My life has turned out totally different than I imagined it would.
When I was in my teens and early twenties I thought that I would be in politics. I believed that I would be successful at it and I knew that a lot of politicians were lawyers so I decided to be a lawyer. That would be my stepping stone to politics. Though I had thought I might go into vocational ministry for a brief time in high school I soon decided on a law career.
As I went through college I studied in hopes of getting into law school and then becoming a lawyer. However, along the way, I increasingly wanted to do music and ended up singing in a lot of musical groups, some that I put together. Then as I was ending college I took the Law School exam and applied to law schools and got accepted at Ohio Northern University College of Law in Ada, Ohio. It was a good school and not far from Findlay where I had just finished college.
That first year of Law School though was very hard for me academically and I discovered that I just didn’t want to spend the time in the Law Library that would be required of me to do well. With my mom going in the hospital and my traveling back and forth that fall and then being surprised by her death that December I was out of energy and the desire to succeed in the field of law. So I dropped out in February of my first year of Law School after completing two quarters. I felt I had failed and didn’t know how I would be able to accomplish my dream.
But life went on and I ended up working at a church as a youth director and then going to Seminary. After that, I was an Associate Pastor at a church before becoming the Pastor of another church. After being there a few years I believed that I should get into politics, while still pastoring that church, and I ran for Congress. Though I lost the General Election I thought that I would get right back into it and run the very next time, keeping my campaign committee going. But the following year on my birthday I found out that I was going to be a Dad and I decided that I was not going to miss out on the early years of that first child and so I ended my campaign committee and thought that someday I would get back to it. That someday never came.
Instead, I had the blessing of not only being the Dad of one precious child but of two. There is no way that I would have wanted to have missed any of my time with them by running for office and serving away from them. I know many do that and that is their choice but as for me I know I made the correct choice.
Connected with that is that I never thought that I would be married and never thought that I would be a Dad. I wondered if I would be a good Dad. But my life has turned out differently than I thought on that matter as well as I have been so fortunate as to have discovered Diane and that she would marry and spend her life with me. That blessing turned into a family of four with Rosie and Emilie joining us.
Yes, my life has turned out totally different than I imagined it would. Thank goodness.
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