Participants: Cheri Peters (Host), Aaron, Gwen and Vonzell Chancy
Series Code: CLR
Program Code: CLR00075B
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00:14 Welcome back, I want to introduce you to Aaron Chancy.
00:17 Aaron you heard your parents talk about the different 00:21 things they were going through as they fell in love, 00:24 as they got married, joining the service and moving 00:27 around, what was that like for you as a kid and 00:30 when did you jump into drugs, drinking, and partying 00:37 and all that stuff? 00:38 Okay let me first start by saying, there is a story in 00:41 the Bible in Luke chapter 15, there are three stories. 00:44 There are two different parables in the story. 00:46 One is lost coin, you have the lost coin and the lost 00:49 sheep and you have the prodigal son. 00:51 Myself, my story represents the prodigal son. 00:55 I grew up in Adventist home but ended up leaving. 00:58 The lost coin, the interesting thing is the coin was lost 01:02 but didn't know it was lost. 01:04 The sheep was lost, but didn't know how to find its way back. 01:07 In my instance I grew up like the prodigal son in the 01:11 home, but ended up leaving. 01:13 Events that took place that brought me to leaving home, 01:17 you heard my parents say they were in the military. 01:21 This moved us around a number of amount of times. 01:24 We lived in Germany a couple years, we lived in Hawaii 01:26 a couple years, now to the average person this is fun. 01:30 This is a good time, you know. 01:33 I enjoyed myself, I did enjoy myself. 01:35 - but you could never have any friends and connect? 01:37 You connect to them for a short amount of time, 01:40 but then you are gone and you never see them again. 01:42 I often find myself today thinking I wonder what this 01:46 friend is up to, and I left 20 years ago. 01:49 What it did was it left me with, who am I? 01:54 Because I've gone to all these different places and meeting 01:57 all these different people, I don't actually identify 01:58 with anybody, I don't identify with the rich, I don't 02:01 identify with the poor, I don't identify with Black, 02:04 White, because I have been around all different types of 02:06 nationalities, who exactly, yeah everybody, everybody. 02:10 So it left me with an identity crisis or whatnot. 02:14 But when I was about the age of 13 or so, 13, 14, when 02:18 I started getting curious to a life outside of the church. 02:23 What kind of lifestyle is going on outside of the church. 02:26 I grew up pretty much in a home that kept the Sabbath and 02:30 had worship together and things of that nature. 02:34 I started looking other ways, at about 15 years I 02:39 started getting curious, how is it that certain people 02:44 are getting money, getting rich quick? 02:47 While I am stuck with a family that is working and things 02:52 of that nature, but we never seem to have any money. 02:54 Never seem to have any fun or whatnot. 02:57 I would go to friends houses and they would be 15 or 16 02:59 years old and they would have cars with rims on it. 03:03 All the little shiny fine nice things that we see. 03:07 - I want all that. - we do want all that. 03:08 But quick money, but fast life. 03:10 So about 15 years old is when I finally ventured out. 03:15 Through with the religion, through with all that, 03:20 through with God basically. 03:21 - so let me just ask you, with your family, did they 03:23 feel or sense you moving out? 03:26 I think they probably did, they would hear me talk about 03:29 how I wanted to play sports, but the problem with the 03:33 sports was games being on Friday nights or whatnot. 03:36 Our games on the Sabbath and I would have to be church. 03:39 It became a burden to me, I can't do anything, I can't 03:42 go anywhere, so all of this began to be a burden. 03:45 So I just came to the point where I didn't want anything 03:48 to do with God sort of because it was just a burden. 03:51 It just seemed to be a burden, a check on my life sort of. 03:53 So at about 15, I started venturing out and I found myself 03:58 at 15 starting drinking alcohol. 04:01 Actually me and my brother, he had snuck out of the house 04:04 one time and went to a party. 