Don't Miss Today's Blessings

Heroes are people who stand for something, who place a cause so deep in their hearts that they can’t help but devote their lives to it. Heroes are people who sacrifice for their families, their communities and their entire world.

Cartersville was honored to be home to missionaries Perry Goad and Ric Mason who gave their lives in devotion to what they believed in. Behind them they left a legacy of hope and giving, and a community bursting with friends and family who will always honor their memories.

Perry Goad and Ric Mason were both great friends and members of Tabernacle Baptist Church in Cartersville. Mason taught Sunday school and Goad filmed and edited video of the church’s Sunday services. Both men had families and friends within the church and the entire community who have remained passionate about keeping the missionaries' memories alive since the accident in 2007 that took both men’s lives during a mission trip with Honduras Outreach International.

While riding on top of a truck carrying supplies in Honduras, faulty brakes on the truck gave out and the driver lost control of the vehicle. Mason was reported to have been thrown from the truck and killed while Goad was able to hold on long enough to help protect women also on the truck, before being thrown off and killed shortly after Mason.

“They say that my dad could have jumped from the truck and possibly lived,” said Perry Goad’s daughter, Kendra. “But he stayed on the truck to try to help women who were scared and ended up losing his life. My dad made a difference in his life and in the life of others before he died.”

Kendra Goad often thinks back on the advice her father gave her when she was growing up.

“He always used to tell me, ‘You never know when the last day of your life will be, make it count, never straddle the fence, go left or go right. Always be sure you’re in the right place in life, you never know when you will be called home,'” said Kendra Goad. “I try to always remember that.”

Family members say it was that kind of thinking that motivated Goad to become involved in mission trips to begin with, joining Ric Mason and on the annual mission trip to Honduras each February.  

“Dad loved doing things with his hands, he always wanted to help people with their houses and their yards, and he took that part of himself to Honduras for 5 years in a row, helping to build up their towns,” said Kendra Goad. “He felt it was his calling to help those people.”

Kendra says her father would often tell her and her two brothers, Shay and Adam, about the poverty in Honduras and try to keep them mindful of how lucky they were to have simple luxuries like food and water and shelter. He would remind his friends and family that they should be grateful for the life they were living. Ric Mason was also known for his appreciation of life’s blessings and was deeply devoted to the church’s mission trips to Honduras and beyond.

now awards a devoted to helping people accomplish mission goals.

“We were told that the last prayer my dad said on the mission trip was that he didn’t want to miss that day’s blessing,” said Kendra Goad. “My dad wasn’t scared to die, but I wish he could be here to see all of us.

"I’ve graduated and played basketball in college and now I’m in grad school and teaching. My brother Shay is married and just had his first little girl. My brother Adam is also about to have a little girl. I wish my dad could see that. Don’t miss today’s blessings.”