A Second Chance

I was young, just 23 at the time of my wreck and I thought I had
the world saying yes to me. I earned rapid success at the company
I was working for. In a little more than three years I went from a
part-time employee to one of the top managers in the company, if not
the best. I had won the contest for the best store appearance to the
customers (which included the merchandise that would sell as well as
no empty shelf space), two out of three years. I heard that the reason
my store did not win it the third year was because I did not have
my managers “smock” on. This was a red jacket that the managers
wore to distinguish themselves from the other employees. Not a
bad, quick, track record for a young manager. I was the youngest
person ever to make manager, another one of my accomplishments I
accomplished in my short tenure.
During the time of my accomplishments, I was also taking home
“good” money, especially for a 23 year old male. I already had one
sports car, a 1968 Camaro Z-28 which my brother had fixed up really
nice for me, (he was a mechanic). It had buttoned-tucked interior
with 4:88 gears in the rear-end. Along with that my brother had
built a really fast engine for it. It also had an automatic transmission
with a “slip-kit” in it. It was the only street car I had seen that could
pull the front wheels of the ground. It was fast. It was a classic, but
that wasn’t enough. Remember I was enjoying all kinds of success
with my job and along with the success came the “status symbols” I
had to get to show my achievements to who ever would look. Pretty
stupid I know but like I said, I was only 23 years old and although I
was enjoying success I did not understand the way to show it.
I had a exceptional assistant manager who was older than I was
and always gave me advice, it’s just that I thought I did not need any
advice.
He saw the potential in me and asked me to go downtown with
him to his “alma mater”, which happened to be a college named
TULANE. Tulane has an excellent reputation and after visiting
the campus with him and we were driving home he brought up the
subject of me going back to college, I already had two years of college
credits from when I went to school before I started working. He told
me that he would pay the first years tuition for me if I decided to go
back. That was like a brick hitting me in the face. An employee of mine
offering to pay my first years tuition at an expensive college, even if it
would have been a junior college, that’s quite a compliment.
Like I said, my assistant manager was older than I was and he was
very well educated. His name is David and from that day forward I
looked at David in different way. We had a great working relationship
but now I saw in him the belief that he had in me.
I was shocked and stunned and surprised at what had happened
to me.
My father had always told me to think before I say something or
make a decision, but I still didn’t. I told David that I had a job that
I liked and that I planned on retiring from the company. I thanked
him, but I did not realize the decision I had just made.
 
Can you imagine a 23 year old kid making a decision that would
affect the rest of his life in 5 minutes. Now I know how important
those words were that my father told me.
We continued working and winning contest and there was another
contest. This one dealt with the managers of all the stores, who
already had a good base pay, having money added on to there base
pay by way of money that you won added to your base pay. Th e way
it worked was that your supervisor would inspect your paperwork,
your payroll and your inventory, for each part of the inspection that
you got right you were given a certain sum of money that would be
added to your base pay, sort of like a professional football players
contract with incentives, if they achieve those incentives they earn
more money.
On this inspection, I received the most money added to your base
pay, which means I got all the parts of the inspection correct. So I
made more money.
I’m telling you this not to brag but to show you the success I was
enjoying how I was feeling, like I could conquer the world, which I
could not.
As good as my life was going it came to a sudden stop at 2:30 in
the morning on November 19th, 1983. It came to such a unexpected
halt that it would be 2 years before I enjoyed that kind of success
again. Not only my work success but my relationship’s with girls. If I
would not have had my accident, I would not have married my wife,
would not have had our two children; my life would be completely
different.
This book will show you how I changed and show you that it
wasn’t me who did the changing, but GOD who did the changing
in me.