Wally Long: Finding Hope & Healing Through Faith & Trials
About this episode
Pastor and author Wally Long joins Philip Cameron to share one of the most harrowing stories of compounded family tragedy you will ever hear — and how his unshakeable faith carried him through it all. In the span of just eleven months, Wally lost his youngest sister to suicide, nearly lost his 18-year-old son in a devastating motorcycle accident, and then buried his mother. Before he could fully recover, a 12-year-old nephew killed Wally's brother and sister-in-law, critically wounding two younger children in the same attack. "The only thing I had was my faith," Wally says. "That's all I could cling to." Rather than collapse under the weight of unimaginable grief, Wally and his wife adopted two of the surviving children — their seventh and eighth — and leaned into a simple, daily discipline: "Just do the next thing." That posture of one-step-at-a-time obedience, rooted in the peace that "passes understanding," became the foundation of his healing journey and ultimately the sermon series that grew into his book, Why Me, Lord. Wally also recounts the moment — just five days after the murders — when God compelled him to visit his imprisoned 12-year-old nephew, and how choosing forgiveness over bitterness became the turning point for his entire family's restoration. He later appeared on the Piers Morgan show to share his faith publicly in the middle of the crisis. If you or someone you love is walking through a dark valley, this conversation is essential viewing. Learn more and get the book at wallylong.com.
Part of our Overcoming trials collection of conversations.
Quotes worth sharing
“I stood up and I reached across that table and I hugged that kid. I literally hugged that kid who just five days before had killed my brother. I hugged him around the neck and I said, I'm still your uncle, and if you need me, I'll be here for you.”
“My wife and I, our motto became, just do the next thing. Take the next step. Just take the next step. Do the next thing. We had no foresight for tomorrow.”
“I began asking that question in earnest — why me, Lord? Why is this happening? And I began searching the scriptures, and the Lord began giving me answers. Those answers became a sermon. That sermon became the book. The journey, as dark as it seems, there were so many bright spots along the way.”
What's Discussed
Pastor Wally Long of Mount Vernon, Missouri recounts a series of devastating losses: his sister's suicide in 2006, his son's near-fatal motorcycle accident in 2007, his mother's death weeks later, and — in 2011 — the murder of his brother and sister-in-law by their 12-year-old son in Aurora, Colorado. Two younger children survived and were eventually adopted by Wally and his wife, becoming their seventh and eighth children. Through counseling, Scripture, and a daily commitment to "just do the next thing," Wally found healing. He later appeared on the Piers Morgan show to publicly declare his faith during the crisis. His journey became the book Why Me, Lord. He also describes visiting his imprisoned nephew just five days after the murders — an act of grace that he credits as the beginning of his family's restoration.
- Sister's Suicide Rocks the Family
- Son's Near-Fatal Motorcycle Accident
- Mother's Death and Total Collapse
- Brother and Sister-in-Law Murdered
- Just Do the Next Thing: Daily Survival
- Searching Scripture for Answers
- Visiting the Nephew in Prison
- Choosing Forgiveness in the Courtroom
Episode Transcript
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Intro
Philip:Hey, welcome to Daily Faith. I'm wearing the same shirt I was in the last set. Wow. I'm gonna have to get new shirts. My name is Philip Cameron, and I am delighted to have you with us today. We have got a very interesting and important show. Sometimes you go through pain that you don't ask for. Sometimes the pain is inexplicable. And we have a guest today who went through a situation that — he was meant to be on with us previously, and we had a technical issue come up. And he has been stuck in the back of my mind since we were meant to do the show. And we're back together today.
Philip:And he's got a story to tell you. If you are going through a circumstance right now that is indescribable, that you can't even articulate what's happening to you, you're gonna love this program. If you are concerned about a situation in your family and you're thinking, you know, what's gonna happen — you are going to hear a man today that went through the darkest of dark valleys, wrote a book entitled Why Me, Lord, that I want you to get. And if you have a friend that's going through the storm, you need to get this book. I think it'll help you greatly.
