Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Welcome to On Purpose with Paul Peters. Today we're uncovering the passions, principles and divine guidance that leads to a meaningful life. You're watching now Media Television.
[00:00:09] Speaker B: Thanks for joining me today. I wanted to share a little bit about my story and why I'm doing this show which is called On Purpose with Paul. It's very important that we all understand that every one of us has a calling on our life. Every one of us has a purpose to fulfill myself as a believer.
We all are gifted by God with something to do in this life. I think one of the biggest questions we ask ourselves is what am I called to do? What is my reason for being here? And I really put that upon myself when I wrote my first book, which is called discovering and embracing your life purpose. Much of the principles of what I went through, there's actually a story of a man named Tim. Much of it's about myself. Some of it is the things that I experienced, some of the things that I learned as I counseled several people.
And I felt it very important. If I had that need, that desire to discover and embrace my life purpose, who else had that same desire? Because when you want to get to the end of your life, you want to be able to say, I matter. I meant something, I left a legacy. And for me, purpose had everything to do with it. And so when I was discovering my purpose, and it took me a very, very long time to discover, discover that, I want to share a little bit about my story of how I came to discover my purpose. Because it's in the discovery, it's the finding. And God often says, if you ask, you will receive. If you seek, you will find. And I believe he wants us to seek after what our purpose is. He put that within us like a seed. And it takes time.
Many times it takes trials, it takes tribulations, challenges in order to bring that forth. So let me tell you a little bit about myself. I'm the youngest of six. I. I was born in 1964 during the turbulent times of the 60s.
My mom was married and unfortunately did not have the best of father. He ended up going to jail for attempted murder of my mom after I was just a year old. And so my mom was in the hospital for a whole year while we were divided amongst the relatives. And so did not have a very good beginning. I was told by my family that my father, after he got out of jail, had tried to come and kidnap me.
I was just a baby, don't remember much of that, but my mom pretty much raised all six of us. She was a very strong woman and my hero. And after that time, we moved and my mom worked as a waitress most of her life. And I dealing with the many struggles as a kid, especially being the youngest and trying to find my way. I struggled with self image, I struggled with who I am. I as a person, not having a father figure, that was very challenging for me. Most of our sense of who we are comes from our mom, our dad. For a male, a lot of times it comes from a male. And my father and I didn't have that father figure. So I grew up really not having a father figure. My mom had a boyfriend. Unfortunately, he passed away when I was probably about 8.
And then my mom remarried when I was about 10 or 11, and that was my stepfather. But he really never embraced us as his children. So I never really had a good attachment to a father figure. And that's challenging for any young man who wants to become out what they want to do in life. Like many of you, it's like I wanted to do this. I wanted to be an astronaut, I wanted to be a veterinarian. I really wasn't sure what I wanted to do. I just did not want to be in pain and suffer. And as a child and trying to figure out my way in life, I did struggle a lot. I was looking to people to please me or so I can please them. And when their recognition, that was something I sought for because I did not get it in the father figure. And so I often got involved with the wrong people, the wrong relationships. And I struggled much of my teen life.
That ended up for me getting into alcohol and some things that really were not very healthy for me. And I remember it pretty much hit rock bottom. I had dropped out of school for a year and drank heavily.
I was able to get back into school, but I was pushing myself so, so very hard.
And I really had a nervous breakdown when I was in college. I was able to get over that through some help.
And through that I was able to get my degree, but I still didn't know what I wanted to do. And so I took some jobs working in restaurants and different things like that and sales. But there was a missing element. And for me, that missing element was that relationship with a father figure. And that father figure was so.
I remember not having that relationship with my father. My father actually passed away when I was 13. The only benefit I got from my father is kind of funny is my mom got the insurance from Social Security and we took a trip to Hawaii. One of the best trips I've ever had. But did it ever replace the need for a father? No, it never did. It was a temporary satisfaction. So that hole that was missing, that relationship that was vital to have with my father, was one of the key reasons why I didn't have a sense of purpose growing up and why I felt so empty in my soul. And it got to a point, at one point when my life choices, because of what I grew up in, the situation, not taking responsibility, being the victim, I made some bad choices. And one of those was to drink while I was driving. That ultimately led to a crash that ended up where my car was totaled. And then, of course, then the domino effect. I lost my job.
