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September 01, 2009

Downward Spiral: An alcoholic since the age of 15, at the age of 42, Kevin’s addiction turned to cocaine, then crack cocaine and, finally, intravenous drug use. His life deteriorated to the point where he had been demoted from his job as a plumbing foreman, and was periodically not even working.

 Having used any money he was making on drugs, Kevin would come to UGM for meals, but wasn’t too interested in the message Outreach staff would give before the meal.

“I was one of the people who would sit in the service and read a book. But one night, Pastor René said something that I noticed; he said, ‘You’ll only get in life what you’re willing to accept.’ I finally got to the point where I said, ‘I don’t accept this life I’m living right now.’”

Desperation

Kevin’s drug use was out of control and affecting every part of his life. He was using more and more crack, getting less and less work and even selling his possessions to pay for drugs.

“I was so depressed. I was in my cockroach infested, bed bug ridden room, and I could feel the darkness closing in around me. I got down on my knees and just cried out to God, “God, I don’t know how to stop; please help me!”

Faith, Doubt, and Angels

Kevin had taken a huge leap of faith. “I didn’t even know who God was when I cried out to him,” he recalls, “but I knew He was there.”

The next day, he didn’t use. And the day after that, he came down to UGM to get into the Alcohol & Drug Recovery Program. Though there’s often a waitlist, a space was available in the program the very next day.

But as soon as Kevin walked out the door of the mission, he started to doubt himself.

 “I worried about telling my family I was a drug user, I worried about going four months (the length of the recovery program at that time; it’s now six months in length) without money.

 In my head I was saying, ‘Four months is a long time,’ and right at that moment a guy rode by on a bicycle and said, ‘Time flies.’”

For Kevin, that was the voice of an angel; God providing strength for him to commit to his recovery. He entered the program the very next day.

New Direction, Bright Future

 During his time at UGM, Kevin came to know Jesus’ tremendous love for him and committed his life to Christ. He got involved with a local church and felt God’s call to serve Cambodia’s poor, which resulted in a 3-month “slum immersion” the fall after he graduated from UGM.

 Today, Kevin works with an organization called Servants to Asia’s Urban Poor and will be leading a missions trip back to Cambodia in October for his church. He also volunteers weekly at UGM’s Vancouver Drop-in Centre, sharing his experience with men and women who are in the same place he found himself only a couple of years ago.

 “I’ve found pure joy in the fact that God is using me and using all the experiences of my life.” Kevin says. “And it all came from simply crying out to God and asking him for help.”