We missed an opportunity. Some years ago, we could have wandered into an East Texas bookstore and encountered a youthful Tim Hawkins, hawking CCM music CD’s. Maybe we could have even struck up a conversation with him like this one he vividly recalls:

“I worked in the music department, and I’d get some interesting questions like, ‘Yeah I’m looking for a song about Jesus? I heard it on the radio. It’s about Jesus.’

I mean, okay, but you’re going to have to give me a little more detail on that.

‘It’s the most beautiful song I’ve ever heard.’

Oh that song. Right over here.”

Tim details the journey God led him on from the bookstore to the comedy stage. It’s a journey that’s provided plenty of fodder for his new book, .

“I had tried everything else, and this is kind of something people always said – you know, you could make people laugh.

There’s no real manual for it. You’ve just got to go out and figure it out. You just have to hang out with people that know what they’re doing. You fail a lot, and then all of a sudden you get your own voice and you feel more comfortable.

Like now – I used to write things I thought were funny. Now I just say what I really think, and it works really well.

It wasn’t really a tough decision. I mean, I was working in a Christian bookstore when I decided I probably wanted to pursue this, and it’s not really that hard leaving eight grand a year to be honest. Let’s say it was six figure income – but there was a decimal point there.”

Tim says that – though many of his paths early in life may have seemed like detours – God used each of them to help him grow & build an appreciation for the chance to do what he was made to do.

“Any experience is good experience, and that’s what you draw from. I’m very grateful for being able to do this. I never lose that.

I’ve had so many jobs where I wasn’t needed.  If I didn’t show up to work one day it was almost a good thing, like I wasn’t there to mess anything up. I mean, especially as a dude that’s a lot of your pride and your identity that comes from your work, and I couldn’t find any work that I was really any good at. I finally found something where I know what I’m doing.

I’m only good at like three things – this is one, radio interviews; comedy; and then I make a really good sandwich.

Highlight: The path

From CD sales to the comedy stage with Tim Hawkins