Marietta, GA
130 S. Park Square
Marietta, GA 30060
(770) 421-2495
Owner: Don and Susan Davis
This photo is actually from our wedding… SURPRISE, middle-age newlyweds. That’s certainly not the way I had planned it! But, in June of 05, after 25 years of marriage and 4 children, my wife lost her battle with cancer. After a few months, I left my job for what I felt then was “greener pastures,” but in hindsight, I was settling into the grieving process. The loss is indescribable. Only those who have lost a close family member can relate, and unfortunately the “club” is not a small one. Of necessity, not choice, I had to reinvent myself. What would the next stage of my life look like? At times, the darkness was overwhelming.
In the New Testament, the Bible says that God has the hairs on our head numbered. No detail goes unnoticed by Him. He cares for us that much. But, was this problem too big for Him? Would my hero (Hero) come through in my hour of greatest need? Believers throughout the ages have known the answer. He cares and He has a plan for us… seldom what we would pick if we could control our future, but with His orchestrations, His ways are BETTER because we gain Him, and that is what He is after.
His first answer came in this incredible lady, Sweet Susan, who had lost her husband from a brain tumor several years ago. Words can’t describe how grateful I am for the gift of her. Besides being a talented musician, singer, and writer, she inspires me with her walk with God. We took a weekend vacation in Savannah, Georgia, and happened into a Go Fish store. By then, we had shopped for over an hour, and I was rapidly tiring of the endless number of vacation stores whose only purpose seemed to be to separate the vacation shopper from their money. The first thing I noticed in the Go Fish store was the unique products…. and surprisingly, they were being sold at a fair price, although by this point, I was in a “shopping stupor” and my expectations were pretty low. But the next thing I noticed was the Christian praise music playing in background. With my business background in strategy and marketing, I knew that something was going on here and I had to find out what it was.
Meeting an unmet need in the market is how you succeed in business, secularly speaking, but Go Fish promotes more than just quality products, altruism, and the latest “cause marketing” concepts. As I continued my discovery, I learned that promoting the “Character of Christ” is one of its stated missions, and not just to those we help in developing countries, but in all of our dealings and relationships. I was further encouraged as I met Curt Coleman, our founder, and his staff and heard his heart for the less fortunate and his hunger for God.
Eighteen months had gone by without a job. Twice it looked like a job was near at hand only to fall through mysteriously. Although at times I felt desperate and was tempted to take the first job that came along, in the bottom of my recovering heart, I knew that I could not settle for meaninglessness. Once we made contact with Go Fish offices in Brunswick, like pieces of a puzzle fitting into place, God’s solution emerged. As we begin the first Go Fish store in the Atlanta area, I am so grateful to God for providing Go Fish with its meaningful mission of reaching others for Christ.
