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I got to thinking that if you were willing to read these blogs, you might want to know who’s writing them.
I could give you all the surface stuff, like my obsession with guitars, Star Wars, and Arby’s. I could let you know that I had lofty dreams as a child; I wanted to be Han Solo, Eddie Van Halen, and, for a short period of time, the guy who got to push the big red button that made the roller coaster go at my local theme park. I could let you know that I have two daughters who are smart, beautiful, funny, compassionate, creative, and destined for greatness (all traits they received from their mother). I could even give you the dark secrets like:
I was team Jacob.
I think there was more than one shooter in the grassy knoll.
A hot dog is a sandwich.
If you like mustard over mayonnaise, you have deep-seated emotional issues.
Keaton was the best Batman.
Everyone picks their nose, but only the brave ones admit it.
I have run out of clean underwear on more than one occasion and had to go “labels out.”
However, these are not the things that you have come here to learn about or discuss. Do you want the real meat and potatoes? Well, here we go…
I’m a grown man (child of the 80s), living in the Midwest as an empty nester with my wife. I spent 33 years in addiction, went to 17 rehabs, traded my beautiful family for a bottle of booze and a sack of dope, stole from my family, pawned my daughter’s American Girl dolls, and ended up living in a two-bedroom Volkswagen.
In very simple terms, I was a full-blown addict.
What happened? What changed? What occurred at that 17th rehab in 2018?
Jesus.
It really was that simple. However, it was certainly not that easy. In the coming weeks and months, I would like to use this blog to tell people about my story, the stories about people I have been fortunate enough to serve, and how this drunk found peace and forgiveness.
If you are reading this, you have some connection to addiction. If you’re reading this, you have been affected by the destruction that is an addict. My only goal is to share some experience, strength, and some hope. So join me on this ride. We can laugh, weep, and maybe even find an answer or two.
What I want most of all is to take the message of recovery to the addict who still suffers and give hope to the families who love them.
I have my own lens, and you have yours, but we are all looking at the same world created by the same God. That God is good, and that God did not create us to be a pack animal; he wants us to lay out our guilt and shame for Him. So let’s do that together.
Remember:
I can affect my day.
I can allow God to mold my tomorrow.
But even Jesus can’t change the past.