This is the story of my life changing experience in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil written Easter Sunday 2006. As I have heard people say, they found God. Well, this is a story of God finding me on the beach in Copacabana. God has given me the understanding He is real and is here for all of us.

This story began on March 17, 2005, well it actually began on March 10, the day I left to fly to Rio, but I did not realize what was occurring until the following week.

The story begins by me leaving for an unplanned trip to Rio with a friend named Hakim Hillard. Hakim is my longtime friend from The Lovett High School, class of 1985. The day I left for Rio was the day that Brian Nichols shot and killed several people at the Fulton County Court house in Atlanta. I was driving past the courthouse at the same time these murders were occurring, March 10th. I found out about the  horrific event once I arrived at the Atlanta airport. The breaking story was on every TV in the airport. I got on my plane to Miami and then to Rio later that night. I did not think about that event again.

I arrived in Rio and my friend Hakim was waiting for me at the airport. I had no concept of what to expect when I arrived; did not even have a hotel reservation. I had no idea why I decided to go to on my first trip to Rio at the last minute, but it became clear later in the week. We spent the next five days just living it up in what I thought was one of the most fun and beautiful places I had even seen. I had been reading the book the “Purpose Driven Life” for some time. The book was given to me by an employee of mine after my Father’s death on July 6, 2004. I had been intrigued by the book but did not begin to understand the true meaning until the events that unfolded starting March 17.

I must also preface this by stating my current situation before I left on the trip. I was in a precarious financial situation at the time I left for Rio. I had purchased $500,000 worth of card operated laundry equipment for a customer in Birmingham, Alabama in December of 2004. I had purchased equipment  with the understanding that the new laundry I was building for a customer was under construction and should be completed by the time the equipment had to be paid for at the end of March. In January the customer changed his plans and put the deal on indefinite hold due to a negotiation with the landlord of the strip center where the laundry was to be built. This equipment was not equipment that I purchase every day and could not be easily resold to any other customer. As a matter of fact, I still have not built a laundry that could have used this equipment in the past 2-3 years. So when I left for this trip, I fully knew that these invoices were coming due at the end of the month. Also, I had been in tough negotiations with my brother, Richard, for him to purchase my third of the business left by my Father. My sister, deAnna, was also given a third. My brother and I were not getting anywhere and it was a very frustrating situation.

I had not been able to see any English speaking television since I left Miami, and the last story I had seen was all about the courthouse murders that occurred on my way out of Atlanta. After I had been in Rio for seven days, I turned on the TV in my hotel room and much to my surprise I found Fox News in

English. The first story I saw was a woman speaking about her abduction by Brian Nichols and her story of how she assisted in him turning himself in to authorities. She referenced the book I was reading, about how she asked him if she could read and he said yes. Brian Nichols asked her what she was reading, and she told him the “Purpose Driven Life”. Nichols asked her to read it to him. She opened her copy and started reading Chapter 33. For those who are not familiar with the book I would be happy to send anyone who reads this and is interested a copy of this book at no charge. I turned up the volume and listened to the story and then turned the TV off as soon as her story was over. At that moment, I received a text message from my Aunt Pat from Texas, she was asking for help for a completely different purpose and she also referenced the same chapter, Chapter 33. It hit me like a ton of bricks, I am reading this book; I wonder what chapter I am on? I said to myself, it is going to be really strange if I am on the same chapter. The book was laying next to my head on my nightstand. I had not touched the book since I left Atlanta. I opened my book to the last chapter I was reading and sure enough it was Chapter 33. I started to read the chapter and it was all about the purpose for us being here: to serve others. The Chapter was unbelievably moving. It was the catalyst for reshaping my life. For those who do not know, you are only supposed to read one chapter a day for forty days. This allows you to soak up what each chapter means and be able to digest the information you have read. That night I went to dinner and had a great night with my friends.

When you first arrive in Rio, the very first thing that you notice is a 300 foot tall statue of Jesus with his arms extended out from his side and his hands facing the sky. I was drawn to it the moment I arrived but had not taken the time out of my day to go up the mountain and see it first hand. This was the last couple of days of my trip, and I knew I had to go see the statue. I kept saying to my friends, “I want to go and see Jesus”, which I now know is called “Cocovado” to the Brazilians. The former name of the statue is the “Pinnacle of Temptation”.

