I couldn't believe my drinking had landed me in jail.
I remember my first time in jail like it was yesterday. I was brought in, photographed, fingerprinted and put in a cell with this crazy guy who kept telling me he was high off of like 4-5 different drugs. He talked a bunch of stuff about how the cops pulled him out his house while he was in there partying with a bunch of girls. Eventually he fell asleep and I just started thinking, and thinking, and thinking. When you're locked up, all you can really do is think. I first asked myself, "How in the hell did I end up in jail?" I convinced myself that I didn't have the character of a person who would end up in a place like this. I was close to finishing my associate degree and had a good job. The only trouble I had gotten into prior to this was getting caught skipping in high school and getting into a fight in high school. The more I started thinking, the more I realized that this incident was bigger than just a DUI. I had been more or less a closet drinker for almost 3 years now. This was just the first time my drinking resulted in me getting in trouble.
I still thought I had my drinking under control.
I began to go back in time to try to figure out where this downward spiral began. I knew I drank a lot but I still thought I had it under control. I was still able to take care of my business, as far as school and work, and I always had money in my pocket. So I didn't look at my drinking as a "real" problem. It was just something I might want to consider slowing down on since it had landed me in the slammer. I did think about some particular incidents that could have been avoided if I had not been drinking. Like when I had came to work hungover and my supervisor asked me if I had been drinking the night prior - or the day of - because I smelled like alcohol. I lied to him to his face and told him I didn't drink and I was too young to drink. I considered all of the times I would get drunk and go to strip clubs - oftentimes by myself - and blow unnecessary money on the girls. I thought about how when me and my friends parted from a night of drinking, I would go back to the liquor store by myself and get more alcohol.
I had questions but no answers.
Something came over me and told me I was giving in to a power stronger than me. A power that wasn't tangible; a power I couldn't see. Whatever this power was, it was not on my side and I needed to learn what it was and how to overcome it. I began to think spiritually because I knew there was something going on past what I could see. Something told me to begin to seek out what was going on in the realm of the invisible. So when I got out of jail the next morning, I made it a point to begin to search for answers to my questions as to why the world was such a hard place for me to find happiness, and why I continued to settle for the temporary pleasures of alcohol and women. I had always believed in God but I didn't know who He was personally, so I began to seek out churches near my house in order to find out.
I found my answers in the house of God.
I ran into one pastor who had a profound effect on me. The way that he broke down biblical principles were so easily understandable that I began to frequent his church. I realized that the answers to my questions were in the Bible. I felt like I had finally find the truth in a world full of lies; something that didn't change with the seasons and remained constant throughout the passage of time. I began to read in the Bible of how this world is not God's original plan for mankind. I read of how God's original plan had been altered by an adversary, named Satan. I read of Satan's character traits: lies, trickery, deceit, evil, wickedness, greed, etc. and realized that this world (in general) is a direct reflection of him. This made more sense to me than anything I had ever learned. I began to dig deeper and learned that the Devil "deceives the whole world" and "seeks whom he may devour". As I kept going to church and reading the Bible I realized that I had been giving in to Satan's temptation for years, and I decided I had enough. After coming to believe in the power of God, and the sacrifice of his only begotten son, Jesus Christ, I realized that I had been living my life serving the wrong spiritual power my entire life. The Bible taught me that God, who is all powerful and all knowing, will give me the strength and power to overcome the Devil's temptation. I came to believe that He sent His only begotten son to take upon the sin that mankind was to endure in future generations and that by believing this in my heart and confessing it with my mouth, I was saved from God's wrath of eternal damnation and set to witness His original plan of everlasting life in paradise for all of mankind.I was baptized on December 31st, 2007.