Philip:Now, on a totally unrelated matter, I'm just sick and tired of this cold weather. I'm ready for summer to come. If I hear anyone in my family or anyone near me complain about the heat this coming summer, I am going to throw a snowball at them the next time it snows, because I am sick of cold weather. God did not mean me to be in chilly climates.
Philip:And my mom — I've got a mom. My mom's 96 years old in Scotland, and they've just come through a terrible week last week, and they've just been told that this week coming they can have over a hundred mile an hour winds where we come from, in the little part of Scotland we come from, with snow. So I — every week I send her groceries. I've discovered I can order groceries from a store called Asda, which is a subdivision of Costco. And every Friday, my 96-year-old mom gets a knock on the door and a week's groceries appear. And she calls me and she says, Santa Claus came this week again. So my mom gets Christmas every week.
Philip:My daughter Melody orders them for me. So I told Melody, I said, you need to get double portions coming in right now because this week could be a bad week in Scotland. Help me if you would — share this broadcast. You've got friends that need to hear what we are talking about. And if you like the program and share the program, your friends that may be going through a terrible situation — the whole point of Daily Faith is exactly the name of this show: Daily Faith. We want to be a partner with you walking with Jesus every day. And something you'll hear from this program will affirm your faith, will be an amen from God in your circumstance.
Philip:And all it takes is one amen from God in your circumstance, and everything changes. When Jesus comes, the power is broken. When Jesus comes, all tears are wiped away. That old song — he takes the gloom. I'm so glad I'm old enough to remember songs that rhymed and made sense. He takes the gloom and fills the life with glory, for all this changes when Jesus comes to stay. We are also on YouTube — really simple, youtube.com/dailyfaith. And you can get a whole bunch of programs there. We catalog all the programs. Anything you are going through, I'm pretty well sure that we've talked about it here on Daily Faith.
Philip:We have got a tremendous program, an important program. You're going to hear stuff today that's gonna make you shake your head and wonder what kind of world we live in and how dark the world is. And then you're gonna find that in the end of it all, there is hope. I am delighted you are with us today. Welcome to Daily Faith.
Philip:Hey, my friend, welcome to Daily Faith. My name is Philip Cameron, and you have just maybe by chance come across our program for the very first time. We are amazed how many people are getting to watch us and the response. And we just are so grateful. We are so grateful. My dad used to talk to me all the time when I was growing up. He's been in heaven for 25 years. But he would always say to me, if you've got a thankful heart, everything can change with a thankful heart. Thankfulness is the adjuster of your receptors. In other words, if you're thankful, you open up yourself to receive more from heaven. If you're unthankful, you close it down and you end up just going in an ever smaller circle all the time.
Philip:An uncle called John, a great man of God, was sitting with me, and he said, with a thankful heart, everything feels like a double portion. And boy, that's the truth. And I'm so grateful for you. I believe that God has put us together for you to hear something today that'll encourage your heart. I believe that God's on your side. I know God's on your side. And whatever your storm is right now, whatever the battle is you're going through, I just want you to know that He loves you with a love that will never, ever let you go. He can't. He's infatuated with you. When you are sound asleep in your bed, He never sleeps. He's just watching you.
Philip:He's amazed how much courage you have to get up in the morning with all the problems you face. And you get in that shower and you say, well, here I go again. He loves you. He adores you. I got a wee grand baby. I've got nine grandkids. But there's a new one that's come into our life in the last year. Her name is Annabelle, and I am absolutely soggy — soggy, is that a word? Soggy. I'm soggy in love with her. I dream about her. I just, I can't get over her.
Philip:And she's now into the ears and teeth and eyes, and oh my goodness. And she has no idea. She toddles around here and she's just learning to walk. And every time she walks, she gets cheered and clapped and we all yay. And she has no idea how much she's loved. And you know what? You have no idea how much you are loved. Your heavenly Father loves you with a love that will never let you go.
