Drug use can start off as a fun diversion and distraction. However it very quickly spirals into no longer living but simply surviving. Drugs can become bigger than who we are.
Seeds for Eric’s addiction were planted in high school and led him down a dark path.
“Things progressed and I flunked out of college basically within a year and a half. Then moved to Alaska, my parents had moved there after high school. They wanted to get me out of that scene, it turns out there is drugs in Alaska too.”
“That’s where things went downhill faster than I could even imagine. I started drinking a liter of vodka day. The drugs turned into harder drugs and it was a full-time job. My entire life was finding the next fix.”
Very quickly, what started as fun or social can rule your life.
“If I stopped using I would go through withdrawals which would turn to seizures. Then that spiraled into psychiatric issues where my mind was not functioning correctly. I was in and out of jail – waking up and not knowing how I got there.”
Eric grew up with a punch the card type of church experience.
“I grew up in church. It was always a social thing for me for me. You know, we went to church on Sundays and then we didn’t hear about it for the rest of the week.”
“It wasn’t real to me I didn’t know Jesus or have a personal relationship with him. It was just what good people did, you didn’t have to live it out. You could check it off the books and you’re good for the week and that’s that’s what was what Christianity was was to me growing up.”
Eventually, life caught up with Eric. He spent some time at The Salvation Army in Minneapolis. It was there that God opened up his eyes and turned his life around. He learned that a Church was more than a punch card, and that Jesus desired a real relationship with him.
