Exodus 3:15

“God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.”

Hi Craig! Hi Erin! Good morning!

I was cleaning and organizing my work and storage shed the other day and I saw one of my garden tools with green paint painted on the handle. I chuckled because it brought me back to the days of my childhood when I was growing up on a farm out in the country north of Cincinnati, Ohio. My dad was planting a Baptist church there in that community. Both of my grandparents lived close by. And it was my Grandma and Grandpa Campbell who would always paint a green mark on their tools so they would not get lost with those amongst my dad’s, or with those from other church members who also would bring their tools to church work-days. I thought that was pretty smart. My grandparents were the only ones who did that.

They were special folks and they taught me so much in life. You knew your great grandparents, my Grandma and Grandpa Campbell when you were very young, but you never had the chance to stay and spend time with them like me and my brothers. I have wonderful memories.

Like all grandparents, they would spoil us horribly. It was always fun going to stay with Grandma and Grandpa on some Sundays after church. Every Sunday evening, without any exception, Grandma had baked a large mess of oatmeal cookies with black walnuts from their tree. The cookies were in a large ‘Charlie Chips’ tin, which was most probably an antique even back in those days — Grandma, being so frugal, never threw anything away because if you could not reuse it, you make something out of it that you can use instead — that’s my Grandma. My brothers and I always carried our lunches to school and we always had enough oatmeal cookies to last us for a week. I remember Grandma always said she was so tight (meaning she was frugal and did not waste money foolishly by shopping and buying something they did not need) that she could hold on to Abe Lincoln (a penny) so tightly that it would make him squeal. So hilarious; they had so many country sayings that always made us laugh.

My grandparents were from Southeastern Kentucky in what is geographically called, Appalachia. This means our family ancestry comes from a small little coalmining town called Napfor, in Perry County, Kentucky. In other words, my grandparents were respectfully called, ‘Hillbillies,’ from the Appalachian mountains of Kentucky. I am two generations removed from being a ‘hillbilly,’ which makes you all three generations removed.

As a child, I visited our family home in Kentucky a few times. The last time, I was a senior in high school and everyone from the Campbell clan went back to Napfor to bury their senior relative, my Great-Grandpa Charles Campbell in the family cemetery on top of one of the mountains called Campbell’s Mountain, by common folks. No one in our family worked in the coal mines. Our family was landowners who were apple farmers, which is why we always had apple butter, applesauce, and fresh apples at home. I remember seeing the old cabin where my Grandpa was born and some of the apple trees that were still growing on the mountainside. To get to the family cemetery, we had to walk across this huge swinging bridge made of cables and wooden planks. It was scary since the bridge was so high above the ravine. Grandma was so scared of heights, that Grandpa had to pick her up and carry her across the bridge — Grandma was screaming the whole way. So hilarious!

There’s an interesting story why we are not living in our ancestral home in Perry County, Kentucky. Back in the late 1920s to early 1930s, your Great Grandpa was recruited by the University of Kentucky after he graduated from high school, to go to college and play basketball on a scholarship, which he did until the Great Depression hit at the very same time while he was in college. So sad; Grandpa’s college days had to end before he was able to finish. But we must always remember that our God is in control. Grandpa married his sweetheart, my Grandma Peggy, from his hometown. After the Great Depression in 1933, the same year my father was born, Grandpa and Grandma had to go find jobs to raise their family. They moved to Memphis, to Detroit, and then to Cincinnati; anywhere where Grandpa could find work. Because of Grandpa’s college education, he was always able to find a job and was always given a management position. Like my grandfather, my father also went to college; but for him, to be a pastor and minister. I went to college too; I guess it was expected. That is our family legacy.

My grandfather also gave us another legacy. Grandpa was a Bible-toting, Bible-believing, and Bible-teaching Christian. He was our church treasurer because of his experience in accounting from the University of Kentucky. From Grandpa John Campbell, came my dad, Kelly Campbell, who went to Bible college to become a Baptist preacher and pastor. He planted new churches in Kentucky and in Ohio. And then came me, your Daddy, Samuel Campbell who went to Mid-American Baptist Seminary to be available for God’s call in my life to serve my Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus is my God who I love and serve.

And that brings us to you, Craig and Erin. I know you followed the legacy by going to college. Erin, you went and graduated from the University of Mississippi in accounting, and Craig, you graduated from the University of Memphis in mechanical engineering. I am always so proud of your accomplishments. But most importantly, our family legacy that is handed down from generation to generation, from the Mountains of Kentucky to me, here in Hawaii, is having faith in the Jesus Christ as Lord God and Savior; and to be a Bible-toting, Bible-believing, and Bible-teaching Christian. It is and will always be my most sincere prayer that you become followers of Jesus Christ as your Lord God and Savior, just like your Great Grandpa John Campbell, your Grandpa Kelly Campbell, and your Daddy Sam Campbell.

I always love you, my children.