Philip:And we've got a guest today on Daily Faith that I think you will be blessed by. He went through — and his whole family went through — an earthquake and a hurricane and a volcano all at one time, and a flood, all at one time. And he wrote a book entitled Why Me, Lord. We're gonna be talking about this today, and the sorrow that he went through and finding peace in it all. And I think you're gonna find something in this program that may help you. You may have a friend or a relative going through the same thing. A pastor — if you love your pastor, call him right now. He may learn something just now.
Philip:Over 35 years ago, I was sitting in my house in Alabama — I was living there then. My dad called me and his opening words were, a baby's dying. And that began a saga that continues to this day. For half of my life I've been involved in missions because of that one phone call. I went with him against my will, and I found a wee boy in an orphanage in Timișoara, Romania, picked him up, and I said, I don't know what it's gonna take, but I'll never stop trying to get you.
Philip:And after a year of going back and forth every few weeks to Romania, making sure he wasn't any more damaged than he was — he was starving to death in this place — I discovered there were no toilets. So I put in new toilets. I bought wee kitties toilets in Scotland and shipped them over. And we worked all night to put them in. I flew plumbers over from Scotland and discovered that there were no drains. So I dug and put in drains. And the beds were painted with lead paint. It was unbelievable. But all the joy I found in helping kids that had nothing to offer — and that began a saga that's been continuing.
Philip:Today we have a village of houses, the most amazing place you've ever seen. It was built for rich people to have a summer dacha on the largest lake in Moldova. And they poisoned the lake with chlorine to kill the algae, and they killed that housing project as well. And it sat unused, unfinished for nine years. And we bought the unfinished houses and we finished them. And we're happy to tell you that they're all full of young folk, paid for. And when young kids are put on the street, they come to us instead of being caught by the trafficker.
Philip:Every girl you are watching right now — just every girl you're looking at — is worth $300,000 a year to a trafficker. That's how much she can make for a trafficker. And they come to us and we tell them, if you're born, God has a plan, you're not a mistake. And the most crazy things have happened over these years. These kids have turned from orphans to sons and daughters and now missionaries. And that's why it's called the Orphan's Hands, because those kids go out — each of our homes. We've got one in Ukraine. We've had one there for eight years, long before the war. We were there in Ukraine caring for kids.
Philip:And these kids come to us and they hear about the gospel and they turn into missionaries, and each of the houses adopts a village. And they go there and they find every widow, every orphan, every broken family. And for the widows, they dig the gardens and plant vegetables. And we bring wood for the wintertime. And we love a village into the kingdom of God. We find an evangelical church if there's one there, and we put all the converts into it. And these orphans — if God can help these kids, your kids are not too far from the grace of God, I promise you.
Philip:And my wife Chrissy and my daughter Melody just came back a couple of days ago after being there for Christmas. And last Friday I got this video. And this is our own kids — these are our kids who you're gonna watch right now — having Christmas. These kids are now, as we speak, out in orphanages and communities all over Moldova, bringing hope and joy and sharing the gospel through plays and all kinds of stuff. I've never seen anything like this in my life. Orphans becoming missionaries. It's crazy. And watch this video. I think you'd be blessed by it.
Philip:Oh my goodness. Can you imagine? And for hours after that — we hire a place because we don't have a place big enough there for all our kids — so they went from there back to their houses. And my wife Chrissy and my daughter Melody — you saw them in the video — they said for hours they went from house to house, and the girls were having fashion shows, showing them all the stuff they got in their Christmas boxes.
Philip:And there's a church — an amazing church, tremendous friends of ours — and from Fayetteville, North Carolina, their church this last year — we had to take 25 new kids in, and their church makes the Christmas presents for the kids that come for the very first time. And some of those kids you're looking at there today have never had Christmas before, never celebrated a birthday before. And there are one or two of the girls who have a Christmas and a birthday on the same date, so they get double blessed.
Philip:But you can help us. We are in a situation — just before I came on the program today, I was talking to our team in Moldova and we've just bought two new houses, literally signed the paperwork last week. And we are taking in 50 little kids. These are four to 16-year-old kids. Each of these two houses needs 300 people. And I know God's gonna talk to you today about this. Each one of the houses needs 300 people giving $1 a day, and we can sponsor the house — that pays for the house, that pays for the heating and the staff and all the stuff.
