My life was completely different 5 months ago.

Normally when something starts out like that, you expect me to say something like "I was a drug addict" or "I was sleeping around with my best friend’s wife" or something crazy like that. But in my case, that's not the instance.

My life 5 months ago was "Christian." I had been in a Christian band, and we were about to start planning our first tour. I was in a very serious relationship with a Christian girlfriend.   I had applied for a promising graphic design internship with TOMS Shoes. My life from the world’s eyes was a very "Christian" and promising one.

Then in a matter of weeks, everything crashed down. The band broke up. The girlfriend and I broke up. The internship chose someone else, and I was left feeling hopeless and abandoned.

I didn't understand why God would take out 3 "Christian" things in my life. I had never seriously doubted God's will before, but with everything crashing down, I really didn't see the plan. So I prayed that God would show me what He was doing.

It was then that God practically haunted me with the idea for Olive Tree Clothing. I couldn't get it out of my head. I honestly didn't even really know what it meant. I just kept thinking - Olive Tree Clothing. And I stayed up all night (6pm-6am) playing around with the idea. In one night, I designed 3 shirts and built the online store, and I woke up the next afternoon asking myself "what did I just do??"

Yet still, I knew that this was something bigger than me, and that I should act on it. I had nothing to lose at this point. No money to spend on a girlfriend. No time consumed by a band. No design time spent on an internship. The only thing that God allowed time for was this idea.

So I did what any responsible college student would do – took $450 dollars out of my college financial aid money and ordered 50 shirts. I figured it would take me months to sell 50 shirts from a random clothing company nobody had ever heard of. But I went to my first conference on April 19th, and sold out of every shirt in less than 24 hours.

This was when I knew without a shadow of a doubt that God DID have a plan, and that the only way for me to see it was to get the other "Christian" distractions out of the way. Yes, the life I was living was good, but the life God has had planned out for me is great.

So here I am 5 months later, with 17 different shirts, hoodies, bags, hats, stickers, buttons, and most importantly, a mission. I now know why God gave me the name Olive Tree Clothing.

In the story of Noah's Ark, a dove flies down with an olive branch in its mouth. This branch served as a symbol to Noah that there was new hope, new peace, and new life down on earth. These shirts are the exact same symbol. And these designs are intended to represent a greater Hope, found between Faith and Love in Christ. So when people see us wearing these shirts, we become the olive branches, and we together make up this Olive Tree. In other words, He is the vine, and we are the branches.

You see, God built us the way we are for a reason. We did not come out of a slot machine with random talents and abilities. We are designed with the passions we have because God knows that through His power, our passions can turn into actions. Our actions can turn into worship, and our worship can turn into ministry.

God built me with a passion for graphic design. The designs, through His power, turned into inspirational clothing. The clothing does nothing but reflect the majesty of God as an act of worship, and the outcome is Olive Tree Clothing - an affective ministry not because I created it. Not because the designs are trendy, but because I quit putting hope in my own talents and abilities, and began to put hope in Christ.

My heart is not that Olive Tree Clothing gets big, but that God's love is spread.

I want non-Christians to hear this story and see that even Christians tend to put their hope in themselves sometimes, but that hope in anything other than Christ will ultimately fail.

I hope that Christians hear this story and finally grasp that the same power that conquered the grave lives inside of them! That's the same power that rose Jesus from the dead, Lazarus from the dead, parted the red sea, turned water into wine, and took Elijah up to heaven in a chariot of fire! It's a big deal! And if that same power lives inside of us, then I know that the same power can change someone's heart through music. I know that the same power can hold a family together because of a film. I know that teenagers can break their addiction to porn due to a website. And I even know that that same power can lead someone to Christ through a t-shirt.

-Caleb Harris, October 2009