The Reason I Live

If you haven’t noticed I have a gigantic cross as my avatar. There is a reason for it. I should not be alive today. Drugs and sheer stupidity should have taken my life a long time ago.

At the worst I was shooting oxycontin everyday and just barely makeing ends meet. All of my friends were overdosing and going to jail around me but yet I would not stop. My life was a total wreck, I stopped going to college because drugs and what I wanted became more important. I didn’t care about anyone except for myself.

That’s when the slap in the face happened. I got busted for selling within 1000 feet of a school. I was looking at 20 years and life in jail according to the charges they wanted to give me. I remember freaking out in the jail cell, clawing at the floor thinking I knew this was coming, my life is over, this is it. Then something inside me started begging God, “God if you get me out of this jail cell, I will do whatever you want, my life will be yours.” At that time I had no idea of what I just said or what it would bring to my life.

I was released a week later with both my charges getting deferred. (Totally wiped from my record, which is unheard of with felonies.) I had the opportunity to go to Teen Challenge of the Dakotas which the court said was another treatment center. ( I have been to at least 10 in my life span so far.) It was there that God became real in my life. Not some religious garbage. But a real relationship of love. All the pain from my life, the shame, the hate, God took all of it away and gave me a heart for others. The hole in my heart that I knew was there my whole life, was finally filled.

 I worked for Teen Challenge of the Dakotas for 6 years. In which as you would guess I was the IT guy as well as Video Production, Publications, and Counselor. I ministered to the same broken, hurt people that I once was.

I now currently work as a Young Adult Pastor which is a huge new direction for my life, and I get to minister to those people before they go down that long dark road of destruction.

I’ve been married 4 years to a beautiful wife. And everyday I get to help someone that is hopeless, start to see hope in there lives and gain freedom. It seems God took me up on that deal I made with him in that jail cell.

Looking back at it all, I would be dead or in jail for the rest of my life because that was the road I was headed down. But God saved my life and He’s the reason I live today.

I write this not to offend anyone, but to let you know more about me and to share the one thing that has ever brought true happiness to my life. Because just as much as computers are a huge part of my life, I wouldn't even be here to help out in this community if it weren't for God saving my life.

Please feel free to PM me if you have questions or comments.