Paul Ryan Exclusive: Talks about Finding His Father Dead at Home When He Was a Teenager

Below is part of The Brody File exclusive interview with vice-presidential candidate Paul Ryan. The interview was done Friday at the Values Voter Summit in Washington, D.C.

Mandatory Courtesy: CBN News/The Brody File

The Brody File’s national piece on Paul Ryan airs on "The 700 Club" Monday morning. In addition, a fuller version of the interview can be seen on The Brody File TV Show this coming Friday at 9:30 a.m. on the ABC Family Channel.

On Finding His Father’s Dead at Home at the Age of 16:

David Brody: This is kind of my Oprah moment, if you will, or your Oprah moment. You’re 16 years old. You talked a little bit about this before about your father. Take me back to the specifics of that day when you found him in bed and what happened after that as it relates to you and your journey.

Paul Ryan: It’s not something I talk about very often. I’m the youngest of four kids, my sister and older brother were already out of college on with their lives, my mom and my aunt were visiting my sister who had a job in Denver at the time. Tobin, my other brother who’s closer to me in age was already at his job in the park system and I worked the late shift at McDonalds the night before and my dad’s secretary called to say where is he? He’s got clients in his office. He was a small town lawyer and I went to wake him up and he was dead.

He had been dead for some time. He had died of a heart attack in the middle of the night. That’s something that no person should ever have to go through. It’s basically something that made me realize I had to either sink or swim. When you get a punch in the gut like that you do a lot of soul searching.

I basically learned through that experience that it made me inquire a lot. It really is the moment that triggered a rediscovery of my faith and it made me think about the meaning of things, the meaning of life. And that’s why I became such a prolific reader, that’s why I was searching for answers.

And what happened through that journey in my life is that I became that much more stronger in my convictions, in my faith and it was one of those sort of moment’s in a person’s life that just was a pivotal moment, a trajectory making moment. And I just decided I’m going to take life on and make it count because it is precious and short. We’re here for a reason, for a short season, and that is what has been a motivating factor for me which is make it count. Make every day matter.

Brody: How do you see Jesus in your life right now?

Ryan: Well, he’s central to my life. He’s central to my faith. He’s my savior.