I have had 3 stages in my life. During the first part of it till like age 42 I was horrible to everybody. I used people only ever thinking about myself and what they could do for me. I did not know Christ and in fact thought who could possibly be better than me? Yeah, I was not exactly lacking in confidence. I hadn't heard of Jesus or God and the very few times we did go to church I spent the time picking up girls. Life was good. I never had any problem picking up girls --- I was smart enough that school was never a problem for me --- I was athletic and pretty good at anything I ever tried. There wasn't a God shaped hole in my life. I did have a Dad who when he quit drinking used to knock me around quite a bit and at 9 he put my head through a wall but as long as I avoided him everything was great.
2nd stage When I was a kid I read a lot. I loved to read. Still do. And one of the things I read was how if you haven't grown up by the time you are 50 you no longer have to. So, that was my goal. Till my 40's I played video games (saved the world a few times --- You are welcome) and had a massive comic book collection. Then one day I was 42, in my car outside of Game Stop waiting for it to open so I could run in and get the latest game. I was flipping through the radio when Dave Ramsey came on. I was amazed. The more I listened the more I realized I was on the wrong path. Before that, I had never thought about retirement at all. I was still in perfect health and growing up just never occurred to me. When I was in High School I hear that a guidance counselor is supposed to talk to you and ask you what you want to be when you graduate and things like that. I never got the meeting. My Dad had kicked me out when I was 16 so I wasn't in school a lot and I might not have been there when it was supposed to happen. But whatever the reason I wasn't guided by anything but that saying about not growing up. After listening to Dave Ramsey and then getting his book and reading that in a day (the book is that good) I knew I needed to get an adult job that paid good money and get a plan. I got a job with a company that wanted me to put out, service and collect money from their claw machines (the kind where you try to win stuffed animals and the like). The first day after my training I had to get an Uhaul and go put out the machines. I had locations all over from Lake Jackson to Corpus Christi, to Seguin etc. It took all day and I did not get home till like 1:30 am the next morning. At 8 am I get a call saying one of the machines is broken so I need to take the Uhaul back to Beaumont, pick up my car, drive it back to Victoria where I was to pick up my company car with the tools they had for me then go to Houston to fix the machine. So, I set off for Beaumont but I am still exhausted. I am driving down I-10 towards Beaumont and want to get something to drink to help keep me awake. However, I had not yet gotten my first check and was broke. I did have a Target card on me so when I saw a Target I decided to pull in get a drink and some sunflower seeds to wake me back up. Pulling in to Target I failed to notice the crossbar it had over the entrance to I guess keep big trucks from entering. Apparently my truck was too big and I took off a good section of the top of my Uhaul. Needless to say by this time I am wide awake (No caffeine necessary) so I get back on the freeway heading to Beaumont thinking "Well, maybe they won't notice the new sunroof" 😟Of course when I do get there that was the first thing they saw. Anyways, I turn in the slightly shorter Uhaul, picked up my car and head back towards Houston from Beaumont. I was in a little Subaru Justy.
