Becoming Faithful

Built From the Beginning

This is the first website I have ever built. I started with no experience building a website from scratch, and I continue choosing to learn it one step at a time. After a few weeks of intentional work—many days spending 10 to 17 hours learning, building, testing, making mistakes, fixing them, and trying again—this is what that process has become.

But the story behind this website is also connected to a much bigger transition in my life.

August 1, 2026

On August 1, 2026, I reached out to the owner of the Chick-fil-A where I worked and asked about taking a three-month leave of absence so I could pursue Becoming Faithful. He told me that I had his support and prayers behind me. He could not guarantee that a job would be available if I decided to return after those three months, but he was open to having that conversation when the time came.

Around the same time, I had asked management for August 6 and 7 off so I could attend the Global Leadership Summit, I had not received an answer.

August 4, 2026

On Tuesday, August 4, I went to work like I normally did. At one point, I was cleaning an entrance door that most people did not use. There was a man outside experiencing homelessness. I felt God put it on my heart to ask him if he wanted something to eat.

He said yes.

I asked him what he wanted, and he told me, “Whatever you want to give me.” I told him, “Nah man, I can get you what you want.”

After he told me what he wanted, I asked if he would like to come inside and get out of the heat while I got his food. He asked if I was sure. I told him, “Absolutely.”

And I asked his name.

His name is Brian.

That matters to me. Brian is not simply “a homeless man.” He is a person with a name, a story, and value.

Brian came inside, sat down, ate the meal I had purchased for him, and eventually left.

Afterward, management told me that I was not allowed to invite people experiencing homelessness into the restaurant to give them food. I explained that I had paid for Brian's meal myself and that I did not understand the issue. I also told them that if caring for someone in that situation was something I could not do, I was not sure I could continue being part of the company.

I was told to wait until HR arrived.

When HR came in, they asked me what happened. I told them exactly what had happened. When I explained that I had invited Brian inside, I was handed a write-up stating that I had violated a safety policy.

I was also told that they had heard I wanted to leave and that, because of labor costs, I should clock out immediately and not return for the remainder of my scheduled shifts that week.

I said goodbye.

At 10:31 a.m. on August 4, 2026, my time working at Chick-fil-A came to an end.

Why I Made a Stand

The situation with Brian was not the only thing weighing on me. There had also been other smaller moments when I felt I was being asked by management to compromise standards I had set for myself.

At some point, I realized that if I was unwilling to make a stand for what I believed while my responsibilities were still relatively limited, it would probably become harder as life went on.

Part of that realization came from listening to customers and hearing their stories. I had conversations with people about work, bills, family, responsibilities, decisions they had made, and circumstances they never expected to stay in. Those conversations stayed with me.

I was also investing in mentorship at the time. I had invested $7,000 to learn from people who had built businesses and careers earning more than $1 million. One message I heard repeatedly was that I was allowing myself to remain stuck within the confines of my Chick-fil-A job instead of fully pursuing what I believed I was being called to build.

I did not take that as meaning there was something wrong with working at Chick-fil-A or with having a regular job. The question for me was whether I was using the security and structure of that job as a reason to keep delaying decisions I already knew I needed to make.

Between those conversations, the stories customers had shared with me, the smaller compromises I felt I was making, and eventually what happened with Brian, I could see a pattern forming. I knew that if I kept telling myself, “Later,” it could become much harder to change direction once I had more responsibilities and more people depending on me.

I began to understand how easily more responsibilities, more financial obligations, and more people depending on me could make it easier to keep telling myself, “Not yet.” I could see how little compromises could slowly become normal, and how much harder it could become to walk away later from something I knew I should have addressed earlier.

I did not want to enter that cycle.

So when the situation with Brian happened, it became more than one disagreement about one meal. For me, it forced a larger question: if I believed something was right, was I actually willing to accept a cost for standing by it?

Leaving my job did cost me. It hurt then, and even as I write this on August 14, 2026, there are still real consequences from that decision.

But the hurt I feel now is nothing compared with what I believe I would have felt if I had stayed and, little by little, compromised the standards I had chosen to hold myself to.

I would rather deal honestly with the cost of a decision I believed I needed to make than look back years later and realize I had slowly become willing to surrender my convictions simply because walking away had become harder.

August 6–7, 2026

The unexpected ending of my time at Chick-fil-A opened the door for me to attend the Global Leadership Summit on August 6 and 7—the same event I had previously asked to have those days off to attend.

While sitting there and listening to leaders speak, something became clear to me:

I needed to go all in on Becoming Faithful.

Building Strong Foundations

So this website is more than a collection of HTML and CSS files. It is part of that decision.

I am learning as I build it. I am making mistakes, asking questions, fixing things, starting over when necessary, and trying to build strong foundations instead of rushing toward something that simply looks finished.

That process reflects what I hope Becoming Faithful itself will always be: a willingness to learn openly, live transparently, love God, love people, accept correction, and continue moving forward one step at a time.