04:06 That was my first time drinking, experiencing alcohol and 04:10 I woke up the next morning with a hangover, but it really 04:14 didn't matter, I gravitated to a certain type of lifestyle 04:19 that seemed to intrigue me. 04:21 Though I had a hangover the next morning, I knew that this 04:25 was what I wanted to do. 04:26 I want to live this kind of lifestyle, 04:28 basically rebellious, to what all I want. 04:30 I'm watching the movie videos and things, watching music 04:33 thugs in the streets and things. 04:38 It's like living a lifestyle of don't care, do what you 04:41 want to, when you want to do it, and hang out all manner 04:44 of times at night and things like that. 04:46 - It is crazy to me, because I came from that lifestyle 04:50 looking at somebody that was fairly normal or a Christian 04:53 family that loved each other and I'm thinking, I'm looking 04:56 and saying I want that. 04:57 But lots of time some of the people who are more 05:00 conservative and more Christian are looking at our 05:01 lifestyle and saying, I want that. 05:04 Exactly! - you're saying I want all that, 05:05 I just what I want to do what I want and 05:07 nobody tell me what to do. 05:08 - exactly, and I got intrigued about the fast money. 05:11 Like I said, I would see kids, I would go to school with 05:14 kids that are coming to school with tattoos on, 05:17 gold teeth in their mouth. 05:19 At 15 year old, car with rims, and systems in the trunk and 05:23 I'm like what in the world are you doing? 05:25 So I basically ended up jumping headfirst into it. 05:29 I found myself stealing, robbing and things of that nature. 05:35 With that kind of lifestyle, street life, comes 05:38 consequences, there comes consequences. 05:40 I think the first time I was incarcerated I was 16 years 05:43 old, I went to juvenile facility for a week. 05:47 I was incarcerated for what you call burglary and 05:50 habitation, I did a week. 05:52 - during that time, that's your stuff, during that time 05:56 what were your folks doing? 05:58 I could see your mama just crying and on her knees trying 06:02 to figure out what happened? What did we do right or wrong? 06:05 What is really tough, and I heard them in the first part 06:08 of this interview, what is really tough is that they look 06:11 at what have we done wrong? 06:13 So they must have been doing all that with you right now. 06:16 They pretty much were, they were trying to figure out 06:21 where has Aaron gone wrong? 06:23 My brother would even try to talk to me. 06:25 What is wrong with Aaron? 06:28 For a while we went to a psychiatrist. - counseling. 06:33 Went to counseling and trying to figure out what was wrong with 06:35 me, it seemed like the guy was trying to diagnose me with 06:38 a problem and in my mind I was thinking I don't have 06:41 a problem, I am just interested in fast money. 06:44 I didn't see the point of why going to school for all 06:47 these years to wait for a paycheck every week, or every 06:50 two weeks or month, when I could just sell some drugs, 06:53 steal it or whatnot and get rich quick. 06:55 You know get-rich-quick, I watched those music videos and 06:58 see people flashing money and things like that. 07:00 I want this, this is what I want. 07:03 - it is so seductive! - it is so seductive. 07:05 I found out with that life comes consequences. 07:10 So the next incarceration, actually about that week I got 07:13 out and began seeing a psychiatrist. 07:15 At about 17 years old with my next incarceration which 07:20 was for a home invasion, second-degree home invasion. 07:23 Breaking in houses and trying to get money, trying to 07:26 get rich quick once again or whatnot. 07:28 I found myself incarcerated for about six months, 07:31 about six months incarceration in a prison boot camp, 07:34 in a halfway house, then I was on house arrest for about 07:38 three months, so was a total of about nine months 07:41 altogether in between there. 07:43 After that a proposition came to me for my probation 07:48 officer when I got out. 07:49 I was in Michigan at this time. 07:51 - so at this time, more than likely more than drinking, 07:55 drugs are involved? 07:57 At this time I was drinking alcohol on a regular basis, 08:00 everyday, I was smoking weed everyday. 08:02 We would maybe go through an ounce of weed everyday. 