I was beyond ecstatic.

My daughter has been gone for close to a month visiting her Grandmother up north, and she just came home today. We hid behind a wall as she walked out of the flight terminal and jumped out at her as she walked by – the startle in her eyes was worth a million bucks….

….but the smile that followed was priceless! It was one of those days. Everything was perfect. And as we drove away from the airport, I had an overwhelming feeling of gratitude. You Dads know the type I mean – I had the two most important girls in my life in my car, and for that moment, everything was perfect.

And then my phone rang….

“Hello…”, I said.

It was Kenny, a close buddy of mine – a man who normally does not have a lick of panic in his voice. But this phone call was not normal.

“David! Jeff got hurt on the job today. It’s bad, bro.”

“What the hell happened?!”, I said.

“It’s not good man. He was on a job site, shooting in plywood for a roof, and a nail from the nail gun ricocheted back right into his chest and pierced his heart! He’s in emergency surgery right now.”

 “You gotta be kidding me”I said.

See, Jeff and I have a unique relationship. He means a lot to me, and it’s not just your normal friendship, per say. For the last 4 years, we’ve been going into treatment centers that are ran by the Department of Corrections to carry a message of hope. Most of the men we see and speak to are on their ‘final straw’ before a judge brings down the hammer and sends them up the road to the ‘big house’ for a ‘vacation’. These are men who are battling addiction and alcoholism – who come from the bottom, and in most cases, don’t know any other way of life besides the ‘street life’. A world of survival. A life of constant pain.

This is a life both Jeff and I know well. We both come from similar places. And both have around the same amount of time clean and sober. I have 4 1/2 years, and Jeff has close to 6. And, Kenny – the buddy who called to tell me about what happened to Jeff today was one of the guys who once sat on the other side of table in one of the Department of Corrections treatment centers we spoke in.

However, unlike most of the men who we see and speak to who don’t stay clean, and return to the life they know so well – Kenny did stay clean. He changed his life. Became a father once again to his kids, and a husband once again to his wife. And after graduating successfully from his treatment center – committed to a new way of life – which included coming back with Jeff and I to carry that message of hope …and freedom, to the same men he once sat with under the roof and rule of the Florida Department of Corrections prison and rehalbilitaiton system.

Kenny, Jeff and I’s relationship has alway been unique. And has always been filled with laughter and gratitude. But today didn’t feel like that. And as Kenny was telling me the details of Jeff’s accident today….

I had to stop driving, pull over, and catch my breathe.

My daughter asked from the back seat…

‘Daddy, what’s going on?”

“Jeff is hurt” I said. “I’m ok though honey. Don’t worry.”

But inside I was hurting.

My day stopped. The world stopped. And for just that moment, until I regained my composure, is all I could could see was Jeff’s sons face, the thoughts of how just two days ago he was bragging about how he had just became a Grandpa – and how work had just picked back up for him. How he put a bid in on a big job and didn’t expect to get it – but got it, and was stoked.

Now, according to the ER doctor, he couldn’t go back onto a construction site for at least 5 months.

“Now what…” I thought to myself.

As I drove across the bridge leaving Tampa Airport, I stared out over the water at a hypnotizing sunset and thought about – well, frankly – how that could be any of us.

How nothing is promised….and anything could happen….at any moment.

How just a few years ago I was working construction, and that could have been me.

Here I am with a jack hammer busting up a side walk on a job I still remember to this day. A hot one. A hard one. A one that very easily could have resulted in an injury that could have putme out for 6 months, a year – or even a freak accident that I could have died from.

The point is….

…..you never know.

The solution is….

…have a plan.

Look: there’s no one who has this thing called “life” in the palm of their hands, and we’ve all heard of – or maybe even been affected by something that has had a “life changing” effect on our life.

An illness. A death. A job lay off.

Something that was ABSOLUTELY random and unexpected…..

……but effects us in a way that shakes us to our core.

These types of random and sometimes tragic “life situations” usually leave us scrambling, looking for ways to paying our bills. Sometimes we lose our homes. Sometimes we lose someone we love.

In an instance, at anytime – life could change.

For the good….

…or for the bad.

Are you ready for it? Have you planned ahead? Have you taken the risk of ‘everyday life’ into consideration? Do you believe it could happen to you?

It can. None of us are 10ft tall and bullet proof (even though some of us think we are).

It has NOTHING to do with how smart we are. NOTHING to do with how good, or bad of a person we are.

And NOTHING to do with our social status, economic back ground or current situation.

It has to do with TODAY deciding that we will become AWARE.

TODAY – we will commit to the our family. OURSELVES. And those who care about us – and we will NOT wait for life to smack us in the face and leave us scrambling for a back up plan.

Case in point: Kris Darty and his wife Jessica.

8 months or so ago ….he was broke. Tired. No back-up plan. Working dead-end construction jobs, and he had NO idea where his next paycheck was coming from.

He decided to not let that be the case 1 year later, and he made a decision to get busy. Get serious. And commit to building his business.

He failed at first, it sucked and he almost quit.

BUT …he had already decided that he would NEVER be in the same position he was earlier that year, living paycheck-to-paycheck, with no back up plan.

LESS THAN A YEAR LATER he stood on stage at our “Don’t Be A Wussy 2012″ Event in front of 1,200 people and raised HIGH a check for over $45,000 that he earned with Empower Network (and he’s made well over $100k in verifiable income in his business in the last year):

* Just because Kris went from working construction, to earning over $45,000 in Empower Network in the first 6 months doesn’t mean you will, too. We don’t and won’t promise any type of income. It’s takes work, dedication and a good system. See our full income disclosurefor the average earnings.

Bottom line:

Be smart. Have a plan, and a back-up plan – and realize anything is possible….

GOOD and BAD.

Stay real,

Article By-> David Sharpe
Ex-Construction Worker with a BIG Dream

P.S. Oh, here’s exactly how Kris went from broke and tired, swinging a hammer on a construction site with no back-up plan, to standing in front of 1,200 people (see the picture below) while they ALL stood up screaming his name, celebrating his success  == > Click Here and See How He Did It