Reverend Horton has shared the story of the passing of his parents to many people. His mother lived in Chicago. She was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer. His mother was surprised of her diagnosis because she hadn’t smoked in fifteen years. Reverend Horton’s mother had been diagnosed with lupus, which is a medical condition that affects many African American women. She had several medical issues including diabetes. His father was an alcoholic.

The Struggle of Parent’s Troubles
Rev. Horton: “My mother did not want to get any chemotherapy and at the time she was in her late 40’s just young, so when she passed away her idea was let me just go home and die. Again, what I try to tell people is that my mother lost hope and she could have lived another 20 or 30 years. But what she lost was not just her health, you can lose your health, you can lose your wife, but never lose your hope; and I believe because she lost her hope she basically signed her own death certificate. And I try to tell people when I go to the hospitals or talk with some little boy that got kicked out of school, don’t lose hope; just because you are facing hard times. When you are facing hard times use that to stand up on.” …show more content…
Horton: “A wonderful book I love to read is, The Rocks Is What We Climb On, where the guy tells the story, the little young boy walking with his sister, she states I can’t find any footing I keep slipping , I can’t find any grounding, it’s all these rocks in the way and he says no, no the rocks is what you stand on. I have taken that and I have doctrine that for my life, I try to stand on hard times, I stand on the rocks. So, with my mother’s passing, I try to tell people, take your health serious, exercise, don’t drink, don’t smoke, eat healthy and if tragedy strikes, then you endure it and go through that difficult dark tunnel. I tell people to value what god has given