I was then out on the streets in Chicago in the wintertime. I was homeless, I was destitute. I was lonely and I felt abandoned. And I had no one other than my family. But in my pride, I didn't reach out to my family.
I thought, there's no hope, I have no future. And it was at that time that I contemplated suicide. And I was very, very close. I was actually on my way after I got kicked out of a friend's house because he didn't want me living there.
I actually started walking into the water of Lake Michigan. Understand this was December. I wouldn't have to be in water very long to be in a situation where I would no longer breathe.
And there was a voice. Was it an auditory voice? I couldn't tell you at that moment. I was so such in despair. But the voice called me and said to me, I have something for you to do. I have a plan and I had a purpose. Did I know exactly what that meant?
No. But I knew enough not to go forward with the attempt upon my life.
It was a long journey from that point that I took. I was probably 22, 23 at the time.
And it took me probably into my mid-40s to begin to get an understanding of what my purpose was. And my purpose really was rooted back into the failed relationship that I never had with my father.
And it was in that desperation, in that despair, in that hopelessness that I cried out. To me as a believer in regards to crying out to the Father, Father of God. Many of us may have a belief system of what that looks like. I want to believe that majority of people believe in some concept of God.
And because I did not have a father figure, I reached out to the only father that I knew, because mom was now long deceased.
And I needed the very love, mercy, compassion that every child desires. And I found it in God. And I began to develop a relationship with God that continues to grow. You will never ever get to a point where you're so full of God, the more you desire him. God says, if you seek me, you will find me. And I was on that long pursuit, that long journey to seek God. Because somehow, without fully understanding, it's in that relationship with the Father. My belief is God created each and every one of us.
So if you want to know your purpose and why you're created, you go to the Creator. And did I have a relationship with God? Kinda. I remember going to summer camp when I was 13 and them talking about Jesus and the relationship and much. Because most of my life was being a people pleaser, I went ahead and went forward. I didn't fully understand what that meant.
How do you love a God you cannot see?
And so it was in the times of the trial. Remember what I shared with you? Sometimes in your trials and your tribulations, that's when you find your answers.
It's painful.
But the Bible also talks about God will be a refining fire.
I'm not sure if you all know how gold is refined. It's refined based on the heat and the pressure applied to the gold.
Because what ends up happening to get the what is called the dross, the part of the gold that needs to be lifted out, to be scooped out so the gold can be purified. That is the same process that God uses with us. He uses the refining fire, which is trials, tribulations and challenges, to bring out the very character of himself in us so that once he looks at us, people will see God in us.
And I was so distraught and had such a low sense of who I was. Because one the choices I had made, I never really felt loved. I felt loved by my mom, I felt loved by my family. But the love that I craved was the love of a mom.
And in my desire to have that love. And it was, it was a long journey.
Like I said, it was about 20, 24 years.
Because one, if you're like any of you are like me, I was a little stubborn, I was a little proud.
I thought even though I'm back on my feet to a certain extent, and I'll give more detail on that, I still had to be humble because God had to do a work in me. Because remember, he created us with purpose. When we come into this world, we're created as a beautiful, innocent child.
And as we experience life, we get a little tainted, we get a little jaded. And especially if we wait in, if we're raised in a situation that's not favorable. In my situation, I was an at risk kid.
My father abandoned us primarily because of what he did to my mom. And my mom, single parent, raised all six of us, five boys and one girl.
And she was amazing and she did her best.
But just to give you a little bit of a backstory, my mom, my mom was raised in an alcoholic home.
And so it's the home life that begins to develop, what we do and who we are as a person.
And often, sometimes God has to intervene in those situations to use those experiences to help us to see what he's called us to do in life.
[00:10:45] Speaker A: Right back with more stories and insights to help you discover your calling and live with purpose. This is On Purpose with Paul Peters on NOW Media Television.
I'm Paul Peters and you're watching On Purpose with Paul Peters on NOW Media Television. Let's continue the journey towards your best life.
[00:11:02] Speaker B: So I'll tell you a little bit about what I did.
I worked primarily. I went to school, studied psychology, and to be honest with you, it was really trying to figure out why my life was so screwed up. And I was able to get through it barely.
