Thanksgiving is fast approaching. So I would like to tell you about a miracle that happened more than 30 years ago that I am still super thankful for today. But first let me set the scene.
It’s 1990 and I’m still a young man of 35, but I’ve certainly had my shares of ups and downs. I found myself lonely and hungry too many times and at one point I lived in a plywood shack for a year. But I also started having success with my career and more importantly connecting with God and asking for His help to find the right path. I prayed for wisdom and came up an idea. I decided to close down my company that I had started in San Diego in 1980 and move to Orange County for a fresh start. I re-opened my same business (with a few new ideas) at an office park off of Cabot Road in Laguna Hills. Money was tight, but I didn’t consider failure an option.
But I didn’t just focus on work, I knew it was more important to focus on how I could best serve others. I made the tag line for my business, “Honesty, Integrity, Respect”, and made sure I treated my employees, customers, and vendors with respect at all times. I was certain my faith would help me overcome obstacles, but you know what they say, “You have to put feet to your faith”. So I opened the yellow pages one day and found an outreach program not far from my office and decided to volunteer there once a week. It was an eye-opening experience to help out people who were truly hungry and suffering, and the crazy thing was that doing something good for others gave me strength, patience, and a new-found sense of confidence that I was sorely lacking.
One year later, I could see my business was really starting to take off. So I placed an ad in the local newspaper for an office manager. The young woman who applied was charming and full of personality, but more importantly she embraced the idea of serving others with a personal passion that I had never seen before. I hired her the next day. Three years later I started dating her, and two years after that I married her. We have been married now for almost 30 years and she is still putting up with me despite my many flaws and defects, and yet still as crazy about me as I am about her. Now if that isn’t a miracle - then I don’t know what is!
I believe in love. I believe laughing is the best calorie burner.
I believe in kissing, kissing a lot. I believe in being strong when everything is going wrong.
I believe that happy girls are the prettiest girls. I believe that tomorrow is another day, and I believe in miracles.
~ Audrey Hepburn
