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I am absolutely certain that life has a purpose beyond what we create for ourselves.
But I grew up in a household
that wasn't full of faith - it was a faithless household.
I wasn't raised by people who believed in Jesus and God and all that,
and so I was able to see first-hand -
my father was a massive influence in my life.
He was an amazing, wonderful,
incredible father who loved me
completely. I knew absolutely for certain that he loved me.
But I also knew absolutely for certain
that he had no idea what his purpose was in life.
He was clueless, and I saw him look in hundreds of directions.
He looked into all sorts of religions and all sorts of other stuff as to try
and find his purpose.
And I found my purpose when I was a tiny, little girl -
when I was a little girl and I was sent to church and I found something
that made my life purposeful. And he knew that I had it even though I was way
younger than him,
and he knew that he didn't have it. And I saw him searching
and I saw the fact that he was lost and alone
even though he was part of a loving family and
then I saw him change - I saw him
just change, and he was 64 years old.
And he had no reason to change at that point. He'd given up looking. He tried
everything,
and I saw the peace that he received
when he found his faith and
I mean, that's the reason that I have this briefcase. This briefcase
is from my father. It's
an old, battered old briefcase that he took to work every day,
and everyday I believe that he thought that he would find purpose in the work
that he did.
And every day he came home empty, and I love this because this is just a symbol
of the fact that I was able to help in his journey to faith,
but he was able to help me grow, and I love the fact that I now have given this
to my son,
who's 22 years old, and he loves this cool, trendy brief-
case. But it's like the passing on of those family things makes
all the difference.