As an active philanthropist, this was probably the easiest decision I’ve ever made. Started my own company in 1991, and we sold it in 2011. Didn’t really know what to do, but I did know I was ready to get out of the home building business.
We sold our company a few months after that. I found out I had melanoma. The melanoma had started on my tricep, and it had to be removed surgically. And then it spread, you know, a couple of years later to my liver and lungs actually, and so that was the scariest time of my life. I was raised a Christian, but I never really had that personal relationship with Christ that I heard people talk about. I’ve got 90 days to get another scan, and I’m not sure what’s going to happen. And I prayed more than I’ve ever prayed in my life. I felt like someone was answering me.
I did have a relationship with Christ, and I didn’t feel like he was my friend. And he was in my corner. And then, you know, the three-month thing came, and I took the next scan, and it was shrinking quickly. The good news is that we really caught it early. Whenever God puts a burden on you, it usually leads to some kind of a blessing, and that was my experience with cancer. It starts off as a terrible burden and a worry. And then with God’s grace, I got through that, but then it became an incredible blessing.
I had so much more gratitude for being able to get up every morning and not have to worry. You feel once someone might take that away from you and then you get it back, the gratitude that you feel. Just makes you happier. Yeah, it was just a few weeks ago. We were sitting in this conference room with our philanthropic advisors having a conversation about what are the areas that we should focus on, where we would have the biggest impact.
If we could make one change to America and we can influence that, what would that most important thing be? And so we went around the table, and it came to me, there was no question what that one thing was, and it was really to make America more Christian and to grow the Christian faith in America. Really, that helps more people, that gives people more hope, that keeps people as good citizens, that gives people the relationship with Christ. It was life-changing for me. It’s nothing but positive, the idea of supporting a museum that would celebrate the Bible for the next 200 years in America. There’s nothing that America needs more.
So, it’s an opportunity, I think, to support the Museum of the Bible, and I wanted to do it in a big way. There’s a big way, as I could, which I think is significant for the museum, and I encourage other people to do that as well.