We moved all over the Southeast. I helped open new “big box” retail stores. My joy came in the next move. I never realized that I did not have it that good until someone pointed it out to me. This continued until my wife got hurt on the job, we lost almost everything, and my eighteen-year-old son; challenged me to do something about my unhappiness.  No one would hire me because I did not have any other experience. I did not have God either. I was trying to do it on my own. He of little/no faith

After graduating from high school the motivation speaker/life coach tried his crafts on me. He said, “Dad, why don’t you use some of that advice you are always giving others. You have more education than most of your bosses. Yet, you are miserable and won’t do anything about it.” I had gotten in a comfort zone and could not move. He made me so angry that I cried but I would not let him see me. He was right.

On a dare the next day I called Florida A&M University and asked them what I needed to get into their graduate school.  They asked me for my GPA, and I told them that I graduated from Albany State College in 3 and a half years, with a 3.0 after being honorably discharged from the United States Air Force.  

The registrar said, “Request your records, and if they are what you say they are, you are in.” I could not wait to tell everyone that I was quitting work and I was going to graduate school. This was 1991 and I was 45 years old. Everyone other than my immediate family said that I was making a mistake quitting my job and there was no way that I was going to make it.

So, one cold morning morning I found myself on the campus of Florida A&M University in Tallahassee, Florida. Distinguished by lush foliage and massive oaks, FAMU’s main campus comprises 156 buildings spread over 422 acres atop the highest of Tallahassee’s seven hills. My son and I would be roommates for the next several months. “You can do all things through Christ who strengthens you.”