The End of the Tunnel
A piece of my prayer journal from June 16th, 2021
Imagine being in a long, dark tunnel. It’s cold, wet, and has one of those stench smells to match. You’re walking and walking, but you feel trapped. You start to wonder if you’ll ever get out. Even though it’s dark, you get the sense that the walls are closing in. It feels very uncomfortable and your heart rate begins to increase as you start to panic. To say you’re stressed is an understatement. Your body wants to shut down, but that voice within tells you to keep going.
In faith, you plant one foot in front of the other. Often, picking up your foot to place it in front of the other is like picking up a heavy bag of sand. You’re dragging. Barely making it. Barely holding on.
“KEEP GOING,” the voice says.
Suddenly, off in the distance, you see a white pinpoint of light.
HOPE!
Though it’s not much, you’re struck with a new energy. You have a little more motivation and your pace increases. You get closer and closer and the light gets bigger and bigger. Finally, you see the end of the tunnel and you start sprinting, knowing that you’re almost FREE! What a feeling!
This is how I felt on June 16th, 2021. Here’s a piece of my prayer journal from that day.
[Added notes and elaboration are italicized…]
June 16th, 2021 10:16p bedroom
[Praying to my LORD Jesus] Thank you for the scooter sales, the cash flow, and the business you have blessed me with. I’m grateful. I paid $7,500 to the AMEX for the business today. It’s down to $11,000 or so. It used to be up toward $50,000. We have stopped putting any more items on the credit cards for over a year or so. Thank you for that. Help me eliminate all of this business debt. I’m so sorry I ever put us in this position. I look forward to the days my businesses [New Scooters 4 Less, Repaint the Wall (our media company at the time), and our Holdings company that holds the real estate] are debt free too. I know that with you, it’s all possible. I see the light. What seemed like an impossible task definitely seems within reach today.
If you’ve missed previous blogs, today we are consumer DEBT FREE. The only debt we have are the mortgages on our house and on our commercial real estate. Praise the LORD.
Today’s final thoughts…
Don’t Give Up. Whatever the battle is… debt, addiction, etc… don’t give up. Set backs will happen, but keep pushing forward. There is light at the end of the tunnel.
Delay gratification. We live in a day and age where we want everything now. We can Amazon Prime things to our door. You can Door Dash your next meal. In life and in business, we try to use every tool and shortcut we can to get where we want to go faster. Stop focusing on the short game and focus on the long game. I’ve learned to sacrifice in the short term, knowing that I’ll benefit later on down the road.
With this debt, for example, I had to stay disciplined and not allow myself to get sucked back into the behavior of relying on debt. Even today (July 2025), I’ve tried to convince myself that taking on debt to relieve some of the cash flow pressures would be fine, but deep down I know it would be taking another shortcut that could have long term negative impact.
Set reachable targets. What I’ve realized in my life is that I have to set my mind on a target and pursue it diligently, which requires intense focus. The problem for most, myself included, is that we set astronomical goals/targets.
In the case of the debt, my ultimate goal was to pay it ALL off. The ultimate target was already set for us. This often makes it too overwhelming and causes us to give up.
It’s important to break the ultimate target/goal down into bite-size stepping-stone targets to get us there.
This AMEX of mine had $50,000 at one point. Important bite-size targets, for example, were…
Stop using the credit card for cash flow and expenses.
Pay off little chunks over time.
Once the debt is 100% paid off, close the account and never rely on it again.
I’m curious…
Do you use debt in your personal life (or business if you have one)?
Do you perceive debt as good, bad, or are you indifferent?
Where has debt helped you? Where has it hurt you?
For clarity, I’m not judging one way or another. I’m just reflecting on my own journey (Revisit: The Weight of Debt) and I believe I would be further along in my wealth-building journey if I had done things differently and avoided the debt, specifically the consumer debt that drags so many down… car payments, credit card payments, etc.
Whether your tunnel is financial, emotional, or spiritual, keep going. The light is real… and He is faithful.
Collin
Romans 5:3-4 NIV Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope.
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