The next morning was Friday morning. My friends and I were sitting at this restaurant on the beach, and I was still saying I want to go see Jesus. I had had enough of the beach and the people that surrounded us. I saw a street vendor go by and he had many necklaces on his arm he was selling. In the middle of the necklaces I found a cross, I have never owned a piece of jewelry in my life and certainly never wore anything around my neck. For whatever reason that day I decided to purchase a cross from this guy. I could not put the cross on myself, so he offered to put it on for me. The cross cost 5 reals, which is about two US dollars. I actually bought two crosses and gave the second one to Hakim. This is the moment when I believe the Holy Spirit entered my body. Within a couple of minutes of me putting the cross on my neck, my cell phone rang. It was my customer in Birmingham, which had put his deal on hold. He was laughing and telling me he just signed his lease, and he was ready to move forward as soon as possible .. It was the best things I could have heard at the time. Within five more minutes my phone rang again, this time it was my brother Richard saying let’s get this deal done, regarding him buying my shares of my Father’s company, Star Distributing, and at that moment we agreed to the terms of the transaction.

The Holy Spirit was growing inside me; it took over my body and began to change everything I knew about life and being spiritual. I have always believed in God but never thought I would have an experience that followed. I had never heard of anyone who had a similar experience. Since you are only supposed to read one chapter at a time, each morning I would awake and before I did anything I would read the next chapter. It was as if I could not wait to go to bed so I could wake up and read one of the last six chapters. It started to dawn on me, “Is this all related to the night before with the Chapter 33 from two different sources? Then the fact I was reading the same chapter made it a third source. And now these two phone calls that changed my life from one of being very uncertain of my future to everything becoming perfectly clear?”

I then told my friends that whether or not they come I am going to see Jesus, I felt there was meaning to what was happening. While I was on the phone with my brother, I was holding a small American football. Brazilians are so unfamiliar with an American football. They look at it like it is from outer

space. This little 8 or so year old boy ran by and took the football out of my hand and was running away. thought, “Oh well he wants to ball I am not going to chase him for it”. He stopped about 30 feet away and turned and threw me the ball end over end. For the next hour, I played catch with him and about 8 other kids ranging in ages 4 to 10 years old. Most of these kids were there with their parents close by; the kids were being used by their parents to ask Americans for money. Most people in Brazil are so poor they do not have enough money to eat. None of these kids ever asked me for a penny. They and their parents seemed very pleased that an American would take the time to play football with these under privileged children. These kids ran and played with me until they could barely stand up anymore. When they were tired, the original boy who took the ball from me brought it back and said no more. I asked Hakim, whose ball it was if the boy could have the ball and of course Hakim said “Yes”. The boy was delighted.

After the boy took the ball and left, I said let’s go see Jesus; there is something happening here and it will not be complete until we go to the top of Cocovado. They both obliged, and we left to head up to the top of the mountain. It started raining so bad we could not see ten feet in front of us. The cab driver told us it was very unsafe and plus we could not see anything if we did go to the top of the mountain. So we agreed to wait and go the following morning. I received the contract from my brother and read the entire thing on my palm phone. After and hour or so of reading the contract, we headed off to the best restaurant in Rio and had a fabulous dinner.

The next morning when I woke up I called my two friends and said I am leaving to go see Jesus, never taking the cross off my neck. One of the two friends, Ernie wanted to go with me, but Hakim could not make the trip. I went packing two different cameras because I wanted to make sure I got some great pictures of the statue. We hired a car and left the Hotel Americana. Once we arrived I had one camera in my pocket, and the other one was missing. I searched everywhere for the second camera because I knew I had it when I left the hotel. We climbed to the top of the stairs, and I went all the way to the top platform. I took about two pictures and then wanted someone to take my picture with the statue. When the person I asked snapped the picture of me in front of Jesus, the camera went dead. I could not get the camera back on and was very disappointed. I really wanted that shot. I went all the way back down to the cab and lifted the seat up and looked incessantly for the second camera. It was no where to be found. I even asked our driver if he had seen it and he said, “No”. I went back to the statue and found Ernie and asked him to go back to the top of the platform to take a picture of me and Jesus with his camera. Ernie followed me as I ran to the top of the tall flight of steps again, but when I got to the top Ernie was no where to be found. So I went back down and asked Ernie what happened. He said he got to the very last step and was pushed down. He could not make the last step, he could not explain why. So we decided to leave without me getting the picture I had dreamed of having with Jesus. My interpretation of this event is Jesus did not think I was worthy of being in a picture with his likeness. I knew one day I would come back and get the picture.