Did some internships, worked in a mental health center with folks with mental health issues, worked in a group home, had a lot of experience working with folks with disabilities because I was trying to understand people. I was trying to understand how people think, why they do and make the choices they make so I could better understand why I made some of the choices that led to almost my demise.
And also the other thing that is I joined the military. I knew that I needed order in my life. I needed to have a sense of authority because I didn't have that.
And that was, that was amazing for me. I went to, I was in the military for eight years and ended up getting out with, as a first lieutenant, studied the area of chemical. So as chemical officer, got to experience what that was like, developed a little level, a little bit of discipline in my life, which we all need.
And then I began to work in the field, like I said, in the field. I moved to New York and I worked for an organization that worked with folks with developmental disabilities.
And it was at that time I had the opportunity to go into prisons, into jails, and was appointed the chaplain up in New York, up in Schenectady. And so I got to work with inmates, both male and female. And these are people who had made similar choices as I had made. But unfortunately, the consequences were much more severe for them. Actually, many of the people have been murderers, drugs, you name it. And I was in there trying to minister to them, but at the same time, minister to myself. I'm sharing some of this for you and with you, because on my journey, God began to reveal what his purpose was for me. I didn't fully understand it, but I knew that in my search, in my quest to try to figure out what I was to do, it had a lot to do with helping other people figure out what they were to do.
And in that quest, in working for several years as a chaplain, I got to minister to so many different people. It was truly a blessing for me.
And in that opportunity, I then felt a calling that I needed to further my studies, because I had been talking with different inmates of different faiths, different beliefs, challenging my own belief system. And I am a individual that loves to learn, loves to grow. And I'm what I would call a pursuer of truth.
You know, the Bible talks about, you shall know the truth and it shall set you free.
And so I then furthered my education and came down to North Carolina.
And when I came down to North Carolina, attended the seminary to study apologetics, which is a combination of philosophy and studying of the religious faiths and how to defend the faith so that you can effectively help other people. And it's really combining the psychological component that I went to school for, combining the philosophical and combining the ability to help people through some of the issues. A lot of the issues we struggle with, with the choices we make depending on what. What our upbringing on is, affects our emotions, affects our psyche, affects our soul.
And I have a big desire. One of the gifts that I have, I think, because of all that I went through, is that I'm empath, very sensitive. I care about people. I love to be able to help people. I love to help see them work through some of the challenges that they face.
And so I went to seminary and studied apologetics, and I continued to further my vocational training per se, in the field of working with folks with mental disability, mental health.
But really I thought, oh, I'm called to be a missionary. I'm going to go to another country and I'm going to help people. And it was interesting because when I was going through that, I had an idea what I thought God wanted me to do.
And God is so funny. He will let us go in the path that we're we've set forth until we realize, oh, I just walked into a wall.
And it's not that I wasn't doing great things. I was doing Very good things. I was trying to help a lot of people, but Paul thought, oh, this is, this Paul being the people pleaser. This is what God wants me to do. He wants me to be a missionary. He wants me to go and do these wonderful things and that's a great thing.
But it was a wake up call for me and I'm going to tell you what happened. I did not share a little bit about this, but when I was in New York, I had met a young lady, fell in love and I moved down to North Carolina with her to 10th seminary. Unfortunately, some of the issues that I struggled with from childhood carried into my marriage and it was a short lived marriage. She ended up leaving me, unfortunately for another man.
And I was left newly wed just after a year and also going to seminary and kind of like, okay, I was going to seminary in a particular denomination that did not favor a divorce. And so I was at a crossroads and I sought God's face. And I asked him, I said, what do you want me to do? I feel like I lost my way again. I feel like I'm heading in this direction that you had me to go. And here I am looking into the course, looking at not continuing in seminary, the denomination that I chose.
And I sought a gentleman that somebody had recommended to do. I don't remember exactly what it's called, but it was a life encounter. And basically what he had me do over the weekend, we had paper and to this day I still do this. I call it visionary. He had me go through my life from birth until the present moment and actually illustrate all the things that I had done, the choices that I had made.
And in doing that, he was able to help me see a pattern.
A lot of times we miss the patterns because we don't look at them.
