strongerby1

I’ve been on staff at Family Vision Ministries for about 5 months now, and before that, the small groups and missions pastor at LifeChurch.tv for almost 6 years.  I’m not sure I would have been a Christ follower at all, let alone a servant of the church and now families worldwide, if it hadn’t been for my first wife Andrea Rae Brown-Terrill.

We had been married 6 months when I woke in the wee hours of the morning to Andrea having a seizure.  Our first Christmas, and the whole next year were a blur to us.  Not even out of college, and now as newlyweds, we battled her brain cancer together for the next 10 years before she ultimately passed away, headed to Heaven… as my hero.  We didn’t pick the path we were to take, nor did we have any inkling of the outcome, but we both started to “live like we were dying” as the song says.  Life was suddenly precious, and each day really did matter.

We both finished college to start our careers, we lost our first baby, we had our “miracle baby” in Jordan, and then Mackenzie came along.  Andrea never knew there was a Family-ID she helped create by living her life the way she did.  We picked up the cards that life had dealt, and mocked cancer returning as we lived life to its full.  Andrea Rae Brown-Terrill passed away 8-years ago today, but she lives on in those who loved her, in her 2 girls who both look and act like her in ways that make me smile, and in the way the Brown Family intentionally lives their lives each and every day.

Our Family-ID is:   No reserve. No regret. Love God. Live free.

We resolve to live each day fully with no reserve energy when our heads hit the pillow, to have no regrets that we let adventure pass us by.  The point of our existence is to model the love of Christ in our home and in our lifestyle, and in doing so, will live a life of true freedom.  Thank you Andrea for leaving such a vital legacy to every generation of Brown’s who will follow.

We love you and miss you!

Your Family and Friends