The entire way back to the Hotel, we could not stop talking about the experience of being that close to the statue. It filled us both with energy, but it was obvious by this time that something spiritually amazing was occurring. Anyone who was near me could see/feel this energy exuding from my body. Once we arrived at the hotel, I was exiting the cab out of the right door and Ernie was exiting the opposite side. For some

reason I decided to close my door and exit the same side as Ernie. When I did, I saw his glasses sitting on the seat and I grabbed them and gave them to Ernie. This made his day because he said he would not have been able to see for the rest of the trip. Once I returned his glasses and was out of the cab he told me to check one more time underneath the seat for my camera. I told him I already had but he insisted. I stuck my hand between the seats and sure enough the camera was there next to a coin, which I still have in my wallet today. I could not believe the Holy Spirit was becoming so strong it was unmistakable. I lay on the sidewalk, and Ernie took my picture with my arms extended like Jesus’ statue. We went back into our hotel and told Hakim about the experience. We ventured out for our last night on the town and it was a night to remember forever.

The next day was my day of departure from Rio. The experience had been unbelievable, unless you experienced it yourself or were around to witness it first hand. This day Hakim was wearing the cross I had bought for him. My flight was not until late in the evening, and we spent the day talking and reliving the last couple of days. When I was getting in the car to be taken to the airport, Ernie said to me,

“Michael, you think all this is over, but I can tell you it is not, it is just beginning. This experience will continue and follow you all the way home”. I did not have any idea why God had chosen me to give this story, but I quickly found out part of the reason. As soon as I arrived at the airport there was an American guy and his Brazilian bride to be in line at the airport. This is when I decided to call my Mom and let her know I was in Brazil. I had not told anyone I was going to Brazil, so they would not worry. Since I was safely in the airport, I made the call to my Mother. The guy and his bride engaged me in conversation asking why I was beaming. I immediately launched into the story and told them everything. Once through security, those two people were on the same flight to Miami. I gave the guy my book and told him it was part of a process which changed my life. I asked him if he would like to read it, and he agreed and I gave him my copy, even though I was still not finished. I told him to read only the first chapter and return it. As I boarded the plane, the security pulled me off to the side. I thought for a routine security check. Turned out they asked me what I was on, once I realized they were serious, I laughed and said excuse me? They asked again, and I responded “Oh, the Holy Spirit had entered my body and I am high on

Jesus”. This must happen more than you would expect because then they laughed and said get on the plane. I dozed off on the plane and when I awoke the book lay on my lap.

I arrived in Miami the next morning and was the only person in the entire terminal due to it being 4:00 AM … I sat by myself reading the next chapter. After an hour or so I saw a television across the way, showing the same woman I had seen on TV in Rio. They were talking about reading Chapter 33 to Nichols, and Nichols turning himself into authorities that same day. I quickly gathered my bags and moved to the TV area, sitting next to this guy named T.P. Hearns. He had just finished doing his comedy act in Miami and was waiting to fly home. He and I watched the story; he was completely unfamiliar with the shooting and the book. After the news program, we started talking and were the only two people in the vicinity. I began to tell him my experience in Rio, and he sat and listened quietly. Turned out, he had almost died a few years back, and his life had made a 180 degree turn. He understood exactly what I was talking about. God has touched his life. At the end of me telling him my experience, I asked him if he had read the “Purpose Driven Life”. He answered “No”. I asked him if he would watch my bags, and him being a comedian responded, “I hear a bomb ticking in that bag, no way”. So I gave him my copy of the Purpose Driven Life and told him to read the first Chapter. He responded, “can I also read Chapter 33.” I told him of course since it related to our conversation. I went walking with my ( 3 ) three bags lugging them to the first book store, which was not open. Someone arrived, and I asked if I could buy a copy of the book. They said sorry sold out. They did tell me where the next book store was, so I trotted off, leaving security carrying all my bags. The second store was completely sold out. They told me where the last book store was, and it was a very long walk. I finally got there, and they said you are in luck, “we have one copy left”, which I purchased and started back to the gate. When I got to the gate, T.P. said, this is a very interesting book. I need to get a copy of it.” I handed him the copy I had just purchased. He had me sign the front of it, and he asked for my number to be added. I gave it to him and have heard from him several times while he was reading his book. He would call and check in on me. He gave me a signed copy of his picture and wrote on the picture, “Michael, I think you are finding your Purpose”. By the end of our conversation there must have been 20 people surrounding us simply listening to the story in amazement. Finally our flights were ready to leave and we departed separately.