We subconsciously, unconsciously do things that we've always done. But when you're able to look at things from a pattern perspective, you can see the God's hand in my situation was at work.
And when I look at all that had happened, especially as became an adult, my desire to want to work with people with disabilities.
And it's not that I had a child or grew up with a disability, but that was what God had called me to do. Unconsciously, whatever you wanted to do, I just made a choice because I need a job.
But everything I had done as an adult was working with folks with disability. And I falsely thought, oh, serving God means going to the mission field or working in the church. And God opened my eyes that the giftedness, the Purpose he put within me was not necessarily that I had too narrow of a perspective of who God was and what he was going to do.
And I re diverted my focus and to pour in with passion working with folks with disability.
And so I continued to work in the field, had the opportunity in 2010, and I'm gonna, I'm going a little fast forward, but I'm gonna share what happened before then. But I ended up starting my own company called Covenant Case management services in 2010. It's doing great. We are all over North Carolina serving folks with disabilities in the way of helping them with support employment, helping them with residential advocacy therapies. We, we do a lot. And the reason that the thing that drives me is in the. In the sense of helping people discover their purpose.
I wanted to give people with disabilities the opportunity to have that same desire and be able to answer that question. What is my purpose? What is my calling?
And so I have actively worked with many of our individuals and given them a sense of purpose. One of the day programs we have is called the Dream center. And I named it that because God gives each of us a dream.
And the difference between a dream and the manifestation of that dream becoming reality really comes down to one thing for me and it's belief.
Do we believe strongly enough in that dream to be able to act on that? Because that is what faith is.
When Christ came that he said, whoever believes in me will have salvation.
And I know that's hard for us to understand, but when you have a faith and a belief in something, your hands, your feet, everything about you will move in that direction. And when you have a dream that is inspired by God to make a difference, and I'm going to give you several examples that you will begin to say, yes, that's exactly. Mother Teresa had a dream to be able to feed and take care of the folks in Calcutta who were dying on the streets. Martin Luther King had a dream. We all know that famous I have a Dream speech for equality for people of different races.
We've got enough people in our past, history and even present moment to inspire us.
We look upon them and we admire them.
But how are they any different than us?
When we recognize that every one of us has a calling and a purpose and given to us by the Creator to do great and wonderful things.
Can we be a Mother Teresa? Sure. Can we be a Martin Luther? Sure.
But their calling was specific to them.
God has given a calling on your life. For me, my calling, I do a lot of things because I love to do A lot of things. I love to help a lot of people, but it really comes down to this. My purpose is to help people find their purpose because I firmly believe if each and every one of us is doing and living out our purpose, we will have a better world. Because you're so in line and the word alignment, I think about when you're in like an orchestra and I don't know if you've ever been to a concert prior to starting. A lot of times they'll do the warm up.
So you have individuals within the, within the orchestra playing their instruments. And it sounds so chaotic once the concert begins, what you hear is absolutely beautiful.
It harmonizes each person in their uniqueness, in their calling to begin to do exactly what they're called to do.
So neatly fits together with the person in the orchestra that is next to them.
So you hear that beautiful music.
Well, I believe that's God's intent for us.
If we respond to his calling, his purpose, and we allow him to show and reveal to us what that is and we get in line with our purpose in regards to doing that and serving other people and other people do the same thing, we will find relationships not only within our own home, but within our own community.
And so my purpose is to help people discover their purpose. So the purpose of this show, and I'll give you a little bit how it's going to work, I wanted to use the first time to introduce myself so you would know and understand. And I've got so much more to share.
But for you to understand that every one of us is on a journey, we have a start date and we have an end date. We don't know that end date and we want to make sure by the time we get to that end date and our eyes closed for the last time and those that believe at when we meet our maker, the very things that we want to hear is well done now good and faithful servant. What does that mean?
Well, I want to tell you, for me that means that I fulfill the purpose he created me for and I've served him well by serving other people. And the driving force between serving other people well is always love, compassion, mercy, kindness. And that's the kind of life that I want to live. And I'm committed and devoted to helping other people.
[00:22:54] Speaker A: Write back with more stories and insights to help you discover, discover your calling and live with purpose. This is On Purpose with Paul Peters on NOW Media Television.
