On page 40 of the book, I mention Nancy's brother, Jim Cheetham. This brief mention of Jim does not do justice to the significance of the influence he has been on Nancy and me. We went to visit the Cheethams this weekend in Loganville, Georgia, and the memories of those transformative years of which Jim was a part over 40 years ago were brought back. Our visit with them was to meet the newest of their grandchildren, Gabriele, and spend time with their children and other grandchildren.
Next to the Lord, there is nothing more important to Jim and Kay than their family. Jim and Kay raised their three children with a strong Christian worldview, and the result are three strong, young families not pulled off stride by the chaos and craziness of our contemporary culture; instead, they are young families who are confident, joyful, and surety of that in which they have placed their hope. They are anchored to the same understanding of this world as Jim and Kay. That has been their inheritance.
This does not mean that these beautiful Cheetham grandchildren aren't going to be buffeted this way and that by the world in which they live, but it does mean they are being given in their Christian home an anchor onto which to hold, and by the grace of God and the power of the Holy Spirit in their lives, they will choose to do so. This is what Paul talks about in Ephesians 4:14-16: "...that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ." (ESV)
I was blessed to see this so vividly during our visit with Cheethams, and I am thankful to Jim for helping Nancy and me set our anchor firmly upon the Rock.
Jim Cheetham and our son Robin those many years ago.
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