year or two later I said to my wife Helen , “ How about we go to America ”? I knew that it was a pivotal moment , and I was shaking in my boots a little bit . I don ’ t shake in my boots much , but I did on this question . My mother-in-law wanted me to sell real estate , which was the last thing I wanted to do , I started music when I was 16 , so I ’ d been doing it for a while . So , she said , “ Yeah , we ’ ll go to America for two years ”, and twenty-nine years later we ’ re still here . I think the hero , as my sons will tell you , and it gets emotional for me when I talk about her , is my wife . She made a commitment to Jesus at 16 , and I ’ m this music business guy , kind of loud . We met and a year after her 16th birthday and we started dating , and three years later we got married . She ’ s the hero and she ’ s the rock . What we did with Rebecca ( Rebecca St . James ), we toured as a family . The reason we did that was , I was so knocked over , I was shaking in my boots for four years , and my family was my safe place . So , when Rebecca ’ s career started , we took the boys and her younger sister on tour , seven of them , and we did life together . I have to tell you I ’ ve had a wonderful life and it all started with having everything taken away . My plan was to stay in Australia and do Christian music , I was comfortable there , but God had other plans . My wife , I stole her away from a geologist . The geologist offered security , but I offered adventure . Adventure won , and we ’ ve had a wonderful forty-five years .
[ WM ] I have the utmost respect for the Smallbone family and the way you have worked together as a family unit . The back story to all of this is the financial hardships that you incurred leading to your relocation to the Nashville area from Australia back in the early 1990 ’ s . The truth is that when you have Christ you can never really lose “ everything ”. In spite of the tough times , God is always with us . Your ordeal has led to you tremendously impacting Christian music and its listeners . My question is for Luke and Joel : What was it like for everyone to “ pitch in ” as a family ? What meaning does that hold for you today ?
[ Joel ] I would say that , per Dad ’ s comment ,