad was left to raise 2 boys as a single parent…

More to come…