Searching for something more in his life, Donnie dropped out of Stanford, opened a natural foods business, and found cocaine.

“Everything I did had to do with cocaine. I dealt it, I used it, I stole money for it. Six nights a week I was hung up and strung out on cocaine. I was miserable in my life, and I was at the end.”

Donnie’s story is one of God’s never-ending pursuit and how God put people in Donnie’s life that would lead him in the right direction.

“These hippies who saved started sharing Jesus with me, and I’d say, ‘What are you guys doing? I don’t need this guy!’ And they just kept coming. They’d bring me sports magazines of these famous athletes who I loved and say, ‘These guys are Christians.’ And they’d say, ‘Donnie, were praying for you.’ It would drive me nuts, but God does work.”

“I was sick and tired of being sick and tired. A friend named Bob – he was always a good friend, I was always welcome at this house – said, ‘Donnie, come over Saturday morning, we’re going to have bagels and hang out.'”

Bob’s simple act of friendship and faithfulness brought about a drastic and life-altering change for Donnie.

“Bob shared Ephesians 2:8-9 with me: ‘By grace you are saved by faith.'”

“I went out in the street in Bend, Oregon that morning and fell on the street weeping and said, ‘Okay, God, I want Jesus as my Savior. Will you come and rescue me right now.’ My life was changed overnight. I met Jesus face-to-face. I didn’t meet religion. I didn’t meet church. I met my Savior. I knew right away, and I’ve been sober ever since. He delivered me from addiction because that’s what he’s good at.”

When a simple act of friendship changes a life