08:05 I was getting the money from stealing, that's how I got 08:09 the money, I would go to school for an hour, go to someone's 08:13 locker room and take their money. 08:16 I would go back to other friends and go to the weed house. 08:19 - beyond the fact that this was not okay? 08:23 This is not my stuff, the weed and alcohol just numbs that. 08:27 Yes, and I was smoking cigarettes and things of that 08:29 nature, just doing it every day of the week basically. 08:34 That is just what I was doing. 08:35 At that time it was bringing so much problem between me 08:41 and my brother, my mother and father, there were so many 08:44 issues going on and it was like in our home darkness 08:50 and light first of all, can't live together. 08:52 It's like when you walk into a dark room and you flip 08:54 on a light, darkness flees. 08:56 Those two cannot inhabit, so we were having this problem 08:59 in the home where I am basically living the life that 09:02 Satan would have me to live. Just doing whatever I wanted. 09:05 My father and mother trying to live a Christian life and 09:09 it is just a constant knocking heads, constantly. 09:12 - did you finally leave? 09:13 Yes, actually several times I left or would actually get 09:18 put out sometimes and I will go live at my cousin or 09:22 something like that, various different things. 09:24 I was incarcerated for a while so I would be away and then 09:27 come back home for a little while. 09:29 But various things like that, but actually running away. 09:33 I never actually ran away, but I was incarcerated and put 09:36 out the house several times because there was a clashing 09:38 going on in the home. 09:40 So after I left Michigan, I got my GED while I was 09:46 incarcerated, I was 17 at the time. 09:49 I went to Southwestern Adventist University and was 09:53 accepted there, but my mind... 09:55 - I can even imagine that because you're crazy right now. 09:57 See my mind state was not on school, - on partying. 10:01 That's exactly what I wanted to do, but there was the 10:04 thing that my probation officer came up with this 10:06 proposition, if you want to leave Michigan, 10:08 it needs to be two ways. 10:10 Either you go to school full-time or you go to work full 10:12 time, so I had my brother and some my cousins were in 10:16 college and they say will come down to college it's nice 10:18 and things of that nature. 10:19 So I went, but my mind was not on that. 10:22 It was on money, fast money and things of that nature. 10:25 So I found myself getting suspended and I ended up 10:30 getting kicked out of college, I was there for a semester 10:32 and got kicked out. 10:34 A year later when I was 19 years old, I was locked up 10:38 again, I robbed a store and broke into a bank at night 10:43 and tried to rob that. 10:45 I ended up getting sentenced to prison this time, 10:48 it was to juvenile at 16. 10:50 And at 19 I went to jail, at 17, I became an adult at 17. 10:56 19 I am an adult but I have prior felonies also, so now 11:00 it is time for me to go to the big house. 11:02 Like they tried the little things and now they shipped 11:05 me off to the big house at 19 years old. 11:07 They hit me with a five-year sentence back in 2001. 11:11 Praise the Lord, in that five-year sentence I only had 11:15 to do 13 months, one year and one month based upon good 11:19 behavior I ended up getting out on parole. 11:24 - I can't even imagine that good behavior was beside 11:27 your name at any point. 11:29 One thing I learned from old school was being incarcerated 11:32 with young people and then with the older people. 11:34 The young folk like to get in there and fight, 11:38 they pass their time fighting but what I learned is that 11:40 keeps you there longer. 11:42 See I wasn't built to be in a cage, I knew that. 11:44 I'm not built to be in a cage, but I could adapt to it. 11:47 Talking to the older folks, they would say if you want to 11:51 get out sign up for everything on the program. 11:53 Sign up for GED, sign up for AAA, any type of program you 11:58 can in, stay out of trouble to occupy your time so when you 12:01 come before the parole board, they see you are trying to 12:03 do something, whether I am or not I am just trying 12:05 to show them something. 12:06 - just want a certificate. 