09/18/2026
This was a tough year for everyone. For me, I was going through a very painful situation regarding my family, and COVID-19 had just broken out. A whole lot of people had been laid off because of government mandates.
It started with a raffle for this awesome bike that I had purchased from a local shop. I tried to relive my youth that summer, and that lasted about an hour—maybe even just a half hour 😂. So I decided I would eventually raffle it off to a family that could use it.
When I bought the bike, COVID hadn’t even really started yet, I don’t think.
By the time Christmas came around, I knew it was going to be a lonely one for me. I really didn’t have any family to go to, so I decided to have the bike raffle on Christmas Eve.
We were overwhelmed with families asking for it for their kids. Parents started telling me their stories—how they had been laid off, how money was tight, and how they weren’t going to be able to get their kids some of the things they had asked Santa for that year.
We had the bike raffle, and then I felt like God gave me a little nudge.
I asked each parent who had inquired about the bike to give me one or two things from their child’s Christmas list.
My original plan after the raffle was to go home and wallow in my own self-pity. I was hurting. I’m a very spiritual person, and something inside me basically said, “No. You’re not going home.”
So I went to Target, Walmart, even Dick’s Sporting Goods, and just loaded up.
Before I raffled off that bike, I felt like I was dying inside. But I realized that if I went home and cried and let myself hurt over everything that was happening, I was letting the people who set out to hurt me win.
It was almost like God knew exactly what medicine I needed to heal my heart.
I spent that Christmas Eve driving all over Pasco and Hernando counties delivering toys and gifts that these kids and teenagers had asked for. And I threw in as many extras as I could.
We stocked up on Razor scooters, Nerf guns, toys—whatever I could find. One teenage kid wanted a pair of Nikes, so we got him his Nikes.
For that entire day, I was able to just be my genuine self.
I was only supposed to give away one bike.
Instead, it turned into one of the longest, best, most rewarding, and most memorable days I’ve had on this planet.
Seeing the joy on those kids’ faces and the relief in their parents’ eyes was probably one of the most heartwarming feelings of my life.
I never tried to make a big ordeal about it. I didn’t do it for recognition. In reality, those families probably did more for me that Christmas Eve than I ever could have done for them.
I thought I was going out to give some kids a better Christmas.
Looking back, I think God sent me out there because He knew I needed one too.
My favorite quote from Denzel Washington that always stuck with me
“I want to be pleasing in Gods sight “
At the end of the day at the end of this life that’s what really matters