March 2016 Newsletter

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Easter Is New Life

Bondage Broken!

Greg has had to live with Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) since childhood. It is characterized by inability to concentrate, hyperactivity and impulsiveness. It is a condition, not an excuse. He is a graduate of Roseburg High School class of 2010. He started college classes a few times, but lacked motivation and purpose. Greg bounced between his father’s house locally and his mother’s house in California. Most of his adult life has been with his mother and working in her business of rental houses. He did maintenance work. While in Roseburg, he worked as a janitor and did various odd jobs.

Self-medication with illegal drugs is not uncommon for individuals dealing with anxiety issues. Greg searched for some kind of a solution, a means to cope. He had a bad experience with an illicit drug, even life threatening. On his twenty first birthday, the minimum legal drinking age, a friend took him to a bar. Greg lacked self-control. A whole new lifestyle opened up of unruly living in a household of like-minded roommates.

But he realized, “It was getting too crazy for me.” He escaped back to his mother’s home, but his new addiction followed. Back in Roseburg again, the drinking cost him his driver’s license and the ability to stay at his father’s house. Greg experienced tough love and the realization that he needed a remedy to break the bondage in his life. More immediate, he needed a place to live. He said, “My friends were financially dissolved, moved to other cities, had drug habits, were unemployed and they were living with others.” He set a new course, “I went to an AA meeting, then went to the Mission. I was happy I was here, happy Mission was here. It was better than going out and selling drugs or hanging out with other people that did not have my best interest at heart. This is the only place to go for a 23-year-old to get his life on track. I really appreciate that. I stopped drinking and using drugs. After a month, I started doing the Mission program, but I had court fines and medical bills to pay. I decided I was ready to get a job. At first it was a slow process, I applied to quite a few places, but no calls back. Temporary employment agencies are looking for people with specific skills and a car to get to work. At the Employment Department, I got a seasonal job at (a package delivery company). I applied on their website.” After that seasonal job, Greg applied to an online posting on Craig’s List for a “Gas Attendant/Cashier.” He said, “The next day, I got a call, an interview and two days later was my first day of work.”

Greg said, “The Mission gave me an opportunity and an environment that is healthy for me to focus on my life, get some perspective.” Since July, he has been renting a private room at the Mission. He continued, “The people here are really nice. I have made friends; they are good influences. I am taking meds for ADHD and anxiety. I have a lot better odds to make something of my life.”

Then he added, “This was a spiritual experience too. I had stopped going to church. I fell off that for a while. Certain things started coming back to me, images of childhood. Before, I just didn’t care, think about family. Now, I’m going back to the church I went to as a child. I enjoy the music in the Mission chapel, it kept my spirits up, pulled me away from my daily life to look at eternal things. People still care about me.” Then Greg quoted, “Forgive them, for they know not what they do” Luke 23:34 KJV. It’s a Scripture verse that he relates to, because he said, “I didn’t know what I was doing. I was squandering my life.” Now, he knows the forgiveness that Jesus spoke of while on the cross.

This does not mean that all of Greg’s problems are solved. It does mean that hope is restored. He can look up and see a future with real possibilities, out of bondage and in the freedom brought in the Easter resurrection to new life.