12:07 That is what would happen and I was able to get out. 12:10 But my mind state when I got out was not changed yet. 12:14 What I did is, I basically went into prison with no 12:20 education on how to sell drugs, but when I came out 12:24 basically I came out with a degree in how to sell drugs. 12:27 Because you are in there with so many different people 12:30 and I came out and switched from stealing and robbing 12:34 to now it was time to selling weed. 12:36 I began selling drugs for some time and I was actually 12:41 getting my drugs transported from Texas to North Carolina 12:45 where I had moved back to. 12:47 I would be on the block selling weed like that. 12:51 My mind was set on getting out. 12:53 A situation took place where it made me start thinking. 12:57 One night there was a drug deal basically gone bad. 13:00 A particular person wanted the amount of weed I had left, 13:05 which was about 7 and 1/2 ounces that I had left. 13:07 So we were talking and discussing and went to a place 13:11 to make the deal and the next thing I know we are weighing 13:15 the drugs on a scale and things of that nature. 13:17 I gave him about 4 ounces of it, so I said let me see the 13:21 money for those 4 ounces so he started fiddling in his 13:24 pocket in I knew it does not take long to find a roll. 13:28 One thing about it on the streets, you don't carry hundred 13:30 dollar bills, it's ones, fives, small bills like that to 13:34 make change for people. 13:35 So I knew he was taking too long to show me the money for 13:40 those, and next thing comes out is the gun. 13:43 It was a 25 caliber pistol held to my face, 13:46 directly in my face about this close. 13:48 At that time basically my life was no longer in my hands. 13:53 My life is in somebody else's hands at this time. 13:56 I said a quick prayer to the Lord, 13:59 Lord help me basically like that. 14:01 - you know it's funny, don't you think that just cracks 14:04 you up, it's like God is not in your life and then all of 14:08 a sudden I'm calling for mama and God. 14:10 That is what happened, and the thing is you hear some 14:14 people when... - but I have to ask you, 14:17 is there any point where you started at all, even during 14:21 this time, to think maybe this is not the direction? 14:25 Have you gotten to any of that stuff yet? 14:27 Well basically I was still at the point of this is the 14:31 way I want to live till I die. 14:33 But one thing about music, hip-hop music in general, 14:37 that is what I was really on. 14:39 It has so much power to influence the mind. 14:42 I was almost 24/7 with the headphones, in the car, 14:46 some type of way and it hypnotizes, it has a hypnotizing 14:51 affect so it is basically I'm living the life 14:53 ride or die, do what I want, to live this way until I die. 14:58 Somebody was going to kill me eventually, that is 15:01 just what it's going to happen with the life I was living. 15:03 - but that doesn't matter? 15:05 Yes and the thing is I was so hypnotized 15:08 into this lifestyle that I didn't care. 15:10 I had little oddball jobs at the time, fast food jobs. 15:14 Because of my background I would have to go to college, 15:18 I was not interested. 15:20 I couldn't get a good job so was like problems were 15:23 mounting and these little bitty jobs just don't help. 15:26 So the streets was basically what I gravitated to with 15:30 friends and things of that nature. 15:32 Okay hold up Aaron, what about the gun in your face? 15:35 Well like was saying the gun was in my face and I sent 15:38 a quick prayer up to the Lord, and basically I had the 15:43 rest of the weed in a book bag on my shoulder and he say 15:45 give me the rest of it. 15:47 I gave it to him but in my mind thinking I can either run 15:50 with it or we can get into a scuffle, something to that 15:53 effect because I don't want to loose it, 15:55 I'm loosing money at the same time. 15:56 So what ended up happening, where we were at I drove to, 16:00 so he tells me to turn around, so I turn around. 16:03 At this time I don't know what he's going to do. 16:06 Whether he is going to pull the trigger or even if 16:08 he is trying to pull the trigger, 16:09 it's not going off, I don't know. 16:11 So he walks me back to my car and I end up getting in the 16:14 car, when I got in, I leaned the seat all the way back 16:20 because I said if he fires that gun, the bullet will go 16:23 over the seat and out the window. 