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This was a 5 minute speech given to The
Savannah Jaycees
and also to The
Young Professionals of Savannah.
If you could change anything from your past, would
you?
If you could change anything from your past, would you? Most of you are
probably thinking well of course I would, who wouldn’t? I am going to show you
not only why you shouldn’t if you could but if you did, you might not be
sitting here listening to me speak today.
Of course that might be a good thing. I am going explain the events that led up
to my wife Sandy and I meeting and how we met and how there was a thin line to
us meeting. I have a disclaimer (I am not promoting how we met because we met
from a Christian Singles Website).
First,
I would like to start off by talking about a movie we recently saw called.
“The Butterfly affect”. It was about a guy who could take one moment in his
past that changed his life and go back and change what happened in his mind so
it would have a different ending. Each and every time he changed it; he didn’t
like the results.
Well that movie got me thinking about some of the events that
led up to Sandy and I meeting so here’s our story:
It was February 2001, I was doing nothing with my life. Life
was just kin of blah. I was doing a lot of soul searching at this time and
decided it was time for my life to change. I looked to the net for some
inspiration. I have always been a lover of inspirational quotes so I searched
for quote sites.
As I was going through the different sites, I thought to
myself I could probably make a better inspirational site than many I found.
Remember this point because this was a turning point in my life but I didn’t
know it at this time.
April
15, 2001, I launched the little quote site I thought about. All I really wanted
was a site that had nothing but quotes and maybe 10 pages. I had no idea where
this was going to lead me. As the site started getting more and more visitors,
many started asking me to add this and add that, some were great ideas and I
added them to the site.
5 months later, September 2001, I found a Christian Singles
site. They had where you can get a 14 day free trial. I thought to myself I can
be a part of this for just the 14 days and if it doesn’t work within that time
then I will just stop my membership because I wasn’t going to pay for it. I
guess I was kind of cheap and not very patient at that time.
My
14 days did pass by and I was no longer a member. I started wondering if there
were anyway I could get a free membership. I saw that they had an affiliate
program where if you had a website, you could earn money. So I came up with an
idea, I would ask them if I became part of their affiliate program, would they
give me a free membership. I figured all they could do is say “yes or no”.
They let me know that they have never done that before but might be willing
depending how much traffic my site gets.
I told them what the traffic was. They let me know to go on and create an
affiliate account and they would give me my free membership.
5 months goes by, it is now February
2002, I was on their site and was looking for someone to chat with. I
found
Sandy
at this time. To show you how much of a thin line it was, I never messaged
anyone on that site unless they had a picture on their profile and guess what
she didn’t. Also, I found out later that the only reason
Sandy
was on that site at that time was because she was deleting an email. She was
actually logging off as I messaged her. If I would have timed that any
differently Sandy and I might not be together today.
Well 2 days later on February 4th, we talked on
the phone for the first time. On February 18th, we set a wedding date
and then on March 4th we met in person. Yes, we did move quick and
yes we did set a wedding date before we even met. And yes we were crazy, like I
said earlier, I am not promoting how we met, this is just our story.
By
the way, we did keep the same wedding date we originally set, which was October
5th, 2002.
The moral of this story is if we would have changed anything in our
lives, we probably wouldn’t be together today especially since she was in KY
and I was in GA.
I would like to end this with a poem:
Never Look Back
Never look back at the wrong you've done,
Because that wrong you can't undo.
Just look ahead at the goodness of God,
And he will bring joy to you.
Never look back at failures you've had,
Because they probably weren't failures at all.
Just realize you are made in the image of God-
Like a mountain you will stand tall.
Never look back at what you should have done-
On these thoughts your mind you should rid.
Just ask God to guide you day to day,
Then you can proudly say what you did.
Never look back at moments of pain,
Because the only one that will hurt is you.
Just keep your mind on the love of God,
And watch your gray skies turn blue.
Never look back at material lost,
Because nothing material ever lasts.
But the things that God will give to you,
Nothing material can surpass.
Never look back for what no longer exists,
Because you won't find it anywhere.
Just keep your eyes on the love of God-
Look around you it is always there.
-By Rev. Brown
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