FASCINATING FACTS ABOUT MY LIFE
I thought you’d enjoy some of these fascinating facts. They will give you a unique glimpse into my life. I hope you enjoy them. I think they’ll put a smile on your face.
I was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in August 1956.
Shortly thereafter, as a newborn baby, my mother took me, by herself, on a days-long train journey to live in California where my father was getting a home ready for us to live. A fact I only just found out from my mom.
As a little boy, I used to go with my mom and dad to the skid row missions of Los Angeles, where my dad would preach the gospel to the men and my mom would play the piano for the singing time. I would stand in the front, like a little choir director, waving my arms to lead the men singing.
I used to put my stuffed animals in little chairs, and around my bedroom, and preach to them.
I loved to climb as a little kid, and would often climb up on the roof of our garage in Burbank, California. My mother would have to call my dad at work to come home and get me down.
I once lived, and had my first job as a 10 year old, in what is now an official ghost town in Sunbury, Iowa.
My favorite movies in high school were the Billy Jack movies and Jeremiah Johnson.
I once played Conrad Birdie in the musical Bye, Bye, Birdie. I had to wear a gold sequined Elvis outfit, and sing the song “One Last Kiss.” To this day, I don’t like musicals and will never wear another gold sequined outfit the rest of my life!!
I taught myself to play the acoustic guitar on an Alvarez steel-string acoustic my dad gave me as a gift. I wrote my first song, ‘Psalm 23,’ on that guitar in the fingerpicking style.
I wrote all the rest of my songs on the Spanish nylon-string guitar. As a young married couple, I was so broke that the only way I could get one of those guitars was to trade an old oak table and chairs we’d refinished for that guitar.
After giving my life to Christ in 1975, in order to train myself for missionary work, I rented an apartment with a friend for $44 a month. I made my room in an old closet with a sheet of plywood I put up off the floor about 7 feet high. I slept on a piece of foam in a sleeping bag on that board. My desk was under the plywood board, along with a shelf I made for the few clothes I had.
I have lived in 24 different places in my lifetime.
In the summer of 1975 I hitchhiked from Webster City, Iowa to Estes Park, Colorado. Lived in the mountains, then hitchhiked to Houston, Texas where I worked on an oil refinery outside of Hitchcock, Texas. For that summer I was finally a union man, digging ditches with a shovel, making $7.50 an hour, after making only $2.10 an hour back in Iowa.
I’ve owned 24 different cars in my life, so far.
I’ve been in 3 extremely bad car accidents in my life.
I’ve traveled several hundred thousand miles for preaching/ministry work.
In my last year of high school, in 1975, before giving my life to Christ, I had very long hair and goatee. Ironically, some of my friends started randomly telling me I looked like Jesus. It was bizarre at the time, but quite prophetic to the commitment I made to Jesus some months later, as if God was saying something to me in my rebel days.
My first year of married life, with a new baby on the way, my gross income for the entire year was $3900.
I once lived for a year with my wife and first child in a very small, two-room cinder block apartment where we were cooks for a college sorority at Iowa State University.
I proposed to my wife 3 weeks after I met her.
I’ve never water skied. I’ve never ridden a snowmobile. I’ve never gone snow skiing or snowboarding. I’ve never rollerbladed. I’ve never scuba dived. I went fishing once, and didn’t like it. I’ve never used a riding lawn mower. I’ve never owned a motorcycle.
I rode a mountain bike for many years and greatly enjoy the challenge of riding off-road trails.
My first leather jacket was in the early 1970’s. A dark brown, suede, leather fringe jacket. I wore it everywhere.
I’ve only been in the hospital once, as a 7 year old for a hernia. In my case, a hereditary thing.
I’ve never been a best man or a groomsman in a wedding.
I don’t go to state fairs or big events. I hate waiting in any lines and will do everything I can to avoid them. TSA lines drove me crazy at airports, and so did customs. For me, a nightmare!
I’ve flown hundreds of times, including to other countries, and have never voluntarily checked a bag. I always took one small rollaboard carry-on and a small backpack.
I’ve been cutting my own hair for almost 23 years. I cut it every 7 days. I have been stopped multiple times by people asking to touch my hair. Bizarre, but true.
Over the last 50 years I’ve used and read from 4 different Bibles. From 1975-1982, The New American Standard Bible. From 1982-1998, the New International Version. From 1998-2025, The New Living Translation. In addition, for almost 38 years I’ve carried with me and read the Berkeley New Testament/Psalms/Proverbs. All but one I’ve personally recovered in leather. Reading these different translations through the years has given me much deeper insight and greater understanding of the Word of God.
