Let’s take a step back into to the way, way back machine. Let’s go back to 2006…

Plug for Life.church. This past Sunday, my wife and I saw a message about Life Church has been streaming the Good Word for 20 years! If you are looking for something missing within yourself, I highly recommend church, community, and embracing a message of hope and love with others.

https://www.life.church/media/20-years-and-counting/20-years-and-counting

Pastor Craig’s career path and testimony are intertwined with mine but at a later date in my life. Also, I am still not that great of a holly roller. My wife and I have a ritual every Sunday morning to watch church in bed together. We’re your typical Easter and Christmas couple with Church, actually. Anyway, we paused this last week’s Youtube live stream, and I reflected on the last 20 years of my life. I would have been 28 and still recovering from college daze/freedom. (I was a militant atheist too, because of Reddit.) I own that back in college I had a lack of disapline and just lived life one weekend to the next. My life purpose was not defined and still felt very wide open.

I had gotten married to my ex-wife, and it was just now that I had professional sales merit at Dell. I would of just recently gotten my A+, Net+, and Security+ CompTia certifications. It put me ahead with Dell business customers, as I not only understood business needs, but I also understood the OSI model well enough to plan the entire build of materials/ HW solution for networking physically plugging into storage and compute. #Iwork4dell

My first marriage only lasted a couple of years. I am grateful that my career at Dell has lasted instead. However, there was bumps and significant changes all along the way.

So 2004 through 2010 were some of the most turbulent years in my life, they shaped me into who I am today. I’ve kept showing up for myslf everyday and kept figuring out a next best step.

It was not until my 30’s that I gave up on myself figuring it out and reached out to my maturing idea of perfect love (God) for salvation and peace beyond all understanding. I am still that same naive punk kid that got baptised in a Southern Baptist church at 7 or 8 years old, but I pray I’ve grown in wisdom.

I feel like I am more of who I am supposed to be now at nearly 50 than the confused EMO punk in the early 2000’s. Part of my soul still relys on Rock n’ Roll music experiences but that lifestyle is more like a vacation from the daily grind. The daily grind these days is focusing on a christ centered life and trying to make myself and the world 1% better everyday.

I am focused on a retirement dream with my family and loved ones for the next 20 years.