When I went to prison for armed robbery, certain people caught my attention because I knew them from the streets. They had changed. Now they were talking to me about God and about the Bible. “Whatever,” I told them. But to myself, I wondered: I...
Several years ago, I looked around the cheap hotel room where I was living and thought: This is my life? Really? I thought my full story was already written — a rough childhood, a prison term, broken relationships and decades of heavy drinking. I wanted help,...
Everything good happened for me when I walked into Rockford Rescue Mission and made the decision to change my life. I had been in drug addiction for five years, bouncing back and forth between Rockford and Beloit. As long as I had a few dollars to...
I used to be one of those Christian kids who could recite Bible verse after Bible verse. I learned them to earn points in my Christian school … but I didn’t really know them as God’s truth in my life. When times got scary, I...
“Dad, you’re nothing but a crackhead. I don't ever want to see you again.” My son was 15, and he was right. He and my ex-wife had come to my apartment and found me getting high, again. I’d been a functional addict for more than two decades,...
I used to think everyone’s book was already written. Mine was always going to be about a rough childhood, a prison term, broken relationships and decades of heavy drinking. One night I looked around the cheap hotel room where I was living and thought: This...
I was 14 when I first got into trouble with drugs and alcohol. At the restaurant where I worked, I could get any drug I wanted. I used drugs pretty much every day from then on. In my late 20s, I fell into 12 years...
I quit my factory job in South Beloit in March 2020 – unfortunately, just a few days before the lockdown started. I regretted the decision, of course, because when everything shut down it was hard to get another job. I got a few odd jobs...
It seems like I fell out of the sky and landed in the safety net that is Rockford Rescue Mission. I’m from Rockford, but I got a commercial driver’s license and moved to Florida in 2004 to be a truck driver. I lost my CDL during...
Lisa lost custody of her children as she battled an addiction that destroyed her marriage and left her homeless. Then she fell into a relationship with a man who was abusive, and a tent was their only means of shelter. Her drinking escalated. Her health...
