(dramatic music) When my dad was diagnosed, it was bitter sweet, because I thought it would come to an end. But I was still struggling. It was the only thing I knew, was my dad. If someone had told me by the time your dad passes away it's gonna hurt more than you'll ever know, because you're losing your best friend, I would have said you're crazy. But that's what happened. Hey.
What? Figured out why you like junk. What? Why you like to fix things. Why you make something out of nothing all the time. (laughs) They got a word for that. What's that word? It's redemption. Redemption. Yeah. Hey, what is this note here? Right there, what's that note? G. What's that note?
C. C. G to C. You got some competition now boy. Yeah.
Yeah. And the biggest kind of moment where I realized I've got an amazing dad was my in my junior, senior year, was when he kinda started going down hill, and hospice kind of moved in. We had a hospice nurse during the day, we had a hospice nurse at night. Night hospice nurse was a guy that my dad really got close to. He was a really cool dude. He got killed in a car accident. And it was really traumatic for my dad. And my dad was like I can't do it again. Like, don't give me another nurse. I can't go through this. The hospice nurse, she stayed in place, and then she kinda broke the rules and was like, I'm just gonna report you only need a day nurse, and then she taught me how to give him his medicine as a senior in high school. I would sit with my dad from about 2 to 4 in the morning every night, and do this. (dramatic music) My dad and I had these unbelievable conversations. From who I should or shouldn't be dating, to what's gonna happen after he's gone. To apologizing and wanting forgiveness for all the things he had done. There's nothing I looked forward to more than being with my dad for those couple hours. Every ounce of wisdom that you were supposed to get from your father, it was like, we were in the fast lane. Catching up for lost time. That's when it kind of clicked, and I realized this is truly a godly man. Better late than never. (dramatic music) The reason I say my dad's the godliest man is because I've seen what I considered to be godly men throughout my life that were one thing in public and not the same thing in private. The humility of being the godliest man for me is someone that never wanted the spotlight. It really had no personal gain for the change that took place, so for one I was like, this has to be real. But then to see the one place where he didn't have to go the extra mile and go through what he went through as far as pursuing Christ was behind closed doors. Of course I've been around enough to see people who go through change, but there's an agenda there. Maybe I can sell more records or write more books or whatever. My dad had nothing like that to gain from this. He didn't try to cash in, and he didn't try to make it an angle. He just tried to love me as well as he possibly could with the time he had and that was it. The way he treated me when no one else was looking was probably the reason that I believe that it was incredibly real. God did something huge in his life. From that alone, I would say that he is still one of God's reverends here. Like the last couple months, he was in and out of consciousness for a while, and the only time my dad would wake up was when they tried to move him, and he would yell for me. And I'd hold him up in my arms until they would change the sheets and fix his bed and we'd reposition him. I just remember this one moment when he was kind of yelling for me and I picked him up and he was whimpering like a kid, and I caught a vision in a full mirror across the room of me holding my dad, and he's holding both arms around my neck and he's holding on for dear life and he finally falls back asleep in my arms. I became so overwhelmed with the emotion of, I finally got the dad I wanted, and there's not much time left. The discussion we had where he literally told me, I thought you shouldn't chase your dreams, I thought you should just get a job and keep your head down and don't get out of line, and he was like I was wrong. You do whatever you can. Chase your dreams, don't let anybody stop you. Wherever it takes you, just be able when it's all said and done say you tried. He had a pension fund, not much, over the years for working for the state highway department. And he was like look, here's the deal. You and your brother will get a check each, $600 a month for 10 years. That's the best I could do to kind of look out for you, and kinda chase out this dream, and then when it runs out, I don't know how, but somehow I'll be looking out for you still. And I was like, okay, great, awesome. Fast forward 10 years, we had just had our first child, I had an interview I had to do. So I went into my office, I'm holding my newborn, I'm on hold, waiting for the DJ to come on live. And my wife walks in and says, it's the last check. I don't care who you are, $600, gone from your monthly deal and you have a newborn. It's kinda of, oh no, what are you doing? It's a big chunk. And she's like, we have a newborn child, and this is our last check, what are we gonna do? And she walks off. And as I'm sitting there stressing out, they come on the air, and he's like, hey, I know you got a lot going on, but we should be the first to congratulate you that I Can Only Imagine is number one. (dramatic music) And immediately I thought of my dad saying, when the checks run out, I'll somehow be able to look out for you. And I started sobbing uncontrollably. Normally, even though it's cool to have a number one song, you wouldn't start crying on the air. And so the DJ's like, it's gonna be okay, wow, you're really excited about this. No you don't understand, you don't understand. I'm holding my newborn, my dad, I'm trying to explain the whole thing, and by the time I'm done, he's sobbing with me. And I said now my daddy thought he'd be forgotten two seconds after he dies, he's eternally attached to the song, it changed everything. My dad thought that he'd be forgotten about two seconds after he's gone. Yet here we are, almost 25, 26 years later, and Dennis Quaid's playing my dad. And that's a little weird. My dad would be flipping out if he were here. The story of my dad and the redemption is like a massive part of my faith. If I'm considered ever a godly man at all, it's because those handful of years I had with him, seeing the transformation take place. If the gospel can change him, it can change anybody. If I face things that seem insurmountable, that seems out of control, it's like, man there's nothing in my life more insurmountable than what my father is doing to me. It's not just that it stopped, he went a little bit further and became the godliest man I knew. That's Paul kind of junk, of Paul killing Christians and then becoming like the cornerstone of faith, to me in my life personally that's what it feels like. So gosh, it's a huge, huge part of what I believe and my faith and why I am what I am now.