I'm Paul Peters and you're watching On Purpose with Paul Peters on NOW Media Television. Let's continue the journey towards your best life.
[00:23:11] Speaker B: It's like when you're under surgery, it's going to be a little painful. You're going to have to face some things that you aren't really prepared to face.
But you don't want to continue to live the life and get to the end of your life and not be fulfilled, not get to a point where you've not left a legacy, not get to a point where you can say, I've lived a well lived life.
And we all want to get to that as a very thing. That's our desire. Everything we do, we want to experience great and wonderful emotions like joy, happiness, peace, love.
Those all for me originate in an alignment with our relationship with the Father and our relationship with our sense of purpose.
And so I want to use this show and I'm going to do it through most of the time through interviewing other people. I want you to see how other people discover their purpose. Because I don't know you.
But what helps me is when I can see examples. Sometimes you would call them mentors. And I'll tell you a little bit about my life in regards to having mentors in my life. They are examples for us because too often we don't have the ability because maybe we don't have the creativity to create something out of nothing.
But a lot of times people have have gone that path before us and they set the example. And if we follow in that path of what they've laid before us, then there's a likelihood we too will be successful.
Part of the show we will be talking about what success is. And it's interesting. I want to share my recent book with you because it's all about success. Redefined. I co authored this book with Jack Canfield. Many of you know him. He's the successful author of Chicken Soup with a Soul. He's also one of my mentors and we're going to talk about the importance of mentoring. And I got to be a contributor to this. And it was for me, what were the four elements of success? Because when you think about success, it's not necessarily about money. It's not even necessarily about family or spirituality.
But it is. And I know that sounds contradictory. We all have our own definition of what success is based on what we desire, what we dream. Some people do value money. For me, I love money. Money's great. It provides the opportunity to get nice things.
But more importantly for me, money is a tool. A tool that God has given me to be able to help other people who are less fortunate.
And I want to tell you a little bit about how I do that. And so not only as a business owner, I own company Case Management Services.
It was calling on my life about four years ago.
And a lot of this, like I said, originates from my childhood.
I wanted to start a non profit because I wanted to serve people, I wanted to help people. I wanted to be able to do it through a nonprofit. These nonprofits give you that ability through grants and donations and different things. But I didn't really know what that was going to look like. And so I was going through the Bible and I was going reading through the book of Nehemiah and it was interesting. The story Nehemiah is very powerful story. I want to share a little bit with you. It's about a man who was a slave. He was a cup bearer or I believe King Artaxerxes.
This was after Jerusalem had fallen. Fallen. They were taken into captivity by King Nebuchadnezzar. And so the city was in ruins.
So Nehemiah was unaware of the condition of the city. And he was been working. And a friend had told him about what happened with Jerusalem, that it was in destruction.
And Nehemiah was so grieved by the condition of his city that his emotions were were seen by the king. And there were certain protocols that, you know, as a cup bearer for the king, you couldn't really necessarily show those things.
But Nehemiah was faithful. God had intervened and the king had asked Nehemiah what was going on, why are you sad?
And Nehemiah shot up a prayer and said, give me the words to speak because this could be my head.
And he shared with the king what was going on.
And God moved in King Artaxerxes heart to allow Nehemiah to go back to his city and to rebuild his city.
And the reason that is so important from a historical standpoint, he did, he went back to his city.
He rallied all of the people in Jerusalem, all of the families to rebuild the community, rebuild the wall of Jerusalem that had broken down.
Jerusalem's power was significant based on the condition of the wall because that was what their defense was. The wall was now broken down, which basically meant the city was in ruins and the morale was in ruins.
So Nehemiah gave them hope, he gave them a vision, he gave them a dream, he gave them a sense of calling and purpose that then motivated them to begin to believe again.
To believe that they could do something great.
And they side by side, it's just a shoulder by shoulder, they all took A portion of the wall, they rebuilt it together. Did they have obstacles? Did they have struggles? Oh, yes, there were certain people that did not want that to happen, that rebuilt into the wall, but they rebuilt the wall in obedience. And the amazing thing that happened after the wall wall was rebuilt, revival. When I say revival, some of you may not be familiar with that term.
It was a changing of the culture. It was a transformation of the culture of the community.