My favorite preaching clothes were faded jeans, a weathered, black leather motorcycle jacket, and black leather boots. Why? Because young men needed to see strong masculinity in the pulpit, like the rock musicians they are drawn to, not more Mr. Rogers-type preachers! I also enjoy that style, it’s who I am. It allowed me to relate to young people in a very unique way. It was part of my strategy—a wise man makes knowledge attractive. Never forget, John the Baptist and Elijah wore leather to preach! Those prophets rocked the world.
I once caught a buffalo calf with my bare hands! Ok, it was in a very large fenced area, but I still had to chase it down. I did it for my little kids at a drive-through safari near Gentry, Arkansas.
I’ve been using my Total Gym 1000 three days a week for the last 25 years. I’ve worn out 2 cables, one set of smaller roller bearing wheels, and one set of metal pulleys. I’ve done 350-400 pushups a week for the last 36 years. Still doing both.
A few of the formative books I read in my early walk with Christ in 1975–Come, Live, Die/Hunger for Reality by George Verwer. True Discipleship by William McDonald. Grasping Shadows by William McDonald. A Revolution of Love by George Verwer. God’s Man in China by Hudson Taylor. Daws: The Story of Dawson Trotman, Founder of the Navigators, by Betty Lee Skinner.
I’ve lived through horrible weather events: An earthquake in California as a boy that knocked stuff off the wall. Driving through horrific blizzards. Once drove through torrential rain so bad on the highway it lifted the concrete barriers, twisting them sideways, water gushing through. Had to turn around and sleep at a friend’s house. He finally heard us pounding on his door after 20 minutes standing in the rain. The storm was that loud. Once flew through a lightning and rain storm so bad it was jerking the plane all over the place. We had to make an emergency landing on a military base south of the Florida Keys. While in Germany a massive volcanic explosion occurred in Iceland, spewing ash so high I had to stay almost an extra week as all flights were canceled. I once had 75 mph straight line winds, called a derecho, come through our town, knocking down almost every tree in our yard. Once, while driving my family back from speaking at a conference, I had to outrun a tornado that was coming right at us from the west. I drove as fast as I could heading north to get under a bridge embankment for safety. Speaking at a conference in Ocean City, next to the Atlantic Ocean, huge waves began crashing the beach right outside the hotel. The wind was so ferocious it was blowing rain through tiny cracks along the windows, seeping through the walls, and dripping from the ceiling tiles of the room I was preaching in. It was a very scary situation.
I’ve had my home broken into once, and another time my car was stolen right out of my driveway.
Once, while preaching at church, a gang burst into the auditorium chasing a man they were trying to beat. The man came running down the aisle, jumped on the stage, and stood behind me crying out for me to save his life. Another time while preaching, a man ran down the center of the auditorium aisle screaming at me, standing right below the stage in front of me, ripping a Bible apart and jumping up and down on it.
Once while driving to Dallas, Texas with my family to see my brother’s wedding, traveling through Oklahoma, we were caught in a raging snow storm. Brutal wind chill—the worst I’ve ever been through. A truck went by us at 2 AM throwing so much snow, I went completely white-blind and ended up in the median ditch, buried in snow, backwards. I thought we would die stuck in the cold all night. There was no help, no way out. We earnestly prayed God save us, get us out of here. My 2 younger brothers got out and were trying to push, but the wheels were buried, with no traction for their feet. Suddenly, as they tried to push, some unseen force literally pushed us out and spun us around incredibly fast, safely to the other side of the highway, facing the right direction. The only explanation was an angel. We all sat there stunned in the car. It was mind boggling.
Twenty-two years after my father-in-law told me to get out of his house when I asked to marry his daughter, ultimately refusing to come to our wedding, after going through a terrible divorce of his own, he came to know Christ, and at 63 got baptized in a lake, just as his daughter had done in 1976. Shortly after that, he profusely apologized to my wife and I for all he put us through all those years ago. A few years later, he remarried and asked me to officiate his wedding and my wife was a bridesmaid. I married them at the John Wesley Iliff School of Theology in Denver, Colorado. What a God story.
I hope you’ve enjoyed these fascinating facts about my life. Maybe they helped you to get to know the Pastor whose articles you read each week a little bit more.
Helping you become a Strong Disciple,
Because of Jesus,
Pastor Mark Darling