Philip:And one of the houses is finished and just needs repainting because it's got these horrible colors, and we were laughing about that today. So we're gonna start repainting it this week. And the other house is about 85% finished. We're gonna finish that house off and we'll be able to take 50 little kids. Now, normally these kids you just watched come to us when they're 16. But these new homes will have two houses with kids from four to 16, and we're gonna save them years and years of heartache in the orphanage. And we just need you — we can't do it ourselves.
Philip:We are asking if you can help join the Orphan's Hands family. A dollar a day won't change your world, but I promise you, a dollar a day has changed every one of the kids you just watched in that video. And we take these kids in — there's no set limit. Some of the kids you just watched are gonna be doctors and lawyers and all kinds of professions, from having no hope to becoming the leaders of the country. And we just need you. And I believe that our businessmen watching — our businesswomen — that God's blessed you for this purpose. And you've been asking the Lord, how can I get involved? Who can I give to?
Philip:Well, the best thing you could ever do is come to Moldova and see what we're doing. It'll change your life, I promise. You can send an offering, a gift, to the Orphan's Hands — really simple: P.O. Box 25, Clinton, Tennessee 37716. You can also go to our main base, which is dailyfaith.tv. And you just go there and there's a page, and wherever you designate your gift to is where it's gonna go. And I believe God is talking to your heart about this. These kids, those girls, have no hope, no protection outside of what we do. And you can also dial 833-DAILY-FAITH — really simple, just 833-Daily-Faith — and a real life, honest-to-goodness person will pick up the phone.
Philip:I'm so excited to have this guest with us today. He has gone through unimaginable stuff — pain that is inexplicable — and yet he's found peace in it all. Wally Long is a pastor and author. He pastors from Mount Vernon, Missouri. And I'm just delighted to have him with us today. Wally, thank you for being with us. I apologize that I took a few seconds longer to talk about what we're doing in Moldova — I'm an excited man.
Wally Long:Sounds like you have important work there. It looks pretty cool. I like it.
Philip:My wife just came home with my daughter and they just had an amazing time. It was fabulous. Give us — just to catch our audience up to speed — tell us what you went through as a family, and the enormity of the sorrow that you have had to go through to write a book called Why Me, Lord. I think you'll be a lot of help for folk today. Tell us what happened.
Sister's Suicide Rocks the Family
Wally Long:Sure. It started in October of 2006. My youngest sister took her own life. I received a phone call from my brother who told me that Tessie had taken her own life — she'd committed suicide.
Philip:Oh my goodness.
Wally Long:It kind of rocked my world, because I had spoken with her just a couple of days before. And as a trained professional — a correctional officer — I had suicide training. I thought I should have been able to see some sign that something was happening and maybe have prevented it. But she committed suicide. It rocked our world. I went to Nebraska to be with her family. I preached her memorial service. It was just crazy difficult.
Wally Long:My mother started going downhill at that point because she felt it was her fault. And she had health issues. She started going downhill. And then the following summer, in July of 2007, I had an 18-year-old son who was on his way to our house on his motorcycle, lost control of it. It went through a barbed wire fence, tore his right leg off below the knee, almost killed him. He literally died on the helicopter on his way to the hospital. They brought him back. He'd lost five units of blood.
Son's Near-Fatal Motorcycle Accident
Wally Long:We were in the hospital with him. And being a parent, seeing your child in pain and not being able to do anything is absolutely heart wrenching. But we survived that. He got through it, several surgeries. They saved the lower part of his leg so he could get a prosthetic. The day he got out of the hospital, my mother's health finally got the best of her. And I received another phone call that she had gone into the hospital on her deathbed, and she died just a few weeks later. So in the space of 11 months, I lost my sister, almost lost my son, lost my mother. I was pretty well distraught.
