Hello. My name is William Horton. I am 32 years old and have lived in Wadsworth, Ohio, most of my life. Now, I am not a great writer, and in fact I am a horrible speller. My sister often reminds me when I was a young adult (her point of view) that I asked her how to spell cat. Never happened! Anyway, I would like to thank who ever came up with spell check. I am writing this in spite of those hurdles, because I have a story to tell you about a man I once knew and how his life was transformed overnight.

     Some of you may know him or may even have hung around with him, not that he was ever really there to begin with. You see, the man I am talking about could hardly do anything besides get drunk, pass out and repeat... and repeat... and repeat...His life started out just like any average child, raised in a loving family that did its best to teach their children right from wrong. That’s the funny thing about teaching people right from wrong: it is all a matter of perspective. What you call right and what I call right may be vastly different.

     He thought that he had a normal family, but when he was a young child he found out the father that was raising him was not truly his father. His biological father left his mom pregnant at 16 years old. Sounds like a TV show, right? Then he only tried to get custody because his parents told him to. He obviously didn’t get custody, and the child’s mother got married to a man that took him on as his own son. At the time it didn’t much matter to the child because he loved this man and he thought of him as his true father. He never knew any different.

     He grew up in a low to middle class family that lived pay check to pay check, and he was very insecure over the fact that his family could not afford new things and that he had to be on the free lunch program. His father was an alcoholic, although he can’t really remember that too much, and his mom suffered from depression. Never feeling like he totally fit in, he started smoking weed at 14. He thought it helped him fit in and he became much more social and outgoing being high. He never really thought that there was a problem with smoking weed, because he thought that everyone was doing it.

     By the time he got to his junior year of high school he started drinking on the weekends and taking acid (LSD) on a daily basis. Often he would go to school high on LSD. Still he thought that there was no real problem with this. After graduation he thought he would do what everyone else did: go to college. That didn’t last long because he skipped classes and wasn’t interested in school, except for the people that he could meet to go out and party with… Oh boy did he like that!

     At 18 God found this young man through a pretty young blonde that wouldn’t go out with him unless he was a Christian. So he started going to church with her and slowly he came to the point that he believed there was a God and Jesus was His son. He accepted Jesus into his life but only wanted a Savior, not a Lord. He didn’t want to go to hell, but he didn’t want to feel like a slave and follow all the rules God had set up. He would live his life like a wild child and then would come home at night and ask for forgiveness. Why not, right? God would always forgive him, and he would still go to heaven. The problem was that he never thought to see what he was doing. The Bible says you can’t serve two masters… you’ll love one and hate the other. Eventually, he just stopped asking for forgiveness and almost forgot about the God that he had accepted into his life.

     Around this time, 18 or 19, he started getting high on Coricidin cough and cold medicine. For three years he “robo-tripped.” Once his mom asked him, “Aren’t you afraid you will die?” His response was, “NO.” All the people this man looked up to partied hard and died young. His role models all had a party-till-you-die lifestyle. 

     At 21 he started to drink daily, because it was easier to buy and it was legal. A lot of people drink and are very worldly successful. He didn’t see why he couldn’t do the same thing. Well, the next 10 years of his life would tell him why he couldn’t do that. 

     Over the next 10 years of his life it was like he was digging his grave one drink at a time. He lived with his parents because he drank so much and got high so much he couldn’t afford to live on his own. One night he was riding his bike home after taking 2 packs of Coricidin and drinking. All of a sudden everything turned dark and he couldn’t remember where he was and he couldn’t see anything. He could feel his heart beating through his chest. He prayed that God would at least help him get home, so that way his parents could find him if he died. Then he saw a light that he followed and it ended up at a statue of Jesus Christ at the Sacred Heart Church. He made it home and passed out in the back yard, and from that day on he never used or had a desire to use Coricidin. 

     Unfortunately, he just started to drink more. He got in the habit of drinking before work, at work and after work. He didn’t do much besides drink, work and pass out. He didn’t even notice when his friends that all did the same thing he did stopped hanging out with him because he was too much of an alcoholic. It came to a point that his job started to notice and one day after drinking until the wee hours of the morning and coming into work at the crack of dawn they made him go to the hospital and take a drug and alcohol test. He was double the intoxication level and tested positive for weed in his system. Needless to say, he got fired. The funny thing is that he was happy about getting fired. 

