Why is this date so important to me? Because it was the day the Lord spoke to my heart and asked me to step into something I was completely unprepared for—to start a business. At the time, I was working in a cabinet shop, just an ordinary man trying to be faithful to what God had been stirring inside of me. There was no roadmap, no business training, no savings, no equipment, no warehouse, and no clear path forward. Yet there was something stronger than all of that—a quiet but unmistakable call from God that would not leave me alone.
So I did what I knew to do, and I went to Him in prayer. I remember laying three specific things before the Lord and speaking plainly from my heart: “Lord, if this is truly from You, then I’m asking You to provide.” I asked that I would be able to leave the man I was working for on good terms, because I knew that honoring him mattered to God. I asked for work—something I could put my hands to so I could begin producing cabinets, because I was not looking for comfort, I was looking for obedience. And I asked that God would direct my steps, that He would show me how to find a place to work and even provide the machinery we would need, because I had no idea how to get there on my own.
At that same time, life was already stretching me in ways that felt overwhelming. Carol was nine months pregnant, and within two weeks our first son Jeremy would be born. Responsibility was not something coming in the future—it had already arrived, and it was standing right in front of me. Yet it was in the middle of that pressure, not outside of it, that God chose to call me forward. Looking back now, I understand something I did not fully grasp then: God was not asking me to have it all figured out, He was asking me to trust Him. As it is written, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths” (Proverbs 3:5–6). I did not have understanding, but I made a decision that day that I would trust.
What followed did not happen all at once, but it happened faithfully. Step by step, God answered every prayer I had placed before Him. I was able to leave on good terms, and that mattered more than I knew at the time. Work began to come, not in abundance at first, but in just enough measure to keep moving forward. Doors opened that I did not know how to open, and provision came not ahead of time, but right on time, again and again. That is when I began to learn a truth that has stayed with me ever since: when God calls you, He does not consult your resources—He supplies them. What He looks for is not whether you are prepared by the world’s standards, but whether you are willing to obey when He speaks. As Scripture reminds us, “My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19).
Over the years, I have watched God do what only He can do. He has brought people into my life at just the right moment, people I never could have arranged or planned for. He has opened doors that I did not even know existed and placed me in situations that required more than I had, only to prove that He was more than enough. He has given wisdom in moments when I had none of my own and carried me through seasons that felt too heavy to bear. There were times when I wanted to quit, times when everything felt uncertain and even hopeless, times when the weight of responsibility pressed harder than I thought I could endure. Yet through it all, there was a steady and unshakable truth that remained: I was not walking alone. Jesus walked with me, and I learned to hold onto the promise that “He who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it” (Philippians 1:6), not as a distant hope, but as a daily reality.
What God has done has gone far beyond building a business. He has built a life, one that I could have never imagined when I took that first step of faith. He has blessed me with four incredible children, thirteen grandchildren, and sons and daughters-in-law whom I count as my own. The richness of that blessing cannot be measured in anything this world offers, and it stands as a testimony to the kind of provision only God can give. In all of this, I have come to understand something that the world does not see clearly. What the world calls success has no value to God, because it is built on things that do not last. Titles, money, recognition—these may carry weight among men, but they do not move the heart of God. What He blesses, however, carries a weight and a substance that cannot be explained, measured, or taken away. As Jesus said, “What does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” (Mark 8:36).
Scripture also says, “The blessing of the Lord makes one rich, and He adds no sorrow with it” (Proverbs 10:22), and I have come to know that this kind of richness is not found in what you accumulate, but in what God establishes. There is a wisdom that does not come from education, a favor that cannot be earned, and a life that cannot be explained apart from the hand of God working quietly, faithfully, and powerfully over time. It is almost fitting that it all began on April 1st—April Fool’s Day—because to the world, what I did likely looked foolish. There was no plan, no money, no experience, only a decision to trust what God had said. Yet I have learned that what appears to be foolishness to men is often obedience before God, for “the foolishness of God is wiser than men” (1 Corinthians 1:25).
There is a quote that has stayed with me through the years, one that continues to prove true: “Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.” That is what I did on April 1, 1977, and it is what I continue to do. Because what I have learned is that trusting God is not a single decision made once, but a life that is lived daily, step by step, often without full understanding, but never without His presence. The same God who spoke then is still speaking now, still leading, still refining, still proving that His ways are higher than ours. What began as a step of faith has become a walk that has not ended, and I have come to see that God never calls a man to arrive—He calls him to follow. And as long as He leads, there will always be more to trust, more to learn, and more of His faithfulness yet to be revealed.