Mother's Death and Total Collapse
Wally Long:I had literally nothing left. I'd been preaching to a small church and I just told them that I have nothing left to give you right now. I need to just recuperate. So we left that church, went somewhere else where we could just sit and receive the word and sit in the back row and just kind of heal. And things started moving along. Family was getting back together. Things were getting kind of on an even keel.
Wally Long:Then in March of 2011, I received another phone call. This one — if the other two rocked my world, this one just turned it upside down completely. My oldest nephew, my brother's son, called and said that someone had broken into their house and killed his mom and dad, and that the two youngest children — who were five and nine — were being life-flighted to the hospital at Children's Hospital in Aurora, Colorado, because they were injured in the attack as well. And at the time, they did not know whether they would survive.
Brother and Sister-in-Law Murdered
Wally Long:I, of course, immediately made plans to fly out to Colorado. I remember walking into the intensive care unit and seeing these two little kids with tubes all over. They looked more dead than alive at the time. It just was surreal. It was like, this can't be happening. It's somebody else's life that's going on here.
Philip:So your nephew — your nephew killed his mom and dad?
Wally Long:We didn't find that out until a couple of days later. The investigator told us.
Philip:So was he the one that called you?
Wally Long:No, no. It was my oldest nephew that called me. He was the oldest of seven. Two days later we found out that it was the 12-year-old nephew who did it. He was 12 years old at the time — killed his mom and dad and tried to kill his brother and sister. We don't know exactly what happened, but one day he picked up a .357 pistol and shot his mom in the head, shot his brother twice, shot his father and killed him. And then took a knife to his little sister and stabbed his brother again as well. His brother wasn't dead yet, so he kept trying to kill his brother with a knife.
Wally Long:It was absolutely — it's the kind of brutal attack you see in a movie, and you think people don't do this in real life.
Philip:And in a movie you wouldn't buy a ticket to go and see. I mean, it's not just a bad movie. It's so brutal.
Wally Long:It was so brutal. It just — I could not believe that he had done it. When they told me that he had done it, I said, there's no way. I've seen this kid. There's no way this little kid did this, because he's just a mild, meek, timid kid involved in church. But sure enough, the evidence was rock solid. The boy actually woke up after the investigator got there, and on the way out to the ambulance woke up enough to tell him that it was his own brother that did it. That's how they knew that he was the suspect. And the case was solid from there on.
Wally Long:It just floored us. My family followed me out to Colorado just a couple of days later — they were there the next day, actually. And we lived for the next four weeks — it was just like living in a dream. Every day you woke up thinking, okay, this is over, finally the dream is over. But it wasn't. It just kept getting worse. But eventually — I mean, it wasn't all bad. We had some of the most amazing experiences out there with doctors and nurses that watched our family walk through this. And the only thing I had was my faith. That's all I could cling to, was my faith in the Lord. I said, God, I have no idea what's going on here. And that's where the question for me started happening — Lord, why is all this happening to me? Why are you doing this? What have I done wrong? What is going on here?
Philip:Well, I just — and that's where the question started for you. I'm just listening to you, and I'm trying to put myself in your shoes, and I'm connecting family members — I'm replacing my family with your family in this scenario. And I, honest to goodness, don't know if I could ever recover from that. How do you even begin to find the thread to get yourself back up out of the maze of pain and sorrow?
Just Do the Next Thing: Daily Survival
Wally Long:We just — my wife and I, our motto became, just do the next thing. Take the next step. Just take the next step. Do the next thing. We had no foresight for tomorrow. The kids finally got out of the hospital. They survived. They were on the way to healing. We took them home with us from Colorado to Missouri. We eventually adopted them — they became our seventh and eighth children. But we got them into counseling. We started going through everything. We just took the next step, the next step. Just do the next thing.
Philip:And I know there's someone watching just now, and you are in it — it may not be as extreme as what Wally's talking about, but to you right now, it's still the biggest storm of your life. And the devil — like Job — while they had spoken, the next bad news came, and the next bad news came. And so it just kept piling on. What you're saying, what you're telling us, having gone through this, is do what's in front of you. Fix the thing. Don't take a long view. Look at what's in front of you and say, I'm gonna get through this.