     He lived off the little bit of money he had saved up, spending most of it on alcohol. The money soon ran out, so he had to find new ways to get drunk. He sold all the things he had to buy beer. Then that soon ran out as well. Still living with his parents at 27 he slowly started stealing his mom’s jewelry and selling it to pawn shops to be able to maintain his addiction. Finally his parents told him he needed help and that to stay in their house he must start attending AA meetings. So he did what they said, kind of. He would say he was going to meetings, but would just go get drunk at the park until the meetings were over and then come home and say that he went.

     Sometime later, this guy was driving to an interview, because now two years had passed and he still didn’t have a job after the last place had fired him. He had already started drinking early that morning to get “ready” for the interview. While on his way home from it he got in a wreck and totaled his mother’s car. He received an open container charge and a DUI. You would think this would spark a change in his life style. His parents told him again you need to get help. This time, knowing he was going to be looking at a judge soon, he found an outpatient drug program. It was an IOP program that you went to for 4 hours a day 3 days a week. He went in and told the judge that he was starting this program and the judge made it mandatory he finished it.

     In these meetings they encouraged you to go to AA meetings. So he started going and met some people that would pick him up every night whether he wanted them to or not. The problem was he still had not stopped drinking and he was trying to live a double life. He was falling in to a deep dark depression. He had to drink to fall asleep, but to stay asleep he had to get up at 3 a.m. every morning and drink some more or he would get violently ill.

     One night when he woke up there happened to be a prayer service on TV. The man running it said, “I feel like there is someone out there with an addiction problem” and he prompted that person to call in and receive prayer from them. He looked down and saw the phone. Picking it up, crying, he called the prayer line. He was crying and telling the lady over the phone that he couldn’t stop drinking and there was nothing that was helping. She prayed for the man and he didn’t think there was any way in the world that that prayer would ever be answered. She assured him God hears our prayers. While attending his IOP program they gave a random drug and alcohol screening. Well guess what? He failed. They kicked him out of the class.

     Not knowing what he was going to do, he talked to his probation officer and they worked it out, and he was able to finish another program in its place. While he finished this program he still was drinking, but this time he wised up and didn’t go in there drunk.

     Now at 29, he has never been worse, with no future to speak of, still no job, living with his parents, and little to look forward to in life. It was Halloween night and he was going to go trick-or-treating with his nephews, the one thing that still brought a little joy in his life. He, of course, was drinking, getting ready for the big night. As he was walking to meet his family and nephews he got arrested for a public intoxication. The officer dropped him back off at his home and told him not to leave there. Well, he didn’t listen and instead decided to open another beer, drink it and leave again, but this time with his open beer right in his hand. He got stopped by the police once again and this time taken to the drunk tank for a second public intoxication as well as an open container.

     His parents picked him up and said, “This is it!” 

     His world had crashed in around him. His parents insisted that he go to a program called Teen Challenge. It was 14 months long and he didn’t want to go at all. You see, it is a Christian discipleship program for people with life controlling problems. He didn’t want to “go to church” for 14 months. Regardless to say, he went because he didn’t want to live the way he was, and his parents strongly urged him to go.

     Three days later, November 3, 2011, he entered Teen Challenge. His world would never be the same. When he got to Teen Challenge he came in drunk and worried about the withdrawals he was going to have over the next few weeks. The program was disciplined and they had a rigorous schedule set up for every minute of your day and night.  The program was set up in two phases. The first phase was in Perry, Ohio, for 4 to 6 months. The second phase was in Missouri, which lasted 10 months. He only planned to stay for the first phase and get sober.

     The first day after he got there a man, Brother Rich, came to do a chapel in the morning. He sat next to this hung over sick man. Brother Rich said, “Hi,” and they started talking. The man expressed his worries of going through withdrawals, and Brother Rich asked him if he believes in Jesus. The man said, “Yes.” Brother Rich said, “I want to pray for you,”and he prayed that this man would go through no withdrawal problems or sickness. From that day forward, the man had no cravings for alcohol and went through no withdrawals. 