16:26 So as immediately as I drove off, the gun went off. 16:29 So what I don't know it is whether he was trying to shoot 16:32 me the whole time and it just wasn't working, 16:35 I really don't know, but I know that the Lord intervened 16:38 to even spare my life. 16:40 The interesting thing is while I got robbed for 7 and 1/2 16:43 ounces of weed, I wasn't even from this neighborhood 16:47 that I was selling in. 16:48 A few weeks later a person ends up getting killed, 16:51 robbed over some weed, for 5 dollars worth of weed, 16:54 5 dollars where I got robbed for hundreds of dollars 16:57 worth of weed so I pondered for a while, 16:59 Lord you spared me, why did You spare me? 17:03 But even in that it still didn't fully get my attention. 17:06 But the fact that God in our silliness, we are wanting 17:10 to be all that, I want to be this gangster, I want to be the 17:14 person with money and to be out there and God just says, 17:16 you know what hon I love you, I love you. 17:19 I know that you have gotten more and more into addictive 17:23 stuff which stops you from being able to get money. 17:26 I mean you got lost in your addictions, so tell us about 17:29 that, and more important how you recovered. 17:32 Well like I said for about the last six months or so, 17:36 I didn't know that I was about to change my life. 17:40 I didn't know that, there was trouble in the home when 17:44 I got married, me and my wife were constantly bumping 17:48 heads. - was she a druggie? 17:51 No she wasn't she had stopped already. 17:55 She used to smoke marijuana but she had a ready left 17:57 alone, we had some children already. 17:59 She had left it alone was trying to get her life together. 18:02 She was going to church and things of that nature. 18:03 - and you're out there be a fool! 18:05 I'm out there being a fool and the thing is we were 18:08 constantly, constantly going at it. 18:10 So one of my friends, Byron Green, got in contact with 18:14 me from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. 18:16 He would say, you can come and live out here with me. 18:19 I was like okay, so I went to visit him and about a month 18:22 later I moved out to Baton Rouge, Louisiana. 18:25 At this time I was just fed up with life. 18:29 I'm not getting anywhere in life, I'm steadily getting 18:32 this little rinky-dink jobs that won't really 18:34 provide anything for me. 18:36 I was at the point of wanting to die, I have a gun. 18:41 What kind of drugs were you taking at that time? 18:43 At that time I had begin again on heroine, I periodically 18:47 used heroin but I didn't like the high of it. 18:50 So be every now and again. 18:52 Cocaine use was pretty much everyday. 18:55 Alcohol was pretty much everyday, weed with periodic and 18:58 ecstasy pills every day, well not every day, 19:01 every few days a week. 19:02 - You are pumping yourself with stuff? 19:04 Yeah I was dealing with five or so different drugs. 19:07 But in my mind it was I want to die, but I don't want to 19:11 take the way out of using a gun that I had, and putting 19:15 it to my head and killing myself. 19:16 I just thought I didn't want to go out that way. 19:19 Because what if this doesn't actually kill me? 19:20 Then I would just feel the pain, so what I was trying to 19:23 do was overdose myself and get high and too much stuff 19:27 and just not wake up the next morning. 19:28 That was what was in my mind because I was fed up with 19:31 life, but one particular night, the Lord got my attention. 19:35 It was April 9, 2008 when the Lord got my attention. 19:40 About 11 o'clock that night, that evening I was already 19:45 high, I had popped an ecstasy pill on a Monday, 19:48 this was a Wednesday now. 19:49 On Monday I had popped and ecstasy pill but I was still 19:52 high off that pill come Monday, I mean come Wednesday. 19:55 I was still high on that pill so that night about 19:58 11 o'clock at night I ended up drinking a little alcohol. 