Wally Long:Yeah. I'm gonna get through this day. And then tomorrow, when tomorrow wakes up with all the problems that come with it, then you work on getting through that. And that's just really what we did. And several months later, after the kids had been in counseling — my wife and I, we didn't find ourselves in counseling for about a year, but a year and a half after all this happened, because we literally were just holding the family together.
Wally Long:But we eventually ended up in counseling ourselves, and it was very beneficial. But I began asking that question in earnest — why me, Lord? Why is this happening? And I began searching the scriptures, and the Lord began giving me answers. Those answers became a sermon that I started preaching at some groups around the area about why me, you know, and the answers that God gave me became a sermon. That sermon became the book that you're holding. The journey, as dark as it seems, there were so many bright spots along the way.
Searching Scripture for Answers
Wally Long:And maybe that's the other thing that I think people need to realize — that there are good things happening even in the middle of our darkness. We were touching lives of people that we had no idea. I had people that said they saw me on a news interview. I did a couple of news interviews there in Colorado. I did one with Piers Morgan.
Philip:Yeah, of course.
Wally Long:I did an interview on his show. And they kept coming up to me and saying, I know you from somewhere. And I'd say, I've never seen you before. But, oh, you were on that TV show. And they said, we were so blessed watching you talk about your faith on those interviews in the middle of that darkness. So there were bright spots along the way. We were touching lives — had no idea we were touching people's lives. God was using it even back then.
Philip:But only having eternal perspective. If we're just living for ourselves and for this world, then there's no eternal perspective in it. But to go through the storm and have the long view of eternity — you're saying, well, I'll see them again, I'll know them again. And God starts putting peace — the scripture is very accurate. He gives peace that passes understanding.
Philip:And I just feel this in my spirit right now. There's someone watching, and you've been so wronged and so hurt. How do you begin the process of forgiveness?
Wally Long:That was one of the most difficult things for me. Five days after it happened — this happened on March 1st, so on March 6th — the Lord put a thought in my heart that I needed to go visit my nephew. The 12-year-old, who was in a holding jail. And I had no idea why, because I didn't want to go visit him. He had just killed my brother. I didn't want to see him. But I wrestled with it all night long. You read about people in scripture wrestling with God — I wrestled with Him all night. No, I don't want to do this. Yes, you need to do it. No, I don't want to. So I finally got up in the morning and said, I need to go do this. I told my family — they couldn't believe it. My wife couldn't believe it, but she agreed to go with me.
Visiting the Nephew in Prison
Wally Long:I made arrangements. I went through the prison where he was being held, and I sat across a small table — probably a foot and a half wide. And the struggle in my heart was the most intense I've ever felt in my life. I wanted to see justice done. He deserved to pay for what he'd done. But when the visit was over, I stood up and I reached across that table and I hugged that kid. I literally hugged that kid who just five days before had killed my brother. I hugged him around the neck and I said, I'm still your uncle, and if you need me, I'll be here for you.
Wally Long:I couldn't say I love you. I couldn't say I forgive you at that time. But I said, I'm still here for you. And making that step — I believe the visit was for me to make that step so that I could begin the process of healing. Because I believe our family would not be where we are today had I held onto the anger and the hatred and the bitterness that came from an incident like that. Several months later, in a crowded courtroom, I was able to tell him, I have forgiven you. You are forgiven. And God loves you and I love you. And it was difficult, but it was a journey I needed to take.
Choosing Forgiveness in the Courtroom
Philip:Well, I just — I admire your grace. You are showing more grace than I could have. But you never know. And I know that someone's watching today and they're thinking, my God, if God can bring him through this and his family through this, then God can help me in my situation. This book — now listen to me. You need to get this book today. Why Me, Lord. It's a story of grace and rebuilding and finding your way back. You can go to www.wallylong.com, right there in front of you.
