Valleys, Peaks, and Transitions
There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens. (Ecclesiastes 3:1)
After returning home, I eventually graduated from Florida Bible College. To my surprise, I didn’t go into professional ministry. Instead, God led me to teach World Cultures at a public middle school. And I loved it. Every time I stepped into the classroom, a sense of excitement and purpose washed over me. It was there, standing before a room full of students, that I finally discovered my calling—I was meant to be a teacher.
I went on to teach in both public and private schools for the next seven years. But then tragedy struck. In the span of a year and a half, I lost my sister, my mother, and my godson. The grief was overwhelming. Not long after, I experienced my first battle with depression and anxiety. I had poured myself into others for years, but now I had nothing left to give. I stepped away from teaching to focus on healing. Through rest, therapy, and the help of medication, I began to recover. But oftentimes in life, we must travel through the valleys in order to experience the peaks. Many times, a season of suffering is followed by a season of blessing. That’s exactly what I experienced when I married my wife, Mary. Outside of trusting Christ, marrying her is the best decision I have ever made on this side of eternity. She is truly an angel. To say I don’t deserve her would be a massive understatement. I will spend the rest of my life—and eternity—thanking God for the gift that she is to me.
Soon after, I returned to work—still teaching, but no longer with sixth graders. This time, I stepped into a new chapter, training corporate leaders. For the next 13 years, I traveled across the country as a leadership development consultant, training and coaching leaders at all levels. Once again, God gave me incredible favor with both the leaders I served and the coworkers I partnered with. It was another unexpected but deeply fulfilling assignment from God. Eventually, the company I worked for began downsizing, and I was laid off. Looking back, it turned out to be a blessing in disguise.
Shortly after leaving Express Scripts, both my father and my father-in-law became seriously ill. My father was diagnosed with terminal lung disease, and my father-in law could no longer live alone due to worsening dementia. My wife Mary and I prayerfully decided that I would retire officially and stay home to care for both of them. Although my father was a kind and gentle man, and my father-in-law a true gentleman, life as a caregiver was incredibly challenging. Yet it was not without its rewards. Mary and I live with the deep comfort and peace of knowing that we cared for our parents with love, honor, and dignity—all the way to the end.