Metro Voice News Celebrating Faith, Family & Community
Tom Selleck was one of the most recognizable celebrities of the 1970s when he starred on television as “Magnum P.I.” He now recognizes that God was with him all along the way.
In his younger years, he was working on a degree in business and had plans for a management-training program with United Airlines when he decided to get serious about an acting career After graduating from college, Twentieth Century Fox offered him an acting contract, but God wasn’t calling him to acting then. He decided to listen to God’s call to go into the army.
During the Vietnam War, Selleck was issued draft orders. He joined the California National Guard in the 160th infantry regiment and served from 1967 to 1973. He later appeared on California National Guard recruiting posters. The military left a strong impression on Selleck, and he looks back on his service with pride:
“I am a veteran, I’m proud of it,” the actor told Beliefnet. “I was a sergeant in the U.S. Army infantry, National Guard, Vietnam era. We’re all brothers and sisters in that sense.”
Watch Tom Selleck on Dave Letterman:
After the army, he came back to acting. It was his role as Thomas Magnum that changed his life forever. Even after getting this acting role, he continued to listen to God.
“As good as this business has been to me, that’s not what life is about,” he said. “Life is about more important things. You know, we’ve all struggled as we get successful in this business to balance that, I certainly have.”
He credits all his success in life to Jesus Christ, whom he claims as his Lord and Savior.
Selleck says he always tried to conduct himself in an ethical way, and that is what matters most. He attributes his fortune to Jesus Christ. Although it is an individual’s heart that makes plans for a lifetime, it is God who guides him through them, he said.
“A man’s heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps,” Selleck said. “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.”
–Alan Goforth | Metro Voice
