I heard a long time ago a phrase, which at the time I had no idea what it meant. Fortune favors the bold. I discovered it at a time in my life when I needed it most. In the fall of 1995, I was drifting and drifting bad. Numerous jobs and wasted moments. I had just turned 27 and my future looked bleak.
Fortune favors the bold.
I kept hearing it over and over. So, I decided to go back to college and get my degree. I left a sales job and got one loading trucks from 10 pm to 630 am. Fortune favors the bold soon became a leap of faith. One thing to think about doing it, but another to put the plan in action. I had nothing more than faith in God and faith in myself.
Sometimes that is all you need. I prayed over it and truly believed in my heart great things were about to happen. I didn’t want to be that guy at 50 who was sitting at a bar wondering why life had passed him by with zero accomplishments. I vividly saw that happening but only one person could ensure it would not happen. Me.
Fortune favors the bold was a leap of faith. I had left a job that had comfort and stability to enter a world of zero stability and a bouncy road full of potholes. My first day of classes in January of 1996 was postponed because of a big ice storm that hit Murfreesboro. Two days later I am walking to class and I hit a big patch of ice and what seemed about :20 seconds, I fell flat on my face. A crowd was walking by and I remember most of them laughing at me. As I laid there, face down, I knew I would be just fine.
I had left a job, started another one working overnight, had to make a nearly hour commute back and forth and had just about everyone telling me it was a waste of time. When I fell, I fell forward. Not backward. Not to the side. Forward. I was moving in the direction I wanted to go and believed I could go. I took 67 hours in the next year and graduated from M.T.S.U.
This is your story. This is our story. A simple leaf of faith completely turned my life around. I prayed constantly and God’s hand picked me off the ice that day, dusted me off and sent me on the way. If you feel as if you are stuck, take that leap of faith. It will not be easy; most days it will not be fun. The trip will be full of tears and laughter but in the end, that simple leap will bring you everything you’ve ever wanted.
Take that leap of faith into the new year and watch your world change in the most beautiful ways.