I got back to Atlanta, and my first stop was to visit my niece Christina Davis. She had just had surgery for her back and was to be in bed with a body cast for a couple months. While I was driving I wished I had purchased another cross necklace for her. The cross had brought me so much clarity and so much closer to God. I never thought I could part with ii. It was on my neck from the moment I bought it until this point. While I was arriving I had decided to give her the cross. As much as I did not want to part with it, I knew she needed it more than I. She loves soccer, and I brought her an official Brazilian soccer jersey and shorts to match. After I gave her the uniform, I asked her if she had a cross. She told me she had one, but it was not with her at the time. I showed her mine and asked her if she would wear it until she got better. She gladly accepted, and I took it off and gave it to her. It was literally one of the hardest things I ever had to do. This all happened to occur on my birthday. I felt naked without my cross around my neck. Later I was given a cross by my Mother which I wear every day.

I left for Nashville to get ready for the work week. I woke up the next morning to my cell phone ringing next to my head. It was a customer named Raj Grewal, who I had never heard of or spoke to before. I was groggy but understood he wanted to meet me at my office in one hour, I obliged. He came in shortly after I arrived. Within an hour, we had signed two new stores for several hundred thousand dollars worth of new unexpected business. I could not believe it; business does not work that fast or that easy. My office could tell something had happened to me. I was different and still beaming with this unexplainable energy emanating from my Aura. Later in that day a person off the street came into my office. We normally would turn away anyone begging for money, but I could tell this person was sent to me. I had just laid my hand on this envelope but did not open it. The guy off the street, his name was John, said, “I am not homeless. I have a job starting on Monday, but my wife and I desperately need your help”. I knew before he said a word that he was sent to me for me to help. He told me his wife was in a bad way, and they needed $20.00 to get through the week to eat and simply get by. He pulled out his I.D. and a business card for the guy he was to start working for the next week. I told him to put those things away before I ever looked at them. He said he did not want a hand out but wanted to work and earn the $20.00. I took him into my warehouse, where by chance my service technicians were working that day. asked Mickey, who works with my company to let John work with us for the day, and Mickey without question said O.K. .. I slipped Mickey a $100.00 bill and told him to give it to John at the end of the day. Mickey said the guy worked harder than anyone we had working for us and was only expecting

$20.00 for his efforts. When Mickey gave him the $100.00 bill, John almost broke down in tears. Turned out the envelope I had picked up was a Thank You letter from a widow in Wisconsin. Her husband had died unexpectedly at our manufacturing facility; we did not know him or his family. We had sent them money to help the family get by during such a rough time. This was done before I left for Rio. The widow was very appreciative and wrote us a hand written Thank You I opened the next day.

Soon after these events I went to the bookstore in Nashville and bought every copy of the “Purpose Driven Life”. I started distributing the book to anyone I came in contact with that I thought would read and understand the meaning. I would tell them a little about my story and present them with a book and ask them to read it one chapter a day. I went back two or three times and bought all the copies I could find. I must have distributed 40 to 50 copies of the book, both to people I knew and people I had never met before.

After this things slowed down, but I know the Holy Spirit has been with me ever since. I have since tried to understand why God choose me to give this enlightenment. I know 3 reasons: first, he wants me to share this story with as many people as will listen and that I can reach. I have since shared this story probably 1,000 times so far and that is just the beginning. Second, God was trying to help me become a better person. I know for a fact that it has worked. Third, and most importantly, he has shown his purpose to me: I am supposed to assist and work with underprivileged children. I pray and ask him over and over to show me how I can do more to help the underprivileged kids of the world. I am trying and have done many small gestures towards this purpose. My gestures are growing in magnitude as I can afford or am given more ideas of how to use the gift God has given me. I know in the future that I will be given the opportunity to assist in some BIG way but still not sure how that will occur.

I know by no means am I perfect, but I do know right and wrong better than I ever did before. The only perfect person ever put on this Earth was the divine entity Jesus Christ. I will continue to spread the Word that God is absolutely divine and real; He does real things in our life on a daily basis to continue to prove this to me and should be for everyone to enjoy. I fall back and forget sometimes what God means to me, but luckily I am reminded over and over again that He gives all sinners a chance to ask for forgiveness. And, if we have faith, He will grant us this forgiveness. No one in this world is perfect, but we can all try to be better people in the eyes of God and ourselves. I see so many examples of people being mean to each other for seemingly no reason. I cannot understand why this occurs but wish everyone would take a step back and treat everyone like you would want someone to treat your own Mother and any member of your family.

In the past 3 years, I have been fortunate enough to travel extensively. I have spread my story in Atlanta, Nashville, London, Amsterdam, Hawaii, Spain, Italy, France, Vail, Arizona, Texas, New York, Las Vegas, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Banff Canada and of course Rio a second and third time. I remember starting to tell part of this story in the back bowls of Vail to one person, by the time we had stopped, there must have been 15 people all listening to this story so intently I could not believe the interest. I did not even know most of them. The story attracted such a large crowd on the mountainside of a black ski run; ski patrol came over to see who was injured, once he found out no one was injured he stayed and listened.

