CFG was founded on a calling from God when I was completely broken down and calling out to Him. God planted a seed in my heart to take kids fishing—kids of ALL abilities, but particularly those with disabilities. This story begins with Covid-19. I was Covid positive during the time of the Delta variant. At the beginning of my illness, I thought I was going to fight it with no problem and be back to work after my quarantine. But my condition began to worsen drastically. To make a long story short, I struggled with my respirations, and one night I was fighting for each breath sitting on my floor thinking to myself, “This is it. I’m going to die.” I’ve never been so beaten down in my life to where I thought I was going to legitimately die from anything. So, I began to pray, opening my heart up to God. Putting myself at His feet and just handing it all over to Him. I  prayed to God for peace if this was the way I was to die. I asked Him to take care of my mom and my fiancé (my now wife) and to comfort them through whatever happened. I thanked God for all that He had done for me in my life; He’s blessed me with so much. I then began to accept what I thought was my time to go. I was beaten, exhausted, and tired of fighting for each breath. But then God’s spirit spoke to me. It was as if all the thoughts from my head just cleared, and it was filled with “No, you’re not going to die. You are going to take disabled kids fishing .” I was immediately confused. I didn’t know what to think of what I just experienced. I do love fishing, and I’ve had some fun encounters with two disabled kids visiting me at the fire station. But in my confused state of mind and my sickness, I decided to keep this experience to myself.

 A few months go by, and I’m on the road to recovery, but still not able to go back to work due to the state of my lungs. One day my fiancé and I were shopping at Lowe’s. I was in the middle of an aisle, and she was at the end. As I was looking at door locks, I saw this older man walk down the aisle directly towards me. He greeted me and asked if he could talk to me about the glory of God. He caught me off guard and made me feel a bit uncomfortable, but I agreed. He proceeds to tell me the gospel message, then randomly stops talking and looks at me. He said, “God told you to do something. What did he tell you to do?” I froze in shock, and I told him my experience. He replied with, “You can glorify God in so many ways by taking those kids fishing.” And that was it. The man shook my hand and walked away. As we left Lowe’s, I decided that I had to share my whole experience with my fiancé but asked her not to share it with anyone else.

More time went by, my mind racing constantly, though, but always thinking to myself that this is not something I can do, that I’m not the right guy for the job. I keep asking God, “Why me? Why tell me to do this specific task?” After beating myself down over and over, I decided to tell one of my friends. He spoke encouraging words to me, specifically reminding me that none of Jesus’ disciples were perfect and  Jesus asked them to be fishers of men. We then talked about the story of Jonah, how he kept running from God’s calling, thus causing ruin on those around him. The conversation was so uplifting, and I asked my friend to pray for me, for guidance, comfort, and for the right things to happen. I also asked him to keep it between us, still not able to bring myself to go public with such a new and personal experience.

I spent so much time wrestling with the negative thoughts that I’m not the right guy for this task God has planted in my heart. I’m constantly denying it while constantly praying about it. Back and forth. One Sunday morning at church, God spoke to me through the sermon. The sermon was about how people want so much from God but never expect to give back to God in return. I felt convicted and immediately thought of His calling, and prayed for guidance as to how to share my experience.

 I’m finally back at work, fully recovered after three months of physical rehab. One specific morning, I was sitting in the kitchen with another firefighter as he prepared breakfast for the crew. We were talking randomly about paying church tithes. After chatting about it for a while I asked him if he believes people can give back in other ways other than tithing money to the church. He certainly believes that God can be served in many ways. Then he randomly smarts off and says, “You’ll probably take disabled kids fishing or something like that.” I was in shock, because only two people knew of my experience, and this firefighter didn’t know either of them. I stopped him while he was talking and said, “I have to share something with you.” He was in awe and stated that it was like God was speaking right through him.

 After running from God’s nudges over and over, I finally decided that I could no longer ignore God’s calling on my life. I began sharing the news with everyone and decided to create a nonprofit organization that enables me to take disabled kids fishing while spreading the awareness of inclusion, teamwork, and the word of God. I had no background in nonprofits, so it was very intimidating. But I knew that I must trust God to guide me through the whole process. I prayed over and over for God to bring the right people to help me get this up and going. He did exactly that! I’ve gotten the exact guidance I needed from the right people at the right time. Casting For Glory is now up and running, and we can’t wait to see what all God has in store.