The Beginning of Something Way Bigger Than Me

Getting Rest Assured started has been a whirlwind. It has been a lot of work and definitely a learning experience, but each step has been incredibly exciting.

The whole idea of building beds for people in the community has been stirring in my heart for well over a year. I tried to suppress it. I have never started a non-profit before and it didn’t seem like an easy task. I tried to placate the calling by starting a woodworking business. I love making custom wood pieces, but doing it as a business just wasn’t working. My heart just wasn’t in it for some reason. All the while, I kept feeling the draw to build beds for those in our community who didn’t have them.

One day I was sitting at church listening to a guest speaker. This guy was a professional athlete for a prominent football team. He grew up in a single-parent, low-income home. He spoke about how he distinctly remembered getting his own bed for the first time. Wait. Here is this well-paid professional athlete talking about how his life was transformed and specifically speaking about his bed! Now, of course, I don’t think the bed alone completely changed the trajectory of his life, but I’m sure it played a role. How could I deny this sign?!?

Well. I continued to deny and suppress it. I never said anything about it to anyone. Not even my wife (Varessa). What if I’m imagining this calling? What if I try it and fail? Do I even have time for this? How can we fit one more thing into our lives?

Then, I couldn’t deny it any longer. I needed to throw the idea out “there” and see what the reaction was. So, I texted my wife, who had no clue I had even considered this. So, I texted her. Out of nowhere one day while she was at work I texted, “I’m feeling a calling to start a non profit and make beds for people in our community that don’t have them.”

It didn’t take long before she responded, “Oh. Okay. Well, that’s new.”

Okay, now it was out there. I said it. Now I have to do it. Oh man. What have I gotten myself into?!!

Turns out, I got myself into one of the biggest blessings of my life and hopefully a huge blessing to the community. More on that later.