Recovered

Today I'm Building Relationships with Dr. Gary Chapman how one man overcame alcohol addiction and a life-threatening accident. You see their point of light award and really turned them over and that he led.

Welcome to Dr. Gary Sally "The 5 Love Languages" today author and pastor Rob Gallaty joins us to tell his amazing story of recovery. That's the title of our featured resource subtitled how an accident. Alcohol addiction led God to hear it straight ahead radio. I would imagine as many years, you have some pretty amazing stories of God turn people's lives never tire of hearing those stories and watching God's lives excited about our program as we talk with another man whom God has touched recovered and brought back, and so this visit will be exciting. We introduce our guest Rob Gallaty is the senior pastor of long-haul Baptist Church in Hendersonville, Tennessee. He was radically saved out of a life of drug addiction. In November 2002 in 2008 he began replicate ministries to equip and train men and women to be disciples who make disciples featured resources.

His book recovered how an accident.

Alcohol and addiction led me to God.

You can find out more at 5lovelanguages.com pastor Robbie welcome to Building Relationships you grew up in a very religious home.

Tell us about your childhood and adolescence really good family. Growing up my parents were middle-class hard-working parents. My dad owned a collision center. My mom worked downtown New Orleans oil company. We raised Catholic, Roman Catholic, half Italian, so we were very religious Catholics. We weren't what I call creased her Christmas Easter only Catholics we went every week and I knew the Lord was growing up that I didn't have a relationship with him like for me. God was this overbearing, domineering kind of father who was out to chastise me every time I got out of line. I never saw God is a God of the God of relationship and so I was kind of going through the motions. Growing up I went to an all boys Catholic high school, got a scholarship to play basketball at the time it was 66, 220 pounds to go play basketball at UNC Greensboro in North Carolina and pray for me with school and at the last minute, the girl I was dating at the time was going to LSU school in Baton Rouge and she's like Robbie. There's no way you can go that far away.

You know in high school. Your love right so close to home and I literally opened the phone book up and I found William Carey College have explored Mississippi now.

Have you guys heard about scuba force. Yes, I believe Gary was right.

Like I didn't know anything about missionary the father mission that and so I called the coach coach trial for the team. This is like two weeks before school starts and the coaches like I don't think Celtic liberal Robbie you know you're crazy with school and start playing for D1 school can at least try out hesitantly. She let me try out my mom with me to try out that practice it was almost as if the word providential sovereignty is like everything aligned. I was making every shot.

The spirit of Michael Jordan got his three-pointers my module.

Years later she likes have to be honest she said prior to that day. I've never seen you play the good everyday work and the coach called me a few days later he like manner, giving you a full ride to go play basketball.

William Carey two weeks into the semester. The girl left the Division I school for to go to William Carey breaks up with me here I am at a Southern Baptist college Roman Catholic like the target of every other vandalism class on campus right game that I don't know about called convert the Catholic I was like it was cool how the Lord worked that out because I heard the gospel.

They are for the very first time and heard about Christ, a new center and I wouldn't come to faith in Christ. In college, but I would remember that seven years later when God would bring those seeds to fruition. Well, that's amazing is that you can look back and see God's hand working in things for you knew him right exactly when you were growing up as a kid. Did you have ideas of what you wanted to be when you grew up you know I wanted my parents were great parents. They really motivate us to work hard really succeed in life. And so I wanted just wanted to be successful at something.

I had a really good work at the back. In college is what happened at 19 years old I got asked to be in a network marketing company which like Amway or ACN or telephone company. We ran the money, but my dad and my dad said you got time put up the money. If you were my contacts and you know we could do this business together and by the time I was 20 father and I had this huge network marketing business. We broke all the records in the city. We are 20 years old, 21, I thought I would be a millionaire so I'm like traveling the country giving these business presentations, my mentors at the time were Tony Robbins, zig Ziglar left Brown.

I've taken document to be a millionaire about 20 to 23 I was test driving Ferraris on like this is it.

21 I had a downline of about 2000 people in my downline and what happened was the business was a pyramid scheme 22 years old will.

21. It really was a pivotal time in my life. I got a phone call from the company after I graduated from college and thought this is what I'll do the rest of my life and they said you're not going to get paid anymore and no longer will the people in your downline. Make sure you tell them.

21 I didn't have the emotional or spiritual capacity to navigate that because it was just overwhelming. And so I went through a season of depression and that really started the pivot in my life where I wanted to do nothing in the business world and that's my story, this my book I started to train Brazilian jujitsu mail you guys heard of UFC before like the fighting championship. I so here I am back. 662 90 pounds. I am training to be a professional fighter with a college degree and I've got no health insurance, so that's not never smart at the time.

