Rush To The Nations

My youngest son Rush invited me to meet him in Minnesota at the Durocher family home where we spent 5 days. 

Paul and Judy Durocher have 12 biological children and they travel all over America,  9-10 months of the year on concert/family ministry tour.  Their sons David 30 and Daniel 27, and daughter Susan 29 are married and live in other States.  The kids at home are Naomi, Jesse, and Jerry (triplets) 23,  Lydia 20, Abby 18, Gabrielle 15, Selathea 13, Melanie 11, and Austen-Myles 8.

Every one of their children are accomplished musicians, or are working towards that goal.   Paul is an amazingly patient dad/teacher, and mom/Judy is an amazing cook who models the virtuous woman in proverbs.

My son Rush met them in San Diego while they were doing their ministry at the Coronado Baptist Church, where he leads worship music with his band “Fishers of Men”.  Of course they hit it off well with a shared passion for worship music.

While we were there all the kids and Rush gathered every day and played music together, wrote songs, and rehearsed all the possibilities with the new lyrics.  It usually broke into a crescendo of worship music several times a day.  We had violin, cello, base fiddle, banjo, guitars, dough bro, mandolin, and percussion.   They played everything from hillbilly blue grass to contemporary standards.

I learned about how a mother and father let God decide how many children they should have rather than the usual American couple that decide based on what they feel they can afford, or how much time they are willing to give towards raising children, balanced with what their plans are in life.  They see children as blessings from God.   Paul puts it this way, “Children are blessed gifts from God.  If God were handing out $20 bills would you have him stop at 2 or 3?”

They went from a family with 2 boys and a girl, to a family with 6, when their fourth pregnancy was triplets.  They prayed for twins each time the first three children were delivered single, then God answered their prayers by giving them two more boys and a girl in one.  They laugh as they shared this story.

Every one of the children were home-schooled  in interesting ways in which they flourished to seek knowledge.  David is in med. school, Daniel is in Law school, Jesse and Jerry are engineers, and one girl was an LPN by the time she was 18.  Paul and Judy are not fans of public education for reasons they don’t hide.

Rush likes one of the daughters, but I don’t know much more.  He loves playing music with them, and he especially t loves their entire family’s dedication to Jesus as Lord.

Seeing Mark Bonasera and his wife Lois was such an amazing bonus.  I’ve met Mark the only time while we were both in Nigeria in April 2012.  The fact that the Durocher’s were good friends with them and live 20 minutes away spoke volumes to me about going.  I had dinner with Mark and Lois and his children.  They are amazing cooks.  We had steak and shrimp that was out of this world.  It was a good time of catching up and being the brothers we have become.

Leaving was bittersweet as I missed Tara but found a little bit of Heaven.

I met a lot of people and shared the story of Go & Build.  It was my goal to have an amazing time with my son Rush, tell and share about Go & Build, and to meet a lot of Christians in a different part of the US.  My goals were greatly exceeded.  I dearly love my family in Minnesota and the Durocher children call me “Uncle Rush” now.

I’m thankful to my Lord Jesus, my son Rush, The Durocher family, Mark and Lois Bonasera, Roger and Connie Mesica, and all the fine people I met in Minnesota.  The heart of America has strong and determined families who take their faith seriously.

Blessings.