There was such a sense of love for one another, a sense of, we can do this together.
And the city was transformed. They now had that power per se, of being recognized as the great Jerusalem once again. And God bless blessed them.
And God took that vision, that story of Nehemiah and gave it to me and said, you are now going to be called to go and work and rebuild communities through a collaborative effort of people who want to rebuild the community shoulder by shoulder. And the areas that God gave me, which as I look back on it afterwards, I didn't do this thinking, oh, that was an area of my life that God was working.
It's just something God gave me when I say God gave me. And it's going to be hard for some of you because some of you, one, may not even believe in God. Two, you may have not had a conversation with God, but I'm telling you, God is real. He's a spiritual being and he will speak to you if you let him. We all have sensed that God, Romans, chapter one talks about it. You cannot deny the existence of God. I'm not here to persuade you on the existence of God. I'm just here to tell you my story. I'm here to help you understand how God helped me understand my purpose by calling.
One, I was homeless in Chicago.
Two, I'm a veteran.
Three, I struggle with addiction, with alcohol.
Four, I was an at risk kid. My mom was a domestic violence victim.
The area that I committed my life to serving was in mental health and intellectual disability.
All of those areas I have worked in. And so God was using the very struggles, the things that I had gone through in my life to get me to a deeper understanding of what my calling and my purpose was.
And all he was asking, once God reveals the plan to you, is our obedience.
And it's gone now three, four years. We are based in Stanley County.
We are now expanding international. We have the opportunity to go into Central America and to begin to work with schools, work with some of the very poor areas in Guatemala and same thing in Costa Rica. And the plan is to take this globally because I believe as individuals who have.
Remember what I shared about the orchestra?
We all have a calling, we all have a purpose. And if we work together with a desire to serve our community, to restore our community, we can create harmony within our community. We can create restoration, we can create healing. And when we have healing, we have lives that have been transformed, lives that have been changed, lives that are now contributing that once took. And so my calling is to begin to work with community partners, the sheriff's department, the school system. We're currently doing that in Albemarle, Stanley county, is to work with these organizations, begin to come up with solutions. We know the problems, and they are abundant, and the solutions are there.
And the solutions are found when we humble ourselves. And I like to use the word humble because one of the things that I struggle with is, and I hope this isn't too conflicting or divisive. We have all these churches, so many different denominations, and it's always been my desire that the churches would just simply work together to make a big difference in their community.
And it's no different than in what I do with Nehemiah. Do I work with churches? Yes, I work with churches. But I want each of us to recognize we're not enemies, we're not conflicting. We all need to work together.
And I'm going to share with something that was very revolutionary for me.
When God had given me that vision out of the book of Nehemiah, he took me to John, chapter 17.
And this is near the end of Jesus's life. And he's saying his last prayer conversation with his Father before he joins him back up in heaven.
And he said, father, I pray that they would be as one as we are one, so that the world may know that you sent me.
When we work together in regards to our purpose and our calling, the world began to realize that God is real.
And God's desire is that we all come back into a relationship with him. A relationship that is going to be evident in the fruits that he promised us. Joy, peace, love.
Who doesn't desire all of that?
And so my calling is to help each and every one of you in this TV show to be able to identify what your purpose is. If I can get you to want to do one thing, and that is simply to ask that question.
Because I tell people in the asking is in the finding.
And so I just appreciate all the time you've given me so that we can begin to share our stories together. I want you to also understand I've been through what many of you have gone through and when we understand and use our experiences, help other people, we begin to partner together. We begin to partner together through the power of love and connection to make a difference in each other's lives.
The world is dying for loneliness and the loneliness that separates us can be the very instrument that draws us together as we begin to learn to appreciate and love and appreciate the differences. I tell people we're so good at identifying those differences to criticize.
But if we ever looked at the differences and appreciated that differences, we've got to get outside of ourselves. We've got to begin to walk into the other person's shoes, begin to see how life is for them. We're so quick to judge, and it's interesting, God says, don't judge. We don't have the right to judge.
If we look at each other through eyes of love and appreciation and begin to ask questions to develop a relationship, we will find that most people, rich or poor, are not really that different from each other. We all have struggles. We all have anxieties, worries, fears.