It's trying to be in the UFC, restaurant one night and this is, with relationships guy comes up to me and he's like a man on the club downtown New Orleans. Would you be interested in being the head bouncer in the middle of Mardi Gras get this straight, you pay me to fight for �22 so I start working at the bar.

You can imagine this is a wild season of time.

I realize I need a career change of the time I'm escorting two guys to the parking lot when guy leaves under it. She pulls out a loaded 9 mm gun pointed at my head and says, now tell me what to do. I need a career change and things like that really made perfect sense and after I leave the bar.

One day as a bartender coming home from work. November 22, 1999 and dark.

This is one model like ships and I get a major car accident. I get really rear-ended by an 18 wheeler in my life never the same after that accident was listening to Kim relate to this and a lot of people start taking drugs and pharmaceutical drugs because of an accident right we see this all the time in the ministry, they they have a shoulder injury or back injury a toothache. I was a 22-year-old boy man, I've never taken drugs before my life.

I was an athlete, so I was always working at trying to be healthy, but I was in pain and so those 18 wheeler rear-ended me 65 miles an hour sandwich. My car into the guard rail broke off the hinges. My seatbelt locked in my back towards her Navy created two disc in my neck to disc in my back went to the doctor they sent me home with four things I was 22 years old again never taken drugs for things OxyContin, Valium, soma and Percocet. And you know the story coming within three months, I may legitimately obtain and so I start taking the drugs every 4 to 6 hours, and within a few months.

I'm addicted to pharmaceutical drugs. Write me nowadays read a statistic recently that said, a person can have at the pendency toxic cotton in seven days seven days you're addicted to the drug OxyContin and so I did have a chance to make it.

I mean I'm addicted to these drugs and within a few within a few weeks.

I'm going through this 30 day prescription in two weeks so I have to find its way to fill this insatiable desire I have to get high. I can't work anymore.

I can't train I can't Bartender.

I just want to get high. So people always say you noted that you have a tendency as a child that kind of manifested years later, it may well say is as a kid I struggle with ADHD, although I wasn't diagnosed my mom and dad knew I had it in. The doctor said you could put him on Ritalin or you can cope with it through a diet that talk a little bit about this in the book I want on the site called the Feingold diet, which is basically no artificial flavors, colors and additives so I tell people I did to bubblegum and so I was like 13 years old, never get to drink soft drinks and my parents were able to manage that as a child and so I had some of the tendencies for addiction is as a child, but it took the accident to come to bring those to light in my life and so I get addicted to pharmaceutical drugs at the age of 22 and for the next three years. It's this downward spiral in my life. In the beginning of the book you talk about one of the low points in your life and that is when your mom calls and let you know that you stolen from them. I'm assuming in order to have money to satisfy the drug deal that talk a bit about that you so after I get on drugs running through medication quickly and so so-called friendly city comes up to me like a man what are you fooling around pharmaceutical drugs.

You can buy street drugs. You could buy heroin and cocaine. You can buy in bulk. You can baguette sell it and make money. And so what was a blessing for me at 19, 20 and 21 in the network marketing world became a curse for me in the drug world because what happened is I was able to start this illegal enterprise very quickly by working my way up through drug dealers right guys in the drug world they don't make money.

They just want to get high sure is an opportunity and so within a few months I've nailed trafficking drugs in the city are selling ecstasy pills and GHB special K marijuana might say this to anyone listening to impress you. I really just want to impress upon you just how far the Lord brought me from time to greatly beginning by the world standards.

I mean, we had tons of money on a $50,000 Cadillac CTS black on black chrome rooms pay cash for it and I said that the save if you would've seen me back then in the midst of this drug world, you would've said at the beginning that you really have it all.

My right leg at all by the world standards you, you really have arrived in the first season of time. You know I did. I really believe that but even when I would go to bed at night. I did know the Lord.

But there was something inside of me that would say you know there has to be more to life than this, and for those in addiction. They know exactly what that is it that there has to be more to life than this.

It has to be better than where I am and so I had money in the beginning but like any addiction and you guys know this always takes you further than you ever want to go right tell people it's like sin takes you further than you want to go sit always keeps you there longer than you want to stay in it always charges you more than you ever want to pay and that's what addiction does. It is a relentless issue in your life that never lets up and so I ran out of money and I didn't know what to do, but my parents were trusting in loving close-knit Italian family and so my dad wasn't looking I took his credit card and memorize the number and my dad had a big collision center and so he would charge thousands of dollars a month on parts for the cars and I figure my mind could never see these little charges right side discharge little bit here and there.