20:01 I had gotten a 24 ounce can of beer, and smoke some weed 20:04 with the next-door neighbor, and I had earlier that day 20:08 got a dime bag of cocaine and I was snorting the cocaine 20:11 and I came into the house that night after smoking 20:15 marijuana, I came in. 20:17 Now mind you I'm on about 4 different things that night. 20:19 I walk in the room and it's dark in the room and 20:23 immediately as I came in, a fear came upon me. 20:26 Not like a spook from a high or anything, but it was a 20:30 fear that I had never felt before, I was scared out of my 20:33 mind, so immediately a close the blinds in the room. 20:36 It's 11:30 at night and I had closed the blinds, 20:40 I didn't turn on a light, I laid down on the mattress 20:42 on the floor and I got under the cover. 20:45 I looked up at the ceiling as I laid down and it was like 20:47 demons were floating all around the ceiling. 20:50 It was like the whole room, the whole atmosphere was 20:52 filled with demons, it felt like. 20:54 I was scared out of my mind. 20:56 I took the cover and covered my head thinking that might 21:02 protect me something or whatnot. 21:04 - so inside of all of this you are still this little boy. 21:09 Yeah, somewhere inside of that. 21:11 About that maybe a cover, or a blanket, or something was 21:14 going to protect me. 21:16 Back to the cover and covered my head and I was still 21:19 scared at the time, but at that point I heard the Holy 21:23 Spirit voice tell me something. 21:25 See for a period of time I was actually pulling a Jonah. 21:28 I would hear the Holy Spirit and I would run, I would go 21:30 and hide, I was trying to fry Him completely out of my 21:33 mind, but at that point I heard the Holy Spirit say, 21:37 Aaron you either get your life together now or that is it. 21:40 That is a horrible place to be. 21:42 - yes it is and thinking have I gone too far, not really 21:47 sure, but have I gone too far? 21:49 The thing is I got on the phone, I had my phone beside me, 21:53 I sent my dad a text message. 21:55 Basically in my mind trying to send out a lifeline, 21:58 hoping that somebody would grab hold of it basically. 22:02 I was throwing it out hoping that somebody would get it. 22:05 - and they had been trying to. 22:07 Basically while I was in Louisiana I remember that they 22:12 sent me pictures of my childhood when I was younger and 22:15 things and of that nature. 22:16 They would send me CDs to listen to and things like that. 22:19 Tapes or whatnots, stories and different things. 22:22 They tried to bring my mind back to different period 22:25 In my life, but I was so bent on going wrong that these 22:30 things were only making little impressions upon me 22:33 at the time, I was so far out there that they weren't 22:36 impacting me enough. 22:38 Like said that particular night, it was about 11:30 22:41 at night and where my dad was and mom in Georgia it 22:46 was 12:30, they are an hour ahead. 22:49 Like I said I wanted someone to grab hold of this 22:53 lifeline, I need somebody to talk to. 22:56 I grab my phone and I wrote in a text message, 23:00 I feel lost and friendless. 23:02 I put those very words, I feel lost and friendless. 23:04 I sent the message and 11:30 at night not really 23:09 thinking that my dad was going to respond, 23:12 but hoping that he would respond. 23:15 One thing that is amazing about that, is normally my 23:19 parents don't have text messaging on their phone, 23:22 but they happen to have text messaging at that time. 23:25 Normally they do not. 23:26 So I set my dad a text message, I feel lost and 23:30 friendless and about two or three minutes later 23:33 a reply comes back. 23:35 I saw the phone light up and immediately it was like joy 23:37 back into my heart, like the prodigal son when he thought 23:41 of home, joy sprung up in him, I want to go home. 23:45 It's time to go home. 23:46 I looked at the phone and grabbed the phone and its said, 23:50 what a friend we have in Jesus, what a friend we have in 23:53 Jesus and I knew the song, what a friend we have in Jesus. 23:57 It just brought so much joy to me that I immediately 24:00 called my dad and we began talking. 