Our Why

Back in 2011, my wife Angela and I were newlyweds; we had just bought our first house, we had a new business, and we had just welcomed our first child. Life was good!

And then it wasn’t.

In 2012, our situation changed `dramatically. Just two weeks before the birth of our second child, I suffered a major herniation of my L5 vertebra, which left me unable to work for the next year. We had a mortgage to pay, a fledgling business still in its infancy, a one-year-old at home, and another on the way. That year would start a decade-long season of struggle that tested us in ways we could never have imagined. Over the next ten years, we would be thrown in the fire and battle-tested more times than I can count. As I reflect on that chapter of our lives, I realize now that those experiences, difficult as they were, provided me with a perspective and empathy for others that ultimately laid the foundation for what 12:31 is today.

• We understand the immense stress that comes from not being able to pay your mortgage, as well as the overwhelming fear and anxiety that comes with the threat of losing your home.

• We know what it’s like to come home to no power and no heat because you couldn’t pay the bill that month.

• We know the heartbreak and disappointment that comes from not being able to take your kids back to school shopping or from having to tell them they can’t play sports this year.

• We know what it’s like to wake up and find out they repossessed your car in the middle of the night.

• We know how embarrassing and degrading it is to stand in line at the food bank or to have to pay for your groceries with an EBT card.

• And we know how embarrassing it is to have to cash in your change at the grocery store just to be able to buy groceries that week.

Our passion for serving others was forged in the fire of our own struggles. Because of this, I can sit across the table from a client, look them in the eye, and honestly and sincerely tell them, “I get it. We’ve been there.”