Philip:And I want you to take the time — you know someone that needs this message of hope. I believe buying this book for your pastor and saying, pastor, I heard this guy on TV and I think this could help in the future — because I promise you, as these days come, there's gonna be all kinds of crazy stuff that we're gonna have to deal with. Extraordinary grace. If you want to get in contact with Wally, I'm sure he comes and speaks in churches. If he doesn't, he ought to. wallylong.com — you need to get him to come and speak in your church.
Philip:Wow. What a blessing. You've been in my heart. Thank you so much for being with me.
Wally Long:Well, thank you. Thank you for sharing this. I've been honored to be on your program. Thank you so much. I appreciate it.
Philip:I would like to do this again sometime. If you'll come back.
Wally Long:Anytime. Anytime. Give me a call.
Philip:Thank you. Listen, thank you for watching Daily Faith. I hope you learned something today — that His grace is sufficient. We'll see you again. Bye-bye.
For over 25 years, the Cameron family has been changing the lives of orphans in Romania and Moldova — from providing running water, flushing toilets, and clean wells, to coal for heat, new windows, as well as food and clothing. They champion the physical needs of the orphans in these broken and desolate countries. Many of Moldova's orphans are saved from the horrors of trafficking through homes founded by the Camerons. And in the process, orphans become daughters and sons. They come to know their heavenly Father and are forever changed by the love of Jesus.
God helped the Camerons lift these amazing young men and women out of darkness — now no longer orphans. They want to return and invade that very same darkness with the light of Jesus Christ. The Orphan's Hands equips these daughters and sons to become missionaries. Your monthly gift of $31 will allow us to rescue and take in more girls and boys, saving them from the hell of human trafficking. Your monthly partnership will allow us to care for those in the Orphan's Hands homes in Moldova and Ukraine.
If you want to join Philip and Chrissy in taking care of these precious young people, please contact us today by calling 833-Daily-Faith. You can also give by going online to www.dailyfaith.tv, or by writing to Post Office Box 25, Clinton, Tennessee 37716. So many lives depend on what we do. Thank you for loving the lost.
Common questions
What tragedies did Wally Long go through that led him to write 'Why Me, Lord'?
In the span of about five years, Wally lost his youngest sister to suicide, nearly lost his 18-year-old son in a motorcycle accident (his son actually died on the helicopter and was revived), lost his mother shortly after, and then discovered that his 12-year-old nephew had murdered his brother and sister-in-law and seriously injured two young children. He says each event hit harder than the last, and the 2011 attack 'turned his world completely upside down.'
How did Wally and his wife cope when everything kept falling apart?
Wally says their motto became 'just do the next thing — take the next step.' They had no ability to look far ahead, so they focused only on what was immediately in front of them, getting through one day at a time. He and his wife also eventually entered counseling about a year and a half after the worst events, which he found very beneficial, though they delayed it because they were focused on holding the family together first.
How did Wally find the strength to forgive his nephew who killed his brother?
Just five days after the murders, Wally felt God prompting him to visit his 12-year-old nephew in the holding jail. He wrestled with it all night but went anyway, and at the end of the visit he reached across the table and hugged the boy, telling him, 'I'm still your uncle, and if you need me, I'll be here for you.' He couldn't say 'I forgive you' yet, but he believes that first step was crucial to his own healing. Several months later, in a crowded courtroom, he was able to tell his nephew directly, 'I have forgiven you.'
Did Wally see any good come out of his family's darkest time?
Yes — Wally says there were bright spots even in the middle of the darkness. He did news interviews in Colorado, including one with Piers Morgan, where he spoke openly about his faith. Strangers later told him they were blessed watching him talk about his faith during that crisis. He says God was using the situation to touch lives he had no idea about at the time.
What happened to the two young children who survived the attack, and what did Wally's family do for them?
The two youngest children — aged five and nine at the time — were life-flighted to Children's Hospital in Aurora, Colorado, with serious injuries. They survived, and after they were released from the hospital, Wally and his wife brought them back to Missouri, put them in counseling, and eventually adopted them, making them their seventh and eighth children.
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