24:03 At the time I was high on several different things, 24:06 I was probably going through some hallucinations due to 24:10 the demons and things I was seeing the room. 24:12 But I was talking to him and I was explaining to him, 24:15 I see that you are all in Ministry work, but the Lord is 24:19 providing and I'm out here writing to and fro and just 24:22 struggling, trying to make a dollar while the Lord is 24:26 providing for you all. 24:28 No actual full-time job or anything at this point because 24:31 they had gone into full-time ministry and it was like how 24:34 in the world are you so happy about this? 24:37 So my dad began talking to me, and we were talking 24:39 about 15 minutes or so. 24:42 We prayed and got off the phone. 24:44 Immediately I got on my knees and began praying, and as 24:48 I began praying it was like weights were coming off. 24:52 I mean literally I can feel stuff coming off my back. 24:55 It was like the world was on my back and it was coming 24:59 off while I was praying. 25:01 Immediately after I finished praying I began reading 25:04 a book I had, 'The Great Controversy'. 25:07 Which is a fantastic book, a fantastic book. 25:09 There was a chapter in there entitled 'Snares of Satan'. 25:13 You see I knew that I was about to make a change in my 25:16 life because I had decided it was time to start making 25:19 a change, and I knew that Satan was going to start 25:21 attacking me. - you know what's hysterical to me? 25:23 When you see demons it is easy to decide then. 25:27 Because a lot of people don't know how crazy that moment 25:30 is, but that moment is all of a sudden it feels like God 25:33 in His mercy, let Me just show you what is actually 25:35 happening here, let Me show you your liver, let Me show 25:38 you what you're getting faced with what I've done in 25:42 my life and we start to run back to God. 25:45 You are right He is standing right there saying, come on. 25:49 As I began reading, I read that night and a little the 25:53 next day, but before I got off the phone with my dad, he 25:56 said, I will come and get you. 25:57 This was a Wednesday, and on that Friday he came and got 26:01 me, he was teaching at Wildwood at the time. 26:03 He said I can leave Thursday evening and get you Friday 26:07 morning, so he came and picked me up. 26:09 One thing about my parents, you often hear stories of a 26:12 loving, praying grandmother or grandfather or something. 26:15 While I was out there I always had parents, 26:19 or somebody praying for me. 26:21 - could you feel it? - at times it yes. 26:24 It was certain situations, certain situations I'm not 26:26 really supposed to be here. 26:28 The Lord worked it out to where I still am, because 26:31 there are times where I could not have been here. 26:33 Even times when incarcerated where I could have been 26:37 there longer, so I know from the power of prayer can get 26:43 us out of situations and there is a benefit 26:46 in being in situations sometimes. 26:48 Sometimes the Lord leads us into situations 26:50 for our benefit. 26:51 My dad, he came and got me that Friday. 26:54 - it takes you to Wildwood! - it takes me to Wildwood. 26:56 For people who don't know that, that is a conservative 26:58 Ministry, they are incredible, but they are really 27:01 conservative so I can't see this little drug addict 27:04 okay I'm not Wildwood. 27:06 You see I knew about Wildwood because my parents had been 27:09 there for some time, my day to six month health evangelism 27:13 course there and was teaching there now. 27:14 But in 2005, my parents sent me to the Wildwood Health 27:20 Retreat, so I really knew how this life style was. 27:23 Like it was a rehab place, a 30 day rehab that I was in. 27:26 I did good and when I left I got on track. 27:29 It was short lived, a few months and I was back at what 27:34 I was doing, but it did set some roots in me. 27:38 I gained some things that never left me. 27:41 Anyway I knew how Wildwood was even before, I knew what 27:46 was to be expected. 27:47 So I left all my, guess you as a worldly or street clothes 27:51 behind because I knew at Wildwood it is different. 27:54 I was trying to make a change anyhow. 27:57 So what I did is, my dad picked me up and we went to 28:01 Wildwood, I was there a good month. 28:03 I ended up making a mess of it because I was still 28:06 battling with cigarettes, nicotine is by far out of all 28:09 the drugs, the heroine, the cocaine, the ecstasy, 28:12 the weed, the alcohol, cigarettes were by far the 28:16 hardest for me to get off of, as it is for most people, 28:19 it is difficult, very difficult. 