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My brother had died when I was 16. I went crazy. Just ran away from my mother's house. Me and my friends were out in the streets smoking weed and getting high. I needed money - I didn't have a job so I started robbing houses and stealing cars in on the Eastside. We'd steal those cars and take them in back of a friend's house, strip the parts and rims off and sell them to drug dealers. I was in a gang, they were just my friends.
I couldn't go back home, my Mom had raised me in church and I was ashamed for her to see me on drugs.
After stealing and robbing, I started selling and using other drugs like crack and acid for about 1 ½ years. One day I was just chilling in a neighborhood bar. We were selling mostly crack, but I had other drugs on me. There was this dude walking down our street. I walked up to him to see what he wanted. He turned out to be a cop! He grabbed me, but I got away and took off running. Before I got caught, I had a chance to throw away everything I had on me except the weed. Because I was already on probation for drug possession, I was sentenced to 7 months in BBRC on Chimney Rock (a home for juvenile offenders). After my time was up, I went back to the streets and did worst things. I stole and took money from people walking out of the bars. I did another 8 months, this time as an adult for two felonies- stealing a cop's gun and burglary of a habitation. You have to get your respect in jail so I spent a lot of time fighting. Most of my friends were locked up now too. The next time I was caught, I went up for 1 ½ years. None of my friends even came to see me, no one except my mother and my girl, Mena. She told me that my friends were hitting up on her. This time I was really alone. I amused myself in the usual way, I continued to fight. Then I got tattoos- although you're not suppose to in jail but there was nothing else to do.
About my last two months in jail I started reading the Bible. I felt really bad for the things I was doing. I asked God to forgive me. When I got out I was trying to do the best I could to get myself right. This time my cousin and I were running together acting crazy. We started drinking. He almost OD'ed and feeling that his life was slipping away, he wanted to change. Me, I continued on because I figured that he would come back to the old life; but he never did. I took up smoking weed again, that's when my lung collapsed.
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At the hospital, I was given morphine and I fell asleep. Finally I woke up and saw myself looking at my body on the bed sleeping! When I went to the door of that hospital room, I saw people just passing me by, they didn't see me. Then I really woke up, got on my knees and started crying "Forgive me, I know that I messed up and kept messing up. I know I promised you (Lord) that I was going to get my life right." I didn't want to die and go to Hell. I prayed until I felt a relief and a great weight off my shoulders…it felt kind of good. I saw Bro. Rodney at the apartments where I stay and he invited me to church again.
I have felt better in Covenant Assembly than I have ever felt in any church. At that first service I felt welcomed. During service I prayed and got the Holy Ghost I felt wonderful. When I started doing wrong again the Lord would tell me, "You know you're messing up!" This would make me feel really bad, so finally I stopped hanging around with the wrong people, stopped inviting them to my house. Mena (my wife) wanted me to change, not to start going to church and then stop; we decided to make Covenant our church. All my family wanted to come here. My cousin had invited me to his church, but I didn't feel at home there, besides I really am happy and the pastors are always calling, encouraging and praying for us. When I really made up my mind to follow the Lord, that's when He told me to get baptized. I had just gone to church that Sunday morning and had forgotten about it. That night my family and I were praying. Then my cousin came over and reminded me about getting baptized. By then I had this feeling that I needed to do it so strong that I had to do it; but I wasn't going to get baptized in any church but Covenant! I called my pastors up and told them that I wanted to get baptized tonight. By then it was after 9:30, but I felt that I must get this done. My cousin and his fiancé and my wife and daughters all came back to the church with me. Once I got in the water, I felt so strange, it was something very different. While sitting in that water, I covered my face with my hands. I started laughing and saying, "Oh, I feel so good!" I felt much better than getting high off drugs I use to
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