Joe Buchanan is one of the nice guys. He is genuine, kind, thoughtful, and honest. He is a sweet-spirited guy that you are just sure grew up in a tight-knit family that loved well. You would never believe that at one point in his life, the people around him thought he would be in prison, on drugs, or dead by the time he was 15.

Born to a teenage mother, Joe experienced abuse at a very early age. After his mom fed Joe and his brother rat poison, he was moved into Foster care. More than a dozen homes, in a few short years, and nearly all of them abusive. By the time Joe was 10, he believed he was unlovable. It was no surprise that by the time he turned 15, he was thinking seriously about suicide.

“I made a deal with this God that I didn’t believe in.  I said, God, if you’re out there, if you are real, then you had better turn my life around by this date. Because if you don’t, I’m calling it quits and you’re going to have to clean up the mess. I had a literal date on the calendar. I just had this hope that maybe something would come out of no where, maybe a miracle was going to happen.”

Something did happen. Something so extraordinary that it convinced Joe God is real and He loves him. That experience changed the trajectory of Joe’s life and set him on a path, not only to find love, but also the capacity to forgive the ones who had hurt him the most.

“I felt the embrace of God.  For the first time in my life I felt like someone actually loved me. Everything changed from that moment. I really, truly believe if we knew how loved we are, there is nothing we couldn’t accomplish for Him.”

(Joe with his teenage mom and dad.)

If you doubt God’s love for you, Joe’s story will inspire you to believe.  Hear Joe’s full story in Chapter One of Epic.

Joe Buchanan- prison, drugs, or dead