I knew when I was in Rio the first time that I needed to be back for Christmas. I went with two friends, Jack Morgan and Bert Lobe for the second trip for Christmas of 2005. It was another very moving experience. I was able to go to the Jesus statue on Christmas Day, and we were the only people

there. The weather was terrible, it was pouring rain but we made the pilgrimage anyway. When we were sitting below the statue three birds came flying by, basically God’s way of showing us he appreciated us and he was Thankful we came to visit on Christmas Day. I went back a couple of days later when the weather was absolutely perfect. I also now have a full collection of pictures I have taken over the past 3 trips. All of these photos are currently available to view on my personal website

www.worldtourphotos.com. When I was there I was shown a chapel at the base of the statue, at that moment I knew if I was ever married I wanted to be married in that Chapel.

Several events have transpired since this awakening in 2005. I have experienced reminders of how God works in my life and our world everyday. For example, I was on a bike ride through Percy Warner Park in Nashville, and I decided to stop for a minute to take in the beauty of my surroundings. I put my foot up on a wall and right next to my foot was this cross on a medallion. I looked around to see if someone had dropped it, since no one was within sight, I decided the medallion had been left for me. On the back side of this medallion is scripture from proverbs 3:6, “In all the ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct they paths”. I am familiar with this passage and knew this was something I needed to keep with me at all times. I put the medallion on my key chain and moved on. A couple of months later, I went to my good friends Willie and Pattie Beck’s wedding in Banff Canada. At the ceremony Reverend Jerry De Vries, the master of ceremonies, mentioned this passage 3:6 twice during the ceremony. He mentioned it at the very beginning and the very end of the ceremony and it really hit home. During the reception I approached Reverend De Vries at dinner and told him about my Brazil experience in a quick synopsis and told him about me finding the medallion in the park. He pulled out a small piece of plastic out of his pocket and a cross of his own. He told me to go somewhere quiet and read this short reminder called the “Cross in my Pocket”. It is a short reminder that he kept in his pocket along with his cross that he received as a gift. The Cross in my Pocket says that “I keep this cross in my pocket as a simple reminder to me that I am in fact a Christian. No matter where I be whenever I pull out a coin or a key it is a simple reminder to no one but me that I am a Christian it is not for all the world to see. So, I carry a cross in my pocket reminding no one but me that Jesus Christ is Lord of my life if only I let him be”. I paraphrased the short story but if you want the entire version let me know and I will provide it to you. After I read this I brought the cross and the piece of plastic that contained this saying back to Reverend DeVries and told him Thank You for sharing. He gave me the Cross in my Pocket story but of course not his cross. Fortunately, I have my own cross to carry every day.

Life is too short for people to stress over the day-to-day troubles of the world. The world has many big problems on a magnificent scale, but if you have faith and understand God is the answer to all of your problems life can become very simple. I felt all the stress leave my body on March 17, 2005, and it has not returned. Even though I have had some very tough days whenever I look out of my own little box, my problems seem to be very insignificant. Take this story and do what you wish but every word is true and nothing can change Truth. I have told this story so many times but never recounted in the detail that I have in this letter. There is nothing like life after an experience such as this, definitely Life Changing and never to be forgotten. I know I am one of the lucky few that have been able to experience God like I have, but God wants everyone to know that God is for real and is here for you, me and all of us. I would recommend anyone who has the resources to get to Brazil to visit this statue. I cannot guarantee you will have the same experience, but I can guarantee you will never forget the Journey. I also know you do not have to be in Brazil to experience God, He is everywhere and his influence touches everything you see, feel and experience.

The last update is today July 30, 2007, the Holy Spirit’s presence is strong again, and I am on my last days of a two week trip through Russia. To see all the religious representation, even through all the difficulty the Russian people have been through over the years, is unbelievable. It took 1,000 years after Jesus was born for Christianity to reach Russia. Then many Czars under communism tried to expel Christianity from the country, but the religion was able to survive.

As you can see in this letter I am not only a believer; I know God is real. Since this experience, I have asked God to come into every aspect of my life, personal and business. I want him to use me as a tool to further his word and help the kids. All can be saved, you must pray to God and ask him to save you and be with you.

I would be glad to discuss this with anyone who reads and wants to know or hear more. I hope this letter is spread all around the world. My name is D. Michael Davis and my U.S. telephone# is 404-547-0909 and email is dmd@wolrdtourphotos.com.

I have received the greatest gift ever, God’s Grace

Peace and Love Forever,

DMD

D. Michael Davis