Imagine this for a moment: you have a knack for taking fledgling companies to the stratosphere. You’re so good that you begin developing your own companies, and your successes multiply. Soon you begin surrounding yourself with things like scads of beautiful women, yachts, airplanes, waterfront homes, sports cars and all the while you are the subject of local, state and national attention. Surely, these are all dependable signs that one has arrived.

From the late 1960’s through the mid 70’s, Al Enderle added another title to his ever-growing marquee: Professional Adventurer. In his day, he was up there with Richard Haliburton and John Goddard. One quote from a major daily newspaper said this about our friend Al, “Enderle’s trips to Micronesia are loaded with adventure—the kind that most men dream about but never fulfill.” Another trumpeted him as, “A legend in his own time, Al Enderle is back again, but this time with an impossible flying machine.”

Living a dream is what he once called it, but down deep Al Enderle always knew his escapades were just that. Although he put on a good show, he knew there was a great deal more to life than what he was experiencing.

Let’s turn back the clock. After graduating from the Naval Academy in 1952, he was assigned to March AFB in Riverside, California. A year later, he was married, and a year after that his first son was born. But just 35 days after the birth of their child, his wife died of spinal meningitis. He converted his regular naval commission to a reserve arrangement.

He quickly found himself managing the family’s orange groves in Southern California and in 1956 married a woman who had been the Maid of Honor at his first wedding. He got into real estate and a year later founded the Enderle Equipment Company, the largest wholesaler of used farm equipment in the area. In 1963 his reputation as an astute businessman landed him the title of “Outstanding Young Man of Santa Ana” and a year later he was named as one of “America’s Top-10 Outstanding Young Men.”

Al founded an electronic manufacturing company that grew to one of the largest in the nation and then began acquiring apartment and industrial complexes, vacant land, two waterfront homes and a desert home, all in Southern California. Everything seemed so perfect, until Al’s 2nd marriage, one that produced two more sons, ended.

A year later it was back to the altar. This one last only 6 months and with that explosion came the end of his business empire. Al Enderle had now failed at marriage and at business.

He began flirting with the thought of becoming a professional adventurer. There was only one problem; he met a woman by the name of Geri. Eighteen months into that courtship, Enderle felt the urge to try it one more time so they were married in 1971. But Geri was different… she was a “born again” Christian. She was a teacher, drove an old VW bug, loved to dance, play tennis, and cook. She found happiness in the most basic of needs when Enderle never found contentment with anything; not his sports cars, his businesses, nor his airplane or homes. Geri’s lifestyle worked, Enderle’s didn’t!

Six years into their marital bliss, on Al’s 49th birthday, an old neighbor of Geri’s invited them to a church play. Al tried everything he could to get out of going. He was never much into church because of some negative experiences with priests and pastors, but during the intermission, a pastor issued an altar call. Enderle thought altar calls were like a modern version of a western medicine man who tried to sell snake oil to dumb cowboys.

But on that night, Enderle heard a silent voice say, “You’ve tried everything else, why don’t you try me?” He rose, went forward and invited Christ into his life. His wife was ecstatic; his oldest son thought he had lost his mind. When he awoke the next day, Enderle recalls that he lost 25% of his vocabulary! The words were suddenly gone from his mind.

A close friend prompted him to study the claims of Jesus with the same intensity that he once studied engineering and missile theory. He took that to heart, and for years Al poured himself into the Bible and studied commentary after commentary. After his exhaustive research came to an end, he concluded that the evidence supporting Christianity was overwhelming.

Al Enderle’s life was finally on track. That is, until 1983 when he and Geri were guests on a Love Boat cruise. By the time they returned to California, Geri was very sick, and doctors found she was suffering from pancreatic cancer. Less than a year later, Geri went to be with Jesus.

Wife #4 came along 33 days after Geri passed away, and now 25 years later, Enderle has contracted cancer as has his current wife Gloriah. He still chuckles at his exploits as a wanderlust, scuba diver, hang glider enthusiast, and motorcyclist. He enjoys telling stories about his days hiking, lecturing, and his rooms full of trophies and social awards. But what really causes Al Enderle to beam is when the subject turns to Jesus. He will rattle off an endless list of Bible verses and then encourages anyone within listening range to explore the other side of the mountain to see if there just might be a better place, a better life, and a dependable God.

Today, Al Enderle loves the company of other Christian men and says that everyone he has known to believe in Jesus Christ would give up everything they had accumulated and accomplished rather than give up on Christ. Imagine that!!!

You can contact Al Enderle at tenderly@ca.rr.com or tenderly@juno.com.