28:20 But that particular night in April I had made up my mind 28:25 it's time to get on track. 28:28 Though I was battling with the cigarettes, and I messed up 28:31 at Wildwood, I ended up going to North Carolina. 28:33 At this time me and my wife had divorced, we had gone 28:38 through a divorce about two or three months before. 28:42 I went back, I stayed away from my friends for a good week 28:46 or so, but I found myself back with my friends and still 28:50 smoking, drinking, doing the cocaine again. 28:54 But at this time I was still reading, I was still reading. 28:58 - reading the Bible. - reading the Bible, I knew 29:03 that I am coming to the Lord, coming to the cross, 29:06 and as I was coming to the cross I saw that this habit 29:10 stop, that this habit stop, and that had to stop. 29:12 Cigarettes were the last thing to go. 29:14 - don't you want to say to someone, don't judge the 29:17 journey, because every step really was even though 29:21 you were relapsing, and people were seeing all this up and down 29:24 stuff is that God was wooing you. 29:27 - yeah He was wooing me. 29:28 One thing I had to do was continue to come to the cross. 29:31 Even though I was still doing what I was doing, 29:35 I stilled tried to read the Bible in the morning and 29:38 go smoke a cigarette or get high or something like that. 29:42 I knew I had to continue to just come forward. 29:45 As I did I saw these habits just go away. 29:50 - family is still praying? - my family's praying 29:52 and at the same time my parents were doing some called 29:54 hydrotherapy on me at various different times. 29:57 They were trying to do these different things, 30:00 one being a Russian steam bath and what it would do 30:04 was detoxify me to get the alcohol and nicotine and 30:06 all these, it with sweat these things out of me. 30:09 They had me drink in a lot of lemon water and things of 30:11 that nature to help with the addiction. 30:13 About two months of this it took about two or three months 30:17 till I was actually done with everything. 30:20 Actually June... - you could actually start feeling 30:22 your body? - yes I could feel my body start feeling 30:24 better and things like that. 30:30 It was about June 8, 2008 when I had my last cigarette. 30:34 I was actually done with them for about a week and I said, 30:37 let me just smoke a cigarette to see the desire is still 30:41 there, I've smoked about half of it and couldn't take it. 30:43 I didn't like it and I was going through the thing of 30:46 buying a pack of smoking two or three and throw the pack 30:48 away, things like that and I went through that battle for 30:52 awhile but June 8, 2008 was it, and one thing about when 30:56 you are recovering from all these things, it's like on one 31:00 whole day without this, which is good because I was use 31:04 to smoking a pack of cigarettes a day. 31:06 - it's a celebration! - it's a celebration. 31:07 I'm use to getting high everyday, I am use to these 31:10 things every day for a day, for one day let me see if 31:13 I can do it two days, let me see if I can do three days. 31:15 Maybe three weeks, let's him see if I can do it two 31:18 months now and that is what it has been. 31:20 So now I has been almost 2 years that I have actually 31:23 touched it, I don't like it, I can't stand being around 31:27 it, but to all the mothers and all the fathers out there 31:31 that are struggling with their children and their loved 31:34 out there, understand that there is hope. 31:37 There is hope. - we are going ahead and break because 31:40 I want to come back and bring the entire family up because 31:43 we have your whole family here and then I want you to say 31:46 some things to parents. 31:47 I'm going to have even your parents speak to parents and 31:51 say things about recovery and then I want you to tell them 31:54 what you are doing now, because it cracks me up. 31:57 Because you are now in Ministry. 31:59 I am in Ministry. 32:01 It is amazing so we will be right back and know that when 32:04 we come back you are going to be amazed at what you see 32:07 because when God restores family, He restores a family. 32:11 Stay with us! |
Revised 2014-12-17