Dear GCI Family and Friends,
Sun Valley Middle School holds a treasure trove of memories for me. Growing up just two blocks away, I spent my weekends and some evenings cycling around the campus and leaping over the fence to play football or baseball with friends. Yet, the moment that truly sticks with me was walking home and seeing a flyer posted on a light post with the bold headline: “Jobs for Kids.” I ripped that flyer from that post and took it home with me. I eagerly waited until 11:45 p.m. for my mother to come home from her second job, immediately requesting for her to call the following day and sign me up for work.
That same week on Friday evening, I started my first day of work. I was just thirteen years old when Terry Opp and Pat Dominguez employed me as part of their sales crew. Junior Careers was a company that employed kids to go door-to-door selling fine chocolates and candies.
It did not take long for me to be promoted as crew leader and consistently rank as one of the top salespersons. Throughout my early teens, I spent over three years working weekends and summers, during which Terry and Pat took me under their wing. They acted as loving mentors during a tumultuous time in my life, and I truly consider them as some of the angels that God provided for me during my upbringing.
Looking back, I see how God was shaping my entrepreneurial abilities during that difficult season, preparing me with skills that I would later use in life and ministry. Those days shaped my ability to engage people whom I had never met. In my early days of pastoral ministry as I sought to participate missionally with Jesus by engaging neighborhoods and people that I never met, it became natural to me.
As I connected the dots of my life, I saw the beautiful, consistent thread of God’s presence. He had weaved himself into my story in ways that were now tangible and visible. I am sure that all of us could probably share personal stories that reflect God’s presence weaved into our own story.