     He got there on November 3. Three days later, on November 6 he was baptized and rededicated his life to Jesus Christ. He knew that this wasn’t going to be easy, but he felt a comfort, knowing that he wasn’t doing it alone. He started learning about his new Lord. The facts he started to learn made him realize he never knew Him before. Five days after being there, they were having a late chapel. It ended about 1 a.m. He went to his room and started praying. All of a sudden he started seeing all these pictures of his grandma in his head. It was as if he was looking right at the pictures in front of him. He prayed for her, thinking nothing of it, and went to bed.

     The next morning he woke up and went to breakfast, and the staff called him into the office. He was nervous, because he thought he may have done something wrong, but they told him that his mom called, and his grandma died last night. It came as a complete shock. When he came into the program five days ago, she was totally fine. He came out of the office and was crying. Guys he had only met five days ago came around him in love and prayed for him, comforting him. He thought to himself if he even had friends on the outside, all they would have done is offer him drugs or alcohol to comfort him. These men showed him Christ’s love.

     Shortly after that the holidays came. Thanksgiving came, and his family came to visit him. Teen Challenge had us make a huge meal for all the families. It was nice seeing them, but he had some news to break to them. He felt like God wanted him to finish the whole program, yep, all 14 months of it. He told them, and they were a little shocked, but God had really touched him. He had memorized a Bible verse that said he should complete the doing of what he had started. 

     Sometime after Christmas his father had a grand mal seizure. It was so bad that he had to be taken out of work for months and couldn’t drive. They couldn’t figure out what happened, and he was having smaller seizures, following that big one.

     He talked to his mom and she said that she would understand if he wanted to come home, but the man knew there was nothing he could do there that 20 men of God praying for his dad couldn’t do. He stayed, and it drew him closer to God, and God took care of his family, and his dad slowly got better.

     He left for the second phase of the program, and all was well. This was the longest he had been away from his family and the furthest he had been, as well, but this man was different and stronger than he had ever been. He had hope and believed God in the supernatural to guide him. His future was bright.

     One afternoon he got a phone call from his sister. She told him that their mom had gone into the ICU. It was not good, and they couldn’t find out what was the matter with her. He was worried but he remembered how God had helped his dad. None of his family was saved, and he prayed that God would heal her, and they would draw near to God. She got worse before she got better and was in the ICU for a month or so. Finally, she got out. God had come through, again.

     As his time in the program was coming to an end, there was a mission trip to Africa coming up. He felt like he was supposed to go, but he wasn’t sure how he would get the money or if it was what God had wanted. One morning, while praying, he told God that if He wanted him to go, today is the day to tell him, because time was running out. He went to class, and one of the staff members came up to him and asked him if he had thought about going on the mission trip, because that morning he and the director had talked about him going. He said that if he wanted to go, to make sure he went down and talked to the director. He put it off as coincidence.

     Later that night, they were having a 24 hour prayer vigil. He walked to the chapel, opened the door, and right there was the director. He told the director he had to talk to him about the mission trip. The director said I was praying about you and that. So they stepped out in the hall and said that if he wanted to go, he had to get his passport like now and raise $1,000.

     A thousand dollars may as well been a million to him, not to mention getting the money for a passport. He had a car at home that he thought he may be able to sell, so he called up his mom, and before he could say a word about the mission trip or the money, she said, “Your sister’s boyfriend wants to buy your car. He will pay 500 dollars this week and 500 dollars next week.” These words brought tears to his eyes, thinking about what God had just provided.

     He went to Africa for three weeks, one month after leaving Teen Challenge. That trip changed the way he looked at God and the world. Then God showed off some more, because when he got home a staff member from Teen Challenge called and told him to pack his bags because he was going on another mission trip to Jamaica. These trips really transformed this man’s view of life.

     After returning, he went to work at a church surrounded by great mentors. He also got to lead his brother to the Lord and mentor him as well. Now this man, whom I know very well, is going to Ohio School of Ministry, working on getting ordained, and also attends Grace Bible College, Grand Rapids, Michigan, working towards a degree in leadership in ministry. He also is in love with an amazing, godly, Proverbs 31 woman. 

     You may wonder how I know this man, or maybe you know. This old man, and this new man, is me. The Bible says, “If any man is in Christ he is a new creation, old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” I am a new creation through the power and washing of Jesus’ blood! “By the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony we shall overcome.”