Mike Farris:
With me today is Patrick Henry College student, Joseph Alm. He is a homeschool graduate from California who is working on a degree in government with an emphasis on domestic public policy. Joseph, thanks so much for being on the program.

Joseph Alm:
I appreciate you for having me on.

Mike:
I wanted to ask you what you think are some of the key things that your parents did, in your teenage years, that helped you become a strong, responsible adult, with good character?

Joseph:
Well, I think two of the most important things that my parents did, was to give me a tangible example of godly living and then to let me make my own choices. My parents understood that you may either keep your child safe or you can let your child become a man. And my parents let me become a man. When I was 16, I was given almost complete autonomy. When I compared my parent’s loving relationship with each other and with my siblings to the shallow and painful lives of the many I had worked with, I realized I wanted to pursue God and to love others like I had seen them do. My parents couldn’t force me to choose rightly, but they ultimately gave me a tangible example of godliness. Then they opened the doors and let me become my own person to make my own choices. My parents treated me like a man and I now can make the decisions a man ought to make easily and decisively. So Dr. Farris, if I could name one thing that made me what I am today, I would thank my parents for modeling Christ and then being willing to allow me to grow up to become the man God wants me to be.

Mike:
Thanks so much, Joseph. I’m Mike Farris.