And God knew that because he created us. And he also said, I know the solution. I have the answers. If you seek my face, if you seek me, I will make them known to you.
[00:35:01] Speaker A: Right back with more stories and insights to help you discover your calling and live with purpose. This is On Purpose with Paul Peters on NOW Media Television.
I'm Paul Peters and you're watching On Purpose with Paul Peters on NOW Media Television. Let's continue the journey towards your best.
[00:35:16] Speaker B: Life and see the choice of the lives of other people who've gone before us. Historically speaking, people who are living their purpose out now and letting us know, I can do that.
A lot of times we think about our Martin Luther King's, we think about our Mother Teresa's, we think about our all of these famous people that whoever may be your heroes and we admire them, but we think, I don't know if I can do that, but you can. And like I said, when you discover your calling and you ask those questions and you understand you have a God who loves you and is going to encourage you, like a dad or a mom encouraging that child to take its first steps or a mom and a dad just running behind that child, learning how to ride the bike, that's how God is for us.
When we begin to get closer to what he's called us to do, he's going to begin to open up more doors for us. He's going to bring people in our lives that are going to confirm, yes, you are headed in the Right direction. You're going to meet people in your life that you never would have thought possible.
And the key for me is, do I believe?
Do I have faith? And like I said, faith. There's an interesting. There's a passage in James, talks about faith without works is dead.
Faith indicating you believe something but not putting forth the feet, the hands to move forward in that direction is not faith and God. It says it's impossible to please God without faith.
And so when we have enough faith, first, faith in God as our Creator, secondly, faith in ourselves, and then a level of faith in mankind.
Because if we view mankind in a negative light in regards to, you know, they're negative or hateful or. And there's going to be people like that.
But I'm one of those individuals. If you always see the best in people, you're more likely to get that from them. And people want to rise to the occasion. But we live in such a world that is negative and critical. Remember when I told you about story about Nehemiah?
They had people trying to tear them off that wall and rebuild it. We're gonna have those people in our lives.
They're gonna be there. But you know something? That's a good thing.
Because those people are gonna challenge us. Those people are going to test our resolve to see if we have enough in us to put forth the effort. How many people miss their life, calling their purpose, their legacy because they give up too soon?
How many of us do that? A great example is actually one of my historical mentors. Not a personal mentor, but Edison.
Edison, the creator of the light bulb, did not believe in failure.
10,000 times it was said that he worked to try to come up with a light bulb.
And anytime he was asked, I found another way that it won't work until he found out what did work. And when you think about that resolve and you think about when you look around us and all the light, all the things that we take for granted, that was because that man didn't give up. That man believed that it was possible.
And I believe that God gave him the inspiration. Because my belief is God knows all things and God is wanting to reveal those things. One day somebody is going to come up with a cure for cancer. Because you have to believe that God already knows what that is and he's going to reveal it to somebody. And so in the case of Edison, he revealed it to Edison.
And because of Edison's obedience of not quitting, not giving up, we all benefit from that.
And I think about the calling on your life if you want, leave that calling purpose unfulfilled. How many people will miss out? I tell people all the time, the seed of a sense of calling and purpose that God puts on your life is not necessarily for you.
It is for all the people that will benefit from your obedience and you fulfilling that purpose. And I think about my life.
I think about the decision that I made on that beach in Chicago.
All the things, all the good things that I have in my life, all my kids, my work, the people that work for me, my books, the impact that I've made since that time, that would all be gone. It wouldn't exist. It brings me back to a memory of a movie from its wonderful life. I'm hoping all of you have seen Instagram. Great movie. It's a great Christmas movie. I'm not sure if it was indicated and made to be a Christmas movie, but it's a classic.
And it's about a man named George Bailey who was in despair and he was contemplating throw his life away because of the loss of some money.
George had a fail. George had a good career, was well respected in the community.
But in that moment of despair, God intervened and chose and brought an angel and allowed George to see his life as if he never existed.
And George got a new perspective on what life was like if he had not fulfilled his purpose.
And what a great gift each of us if we were given that opportunity to relive our life as if we didn't exist and to see the difference.
We've got to recognize that God created us, each and every one of us, uniquely.
