By the time I was 38, my life was in shambles.

When I "came to myself" (see Luke 15), I had been drunk for sixteen years and addicted for longer than that. I was divorced, broke, jobless, homeless, living 1,100 miles away from my children, and totally alone. I had ruined every relationship in my life. Every dream I had was broken. I was discouraged, depressed, and ashamed. I was a mess.

Then someone came into my life and told me that God loved me and had a plan for my life. I needed both of those. So, on a beach in Maine in the middle of February 1995, I knelt down and asked Jesus to forgive me of my sins and to be the Lord of my life. It didn't seem like a life-changing moment at the time.

I didn't know exactly what to do next, so I opened an old Bible and read the page I had opened. Luke 18:18 said to leave everything behind and come to follow Jesus. So, I did. From that moment on, everything began to change.