This is the second in a series about people who are not without hope in the economic times we are all affected by, in one way or another. I met Sammy through a mutual business acquaintance, a real estate developer who had laid Sammy off because of poor sales in the housing market. Although we share a last name, we are not directly related – at least as far as we can reckon.
Charles
http://www.charlesguptonphoto.com
On Twitter @ http://twitter.com/CharlesGupton
It was hard at first to look back over my life and think about why I have hope. I think things began to change in my life when I started coaching my kids’ baseball team. Coaching those kids showed me what it was like to be in God’s hand with no worries. We went on to win a championship and those kids changed my life, because when I looked into their eyes, there was no worry. Seeing the joy in them was awesome.
I realized that I had forgotten what it meant to see life through the eyes of wonder that a kid has. I had lost my faith. I’ve done things in the past that I’m not proud of, but those kids helped me see that it is up to us whether we are happy or sad. In these tough times, it’s a blessing just to be able to pay the light bill or to have food in the refrigerator. If you just look around, you’ll see that you are really blessed with so many things that we all take for granted. Like in the morning, I can take my kids to school and then go by and see my mother. We drink coffee and talk about how powerful God’s love is. I try to talk about positive things so that she doesn’t look at what’s going on with her health. It makes me happy just to see a smile on her face and to be able to see the love in her eyes for me, her son. That’s what life is really about. Just like the Bible says, the riches of the world will surely fade away but God’s love endures forever.
I’ve been a carpenter for 14 years. My gift and what I love to do is finish carpentry. I love to build high-end work such as mantles, bookcases, stairways and other fine detail work. It’s my passion to see fine carpentry as an art and make people really happy with the work I do. Finding this kind of work is very hard when the economy is this tough. But I have hope because I love what I do and have a gift for doing it well. I know I’ll be able to find customers who really appreciate good work so that I can make a living for my family. ~ Sammy Gupton