Traveled 360 miles a week for two years to fix my gambling addiction.

I started betting on some football games. I did okay to start with. Then I found out that I really liked it. I liked the rush. I got to betting on more ball games and more ball games. Long story short; I stumbled down some bad paths. I took a lot of money from my grandmother. I did everything imaginable you can do and probably by the grace of God. A lot of people would have been in prison for some of the stuff I did. You’d consider a lot of it white collar crimes from writing checks to coming up with fraudulent bank loans. I did a lot of stuff, a lot of stuff. My son is twenty four. He was very little, like a just born baby and my ex-wife (I’m not married to anymore) she said; “You’ve got to go to gamblers anonymous.” It was a hundred and eighty miles to the nearest meeting. It was Birmingham Alabama Hill Crest Mental Hospital. They had a meeting on a Wednesday night. We drove up there and I walked in the door. I will be honest with you, I knew I needed something but I didn’t know what I needed. I had no idea. I liked hanging out at the dog tracks. I liked betting on football games. I thought I was something I wasn’t. I was trying to fill a hole in my life. I didn’t know what the hole was. I just knew there was something there and gambling kind of, the rush, being the guy, having some action on every game. I was ate up with it. But I walked into that hospital and I walked into a room. They walked up to me and they gave me a hug. They didn’t know me. I was like; “Who are these dudes hugging me?” They tell me; “Welcome.” I got to sit and listen. Probably the most powerful words I have ever verbally spoken that meant something to me in my life was, I looked up and I said; “My name is Ned and I’m a compulsive gambler.” I felt like a ton of bricks were taken off of my life because I released something. I admitted something and I wasn’t alone. I’ll tell you how wasn’t alone I was. I went there every Wednesday night for two years, one hundred and eighty miles one way. It saved my life. I got to understand what ministry was about. I got to understand who Jesus Christ was. I got a job working at a convenient store in Montgomery Alabama. I worked like from nine until six in the morning. Then I worked at Lowe's from seven until three. I did that for six days a week for a year. We had to eat. I had a little boy. I had a wife. I had failed my family. I didn’t want that little boy to feel about me the way I felt about my Dad. I wasn’t going to let it happen. God gave me a decent brain to understand communication and distribution. He put me in the right place. So that’s how we come along and I have made a lot of money. I have given away a bunch of money because I don’t care about money. I care about people.