August 2016 Newsletter

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The Problem Inside Me

Kory had a rough start in life. He was conceived in his alcoholic, sixteen-year-old mother. She lived in an unwed mother’s home and gave him up for adoption at birth. He was born with fetal alcohol syndrome and raised by adoptive parents. A combination of the genetic inclination to alcoholism and undisciplined environment during adolescence caused alcoholism to be an almost natural out- come. The unbridled control of his adoptive father, Kory said, “caused self-hatred, nothing was ever good enough.” His strong work ethic was developed early in the family janitorial business, but it also provided unlimited access to alcohol in a client’s restaurant. He said “It was getting that buzz, a way out of the fact that my life was not good.” When his father insisted on rent money, he moved out. Kory was homeless at sixteen-years-old. He said, “For two- and-a-half years, I lived on the streets, completely alienated from my adoptive family.”

He has had a life of both successes and failures. Identity became a key factor. He said, “I couldn’t stay clean and sober, keep a job or a relationship. I thought alcohol and drugs were the only things that would x the problem. I didn’t understand that the problem was inside of me.” Then, when he was 26-years-old, a call came from his biological mother. For two years, he spent time with his mom, learning more about himself. But then, he said, “She abandoned me again, because her husband was jealous about her attention.” Kory fell hard, right back to his previous state. Still, he managed the following 20 years, cycling between achievements and defeats, increasingly weary.

When his last job ended in disappointment, he was homeless for the umpteenth time. He was drinking, not eating right, sleeping in the weeds, dirty and had not showered in six weeks. Kory recalls, “I said a desperate prayer, ‘God, I don’t want to live like this anymore.’ The obsession to drink or use drugs was immediately removed, no more depression. The Lord touched my life.” A new man then walked in the filthy reminder of the old one, and winter was setting in.

He caught a ride to the Mission. Soon, he was in our New Life Program that provides work therapy, chapel, group Bible studies, counseling, life skills and an addiction class that “provides both a Biblical and neurochemical understanding of what is broken that causes us to be self-destructive.” Kory needed reconciliation, acceptance in a family of similar people with an understanding of his struggles, difficult as that can be at times. He said, “It was the structure. The program allows you to depend on God to take care of you, get out of yourself, help other people and develop a relationship with the Lord.” He quoted Matthew 6:33, “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”

Indeed, “these things” are happening. He has been clean and sober for 18 months. He is working full-time as a manager trainee at a fast food restaurant and renting a home. At a local church, he is very involved with the worship team, youth group, audio/visual crew and being an usher.

Kory’s problem was inside of him, and so was the solution. It was not an external issue with employment or housing. When he cried out to the Lord, his life took a new course. He said, “I want to thank the Mission for opportunities, especially in the Thrift Store, keeping me occupied while I was getting my head on straight. Thank God for directing me here.” “I said a desperate prayer, ‘God, I don’t want to live like this anymore.’ The obsession…was…removed, no more depression.”