Mark Richardson:  

Life Took the 'long way around'. Life really began in earnest at 40, when I married Linda (took three tries to get it right), but have never looked back since. The best days are STILL ahead! I live every day to lift others - inspiring them to pursue with passion the dreams which God has placed within them, and to remind anyone who will listen that it is never too late to be all that we were made to be. 'With God, all things are possible.' At age 43 my life changed in a dramatic way when I decided to find out if it was still possible to realize the dreams which had almost been discarded with the foolish choices of my 20's and early 30's. Instead of looking backward and waiting for life to come to me, I decided to 'create the future, instead of just letting it happen.' That meant work - lots of it. In the process, I made (next to my personal relationship with God) the greatest discovery of my life: it is NEVER too late to be all that we were created to be, and that as soon as we take the first step in faith toward the dreams inside of us, mighty forces come to our aid. I also discoverd something else about pursuing dreams: the first step on a long journey is as satisfying as the destination itself. Several years later I read the challenge which Thomas Watson Sr. issued to IBM decades ago, and it described my experience pretty well: I: 1) dared to dream in vivid detail of the great things God had created me for, 2) asked myself how I would act if I already were the way I wanted to be, and, 3) realized that if I was ever to achieve the goal, I would have to begin acting that way immediately. It's the most powerful law in the universe, the law of faith. It works in business, it works in life. I've been able to do a lot of living in the last 10-12 years. I heard someone say once that, 'it's not what we do or don't do in life that counts, but what happens inside of us enroute to doing whatever it is we do.' And that's the other thing I wish I had known at 18: (or 8 for that matter): what goes on 'outside' is merely a reflection of what's going on 'inside' - Peale said it well: our thoughts control our circumstanc...Expand for more