Mike's Story

 

 

Both of my parents were alcoholics, and my father could be very abusive. Their addictions affected every aspect of our family life and resulted in my own addiction to alcohol beginning when I was a pre-teen. The only peace for me came when we visited my maternal grandparents, where I felt loved and safe.

 

For a reason he never explained, my father was very angry at God. Our family didn’t go to church, although my mother dropped my sister and me off at Sunday school. I was young but I still had an inner hope that God was real and He was watching over me and my sister.

By the time I was 13, I was drinking constantly. I avoided being at home, stayed out all night, roamed the neighborhood, or slept at a friend’s house. About that time, my mother left me and my sister with our grandparents and moved in with another man, who was also abusive.

 

Living like that made me angrier and angrier, and I was soon completely unreachable. I left home at 15 with nowhere to go and began supporting myself by stealing and selling drugs. I was eventually arrested and spent my 18^th birthday in a major felony crimes section of Lubbock county jail.   Ironically, I met someone there who rekindled the thoughts about God caring for me. I prayed for help and shortly after was convicted but received seven years’ felony probation. (I received a full pardon in 1983). Getting a job after my conviction proved difficult. It wasn’t until I met a man named Howard Duff that anyone was willing to take a chance on me. He gave me a job on his farm and a place to live. His wife Darla led me to Christ, and for the next three years, I worked hard on my relationship with God.

 

Unfortunately, bad times were still ahead. I experienced a failed marriage; I was hit in the head with a pipe wrench and left for dead; then I was laid off from my engineering job at Abbott Labs. I had been drinking excessively during this time, and in 2007 I attempted suicide three times. While I was hospitalized, a psychiatrist took an interest in me and encouraged me to go to Union Gospel Mission, a residential homeless shelter. There I joined AA and first heard about the Alpha course.

 

It was very emotional, but the Alpha experience inspired me to read the Bible again. I learned that God is real and He cares about me.

 

Now I am a seminary student with a 3.5 g.p.a. and a goal of completing a doctorate in religious history. The most important thing I have learned is that, even at my lowest points, God loved me. He put the right people in my path and, through the Alpha program, gave me the strength to start my life over. Now, I have real hope and I am truly happy for the first time in my life.