I was always looking for something to get into. I went from sneaking a beer or two in middle school to drinking and smoking pot every weekend in high school, which I gave up in my senior year. I got a job as a mechanic at a car dealership and started living what I thought life was all about. Soon after, beer and pot turned into cocaine and liquor. Despite my addiction, I seemed to function; I bought a house, new cars, trucks, boats, motorcycles, and more. Looking back now, I can clearly see that I had a void I was trying to fill with material things. I had accomplished what the world says will bring happiness, yet I had none.

Now, I realize there’s a difference between fun and peace, joy and happiness. At best, I thought I was having fun, but I never knew what my purpose was. I was running wide open, and sadly, that lasted almost 52 years, never realizing I had been addicted to something for 40 of those years. Everything from cocaine, heroin, Xanax, pain pills, pornography, prostitution, gambling, and more. I woke up in a jail cell on November 21, 2019. I weighed 340 pounds, had track marks in my neck, and was facing a possible 10-year prison sentence that I deserved every day of. My rap sheet looked like this:

Arrested 23 times as an adult, facing charges like:
• 8 DUIs (first offenses)
• 1 DUI (third offense aggravated/tampering with physical evidence)
• 2 counts of receiving stolen property
• 1 count of transporting stolen property
• 2 counts of disorderly conduct
• 1 felony conviction for possessing a handgun and a concealed deadly weapon
• 2010: Trafficking 400 oxycodone 30s, possessing 2 handguns, and $9,700 cash
• 2019: Trafficking 15.7 grams of heroin and tampering with physical evidence

I opted to go to a men’s recovery center called Redemption Road, hoping to soften that 10-year prison sentence. They offered 38 months off if I completed a six-month program. I wasn’t thinking beyond the sentence—I was just trying to get out of trouble like I had the other 20 or so times. But instead, I found a group of people who had peace, joy, and happiness—something I hadn’t been able to find my entire life. They showed me Christ before they ever opened a Bible. They told me I could have the same peace and happiness if I wanted it. It all started for me when I picked up a Bible and read it for myself. Through that, along with Bible studies, prayer, and spending time with the Lord, I came to a place where I knew God was real, that He is who He says He is, and that He can do everything He promises. But I needed to make a choice: Him or me. I knew I had tried everything the world had to offer, most of it twice, and had found no peace or happiness. What did I have to lose?

I still thought I was going to prison, but I asked God to save me, and a relationship began. The more time I spent in His presence, the more God revealed Himself to me. The more I sought Him, the more I found Him. Then I read verses like Matthew 7:7: Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened to you. I knew firsthand that this was true. I graduated the program in six months and started working there, hoping to earn credit toward my prison sentence. About 15 months in, God brought my wife into my life. We had known of each other but had never dated. After dating for eight weeks, we got married. Next to my salvation, she is the best thing that has ever happened to me. I drove back and forth from Somerset to Gray, Kentucky, for a year, and we eventually bought a home together. God blessed us with a place to put it in Gray.

I was on the docket for 27 months, and I stood before a judge who had sentenced me before. She had once given me 120 days on my birthday and laughed about it. This time, she asked if I would plead guilty if she dropped the heroin from the trafficking charge, which would reduce my sentence from 10 years to 5. I knew God had intervened, so I pleaded guilty. The judge gave me five years but went on to sentence me to time served (22 days) and two years of probation. The judge may have issued the sentence, but God set me free—not only physically, but spiritually.

Now, I wake up with the same peace and happiness I saw when I first arrived at Redemption Road. It’s everything they said it would be and so much more. Once I tasted it for myself, I understood what the Bible means when it says, “Taste and see that the Lord is good.” I know firsthand that this is true. The good news is that this is available to everyone. God wishes for none to perish—not one.

It turns out, drugs weren’t my problem. They were just evidence that I had a problem—a hole in my heart that only God Himself could fill! Today, I can testify that God has been so good to me.