I was a methamphetamine user nearly every day for 13 or 14 years. While in a holding cell waiting to go to court, I fell asleep on a metal slab bunk. When I woke up 30 minutes later, there was a Bible lying next to my head. I don’t know where it came from. It was just there when I woke up. Little things like that made me know God was calling to me. I kept turning my back to his call and walking away.
For some reason, a guy wanted to fight and took a swing at me. The irony is that this guy was the guy in the dorm that walked around with a Bible talking about Jesus. We were both placed in side by side isolation cells while our superiors tried to sort out what their disciplinary action would be. I could hear the other guy through the air vent screaming, cursing at me, and calling me names. I’m not sure why I responded with prayer, but I did. I said, “God, if you’re there, If you’re real, this guy is one of your people, and he obviously needs your help. Please help him.” I felt this peace come over me. The anger I had towards him went away, and he became very quiet. That really freaked me out. At the time I wasn’t even willing to accept the fact that God is real, but my prayer was answered immediately. That was a big eye-opener for me.
Through the course of my recovery, I met the woman who is now my wife. She had two daughters who are now my daughters. On Wednesdays, they would attend church. When they returned, they would talk to us about Jesus. When I would put one of them to bed at night and say, “I love you, baby.” She would answer, “I love you too, daddy, but I love Jesus more. You gotta love Jesus more than you love your family.”
In an attempt to find out how to best answer the girls, we started reading the Bible together and listening to Christian radio. We didn’t attend church for a while. Christian radio was our church. You can’t be exposed to God’s word on a daily basis without it changing your heart. It’s just that powerful. We eventually started attending church and were baptized together. We’ve dedicated our lives to Lord Jesus. He’s blessed us with a home and more children. Christian radio, listening to contemporary Christian music, played a big role in our spiritual journey. It had a big impact on our understanding of what the Bible means as we heard the Bible put into words of a song. Music has always been a big part of my life, so that helped me a lot. When Third Day’s song “Lift up Your Face” plays, my kids say, “That is daddy’s song.”
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