“I can see now that I am older, every step in my life was a test to break my spirit or a chance to learn, to grow, to get ready for what comes next.” ~ RS

It’s fascinating how much can change in just 24 hours, how perspective can shift. I’ve written about this feeling before, but it’s intensely strong today: it feels as if I’ve been training for this exact time, this specific moment, my entire life. As if my whole existence has been preparation for this. I can see it clearly as I look back – the plan for my life and how it seems to have been laid out since I was a child.

Even as a little boy, I had this curious, critical-thinking mind. They apparently had to hide clocks from me because I would compulsively take them apart. I desperately wanted to know how electricity worked, so I stuck screwdrivers in outlets (thankfully survived!), took toasters apart, anything to understand machines and how things functioned. Maybe I was ignored just the right amount, sparking that intense curiosity. Maybe I was beaten and abused “just enough” – if there even is such a thing – so that I would gain a deep, firsthand understanding of the devastating effects of that on an individual’s confidence, security, and psyche, giving me a different perspective later in life. Maybe I was encouraged just enough to allow myself to explore and try things, but also had to learn self-reliance at a very early age. And thankfully, there were certain key people throughout my life who believed in me just enough, so that my perspective of humanity wasn’t completely derailed, giving me vital glimpses of the possibilities of love, encouragement, and those types of positive connections.

Then, as I got older, still searching for the unconditional love I felt I never had as a latchkey kid in a family of six where my dad [correction: assuming ‘mine’ meant dad] was always off working. Mom wasn’t terrible; she was definitely a disciplinarian. But I experienced abuse in nearly every way imaginable. Then came high school, where I got a taste of positive discipline through wrestling, finding opportunities to excel, seeing what I was made of athletically. That discipline pulled me into martial arts, which carried on after school ended. Exposure to things like National Geographic ignited a desire to travel, so as soon as I was able, around 19 years old, I left home and didn’t really look back.

Through all of it, I feel like God’s fingertip was on every part of my life – from the moment I was born, protecting me, helping me, holding me close sometimes, yet allowing me to make mistakes, just enough that they didn’t completely destroy my soul.

As I matured, I started putting those experiences and my innate creativity to work. Being exposed to creative fields just enough made me want more. Loving people, even imperfectly, made me want deeper connections. The jobs, opportunities, and challenges throughout my life seem to have laid the foundation for this unique skill set I now possess: design, graphics, marketing, critical thinking, business development, strategy… all the things I learned, perhaps because I rarely said no to a challenge [interpreting the likely meaning of “never said anything” repetition]. I had this audacious need for approval initially, maybe driven by my mother’s own tenacious thirst for learning that I absorbed. But later, that shifted into a self-confidence and self-awareness rooted in the deep satisfaction I found in being really good at things, and especially in helping people. That shifted from an external need for approval to an internal personal mantra and lifestyle of service that has carried through my life.

As I look back now, and as I’m currently working to help small business owners (which I absolutely love), I can see how everything I’ve been doing my whole life has led me to this specific point, training me for this mission.

Even the last profound disappointment involving a single mom whom I encouraged and loved like a daughter, and who used to call me “her second dad” who had a 4-year-old, whom I took care of for three years, protected fiercely. I know there were times over those years where did everything, paid for everythingto nurture, protect and support them both. And then, to have the mom betray that trust with lies about me, because I raised a stink that she was leaving her daughter with me, to spend the night with some guy (auditioning for the wife role) essentially abandoning her daughter, sometimes 4- 5 nights a week. It is what it is. But even that, I can now see how it fits. It feels like the last, painful part of my “education” was to get me truly ready for what comes next, for Forged Life. Because that mission involves working directly with foster kids, many aging out of the system. So, in order to prepare me for that, perhaps my God had to open my heart up, literally rip it open, through my bond with this little girl. To show me a profound level of love, commitment, security, protection, and everything else that goes along with being a guardian. And, simultaneously, I had to be exposed again to the darker side of parenting, the reality of parents (and sometimes foster parents) who don’t prioritize kids, who can sometimes be pretty awful people.

Now, instead of retiring as I had planned back in 2024, I’m just changing direction. This shift was sparked specifically because of a couple of adopted granddaughters in Atlanta who ended up in the foster care system. I decided I had to do something about that situation, and God put it squarely on my heart to develop this program called Forged Life. It’s about awakening potential through a time-honored apprenticeship model – but paid apprenticeships. It teaches critical thinking, financial literacy (with a built-in savings component), and provides concrete technical skills in everything our agency does: design, graphics, business development, marketing, printing, all of it. It’s giving them critical life skills alongside valuable technical skills.

And what’s profound is that even technology seems to have caught up just in time, making it feasible now to accomplish these things at light speed in ways that wouldn’t have been possible even a few years ago. It reminds me of the story about Steve Jobs having the idea for the iPad years earlier but having to shelve it because the necessary technology hadn’t been invented yet. That’s kind of how I feel right now – the timing is right.

As I get ready to fully launch Forged Life, I believe there is going to be an amazing draw, not only attracting business to Never Quit Industries but allowing us to expand the Forged Life model into communities, into partnerships with other businesses, across the United States. Those 70 kids a day aging out of foster care, with up to half becoming homeless – that can become a thing of the past because of Forged Life expanding across the US. And if we can make it happen here, it’s not a far cry to see it expanding around the world, adapted to each country’s needs.

So, my next 70 years? It feels like it’s all about Forged Life – making a difference where I can, when I can, with whatever resources I have. And looking back, I can truly see how God has literally had His hand on every single part of my life. He has helped me, encouraged me, and orchestrated everything – every trial, every joy – providing “just enough” experience, “just enough” challenge, “just enough” love, to get me exactly to this point, ready for this work.