And there's no two Pauls, there's no two anybody. There's only one of you that should say something pretty powerful, that God has something special for you and he's wanting you to ask him, spend time with him.
What is it you'd have me to do?
And in this TV show, we're gonna go into detail.
I'm trying to tease you all a little bit. We're gonna go into detail.
How do we begin to find that out?
And my hope, maybe episode one, episode two, maybe once you get my book, you'll have a better understanding.
When you hear some of the speakers, you hear their stories, you're going to begin to put things together.
You're going to begin to ask the right questions that will give you the right answers, and you're going to head in the right direction. You're going to take one step at a time and you're going to wait for God's leading to open up that door.
And it may be a complete career change for me. Like I said, I didn't know what to do after I got divorced and that person I got out of seminary, I didn't know what to do.
And when I discovered that I was actually already doing it, working with folks with disability and I used the word before align, I aligned myself on what God had called me to do with my purpose.
And as I began to fulfill that purpose, guess what?
God blessed me. He blessed me abundantly with wonderful kids, wonderful family, wonderful, wonderful things, a nice job, good pay.
And that's how God is. He wants to bless us.
He wants to encourage us, as a parent does for their child, when they see the child making good choices and doing the right thing.
And even when we don't do the right thing, it does not take away that God does not love us.
There's another verse that we don't always like to hear, this verse, especially if we're in disobedience.
God loves those he disciplines those he loves. And discipline is correction. Discipline is how do we respond in challenges? If we don't respond correctly to challenges, then the challenges will overcome us.
And God is just asking us to adjust our steps to get back in line with him so that he can direct our steps towards what he's called us to do. And like I said before, it's always, always in service to other people.
And when we're serving other people and we're loving other people, we are going to benefit, they are going to benefit, and our community will benefit. And then we'll get to the end of the life. And we've lived a life of legacy. We will celebrate that. We'll celebrate in the. In the here, and we will celebrate in the after.
And so my hope is, after we go through this course, one, that you and I will develop a relationship.
Because I want you to understand that I'm here because I care about you. My calling is to help people find their purpose.
And I definitely want to hear from you. So when you reach out to me, we will talk, we will spend time together. I will answer your question, but I know that ultimately each and every one who's listening will ask that question.
And I pray that you will wait for the answer. And the answer will come. Because you have a God who created you, who created you for that purpose. And that purpose is going to be discovered. But we have our responsibility.
And so part of that responsibility is to make sure we're pursuing it. And once we pursue it, don't give up. Be like Edison Never give up because the calling on your life is to benefit those that you reach out and serve. And that's what I've chose to do. And I have the opportunity as a business owner, as an entrepreneur, as the founder of a nonprofit and a best selling author.
And so part of my desire as I go through life is continue to be a blessing to people with disabilities and serve and open up opportunity Community as the founder of nonprofit to begin to work collaboratively not only across North Carolina, but across the US across the globe is working with other organizations to begin to identify what are the needs community and bring people together to meet those needs.
And as an author and as a speaker, as an author of three books and I brought them here, my first one being Discovery Embrace youe Life Purpose.
My second book that I wrote is called the Ways of Wisdom. Much of our decisions in life really come down to applying wisdom to make sure there are the right choices. And we were blessed by that.
And then more recently the Success Redefined.
But God's not done with me.
He's already given me five other books that I'm going to be working on. I'm actually working on my fourth book right now called the Inheritance.
And I'm excited about the Inheritance, but because it is about a man named Jacob Jacob Steele who goes through a lot of trials and lot of tribulations in his life.
And I won't tell you the whole story, but he goes through a lot of the same journeys that I went through.
Jacob Steele at a low point, his life wants to end his life and he does it because he heard from God. And at the end of his life, Jacob still is abundantly wealthy. Not because of the monetary value he he has, but he's abundantly wealthy because he discovered his purpose, he discovered his calling and he's serving his community.
And his calling as he ends, comes near the end of his life is to leave an inheritance which is the name of the book. And that inheritance is to his grandkids.
And the inheritance to his grandkids is not necessarily the passing on of his wealth is more importantly the passing on of the mouth.
The wisdom that they can then apply to their lives so that they can begin to discover and live out their purpose.
Thank you so much and I so look forward to seeing you each.