What I would do is I buy stuff online and I would pwn it or sell it for drug money and over the course of three months I charge $15,000 in my dad's credit card almost bankrupted the family business. In hindsight, my mom calls me February of that year. It's the week before Mardi Gras and I just remember the phone call and she says Robbie we found out about what you did your fathers furious and I'm disappointed in you. Don't you ever come to this house again and I said you know mom and you know in my arrogance and pride. I thought you mom. I don't need you guys.

I never needed you before I deftly don't need you now. I hung the phone up. I took the little bit of money I had left and I spent it on drugs party through Mardi Gras and for the next 2 1/2 months, document this in the book I I lived living hell on earth. I'm in a really did. It was the worst season of my life. We live with our gas in the house for 2 1/2 months. In the end of winter know how they are no hot water we master the art of the cold shower where we get into freezing cold water, get out, Lazaro Baird again and get out.

I did that I did that. Now, in hindsight, but I do that for almost 3 months because I was more interested in getting high.

I was paying the bills.

They turn the phone off after a month we live without water for a month no electricity and eventually they kicked us out of the home, and I decided after losing everything.

I was back to my parents and asked my unbelieving parents at the time to welcome me back in and wash away and forgive the debt I had taken from them and here's what's cool about about this is that this encounter, I really try to capture this God uses my two unbelieving parents demonstrate to me the grace of God in a way of never seeing millimeters backup for those listening because this was the turning point in my life when my mom cut me off. My mom calls me on the phone and says to me delivers talk to me again. Those 2 1/2 months dock. I would say, or would save my life and you notice me you guys talk to people and counsel people a perpetual addiction is always the result of an enabler and if you're listening today could be you and in my case it wasn't my mom most cases it's the mom for me it was my dad but only if the mom and it's not that you're trying to hurt your children. God forbid you want to help them like you. You want to get the money you want to provide for, but in a sense, when you keep perpetuating their addiction.

You're actually leading them to one of three avenues to talk about this, but here's the thing, drug addiction leads to one of three outs. Jail institutions or death that's only three of obviously rehabbing recovery obviously but Jail institution or death and by my mom cutting me off in a sentence that your father and I are done with you. Don't come to this house again. They save my life now since the year 1999 till today I have lost 15 friends and in that period of time so 20 years I've lost 15 friends to drug and alcohol related � six went to prison and I'm convinced that the reason that that it happened is because mom cut me off here so I came up with and I want to share this with you because I think this is helpful for people who are in this if your neighbor listen to enabler. Listen if you keep being their Savior. Jesus never can be. And what I mean is if you keep bailing them out.

Why would they return to God right like if you if you keep intervening interest intervening in and and coming into their life and having an intervention then why would they ever turn to Jesus because they have you. And so there has to be a point in life when you have to trust the Lord and really turn them over to him and that's what my parents did to me, which ultimately led to my salvation, sharing that my mind reflected on three months ago when I had the funeral for 19-year-old who basically follow the pattern that you just talked about his two since it said it's tragic to see so many young lives that are lost by walking this road. Well, obviously God brought you out of that you work at the point now. You went back to your parents and I were gonna see how they responded.

How did that go. So I go back to the home and I basically get on my knees and I broke it. At this point, you know the Lord sometimes allows us to get so low in life where we have to turn to him and I tell people God's choice instrument for bringing us back to him in getting our attention is suffering right mean suffering is William nobody ever comes of the Lord when things are great in life, you know normally it's when weights are broken and suffering and so there I was, I was broken went to my parents ask them to take me back in and they did by God's grace. They welcome me back and took me out of the home. I was in within within a week I was at my first rehab treatment I went to two but the first one in of all places, Tijuana, Mexico, where I come back from treatments and I do good for the next eight or nine months I move cities that talk about how you know one of the ways you can ensure sobriety or really increase your chances of sobriety is to relocate your life because of people, places and things in the same city that cause you to fall actually relocated to a different city I live with my sister in Alabama and things were great, but I hurt my back again. I was trouble rehabilitated. I heard it again. I decided my mind I thought you know what I have a great idea. I'll go back to the same doctor that gave me the drop at this time the market would take many ophthalmologists keep him and maybe sell a few of them and just have them just in case you know what happened them in the parking lot fill the prescription and the cycle repeats itself to get you something about addiction. The reason so many people relapse and die. And this is something for people to consider the reason people who have a season of sobriety and then they go back to the drugs and the guy. This is why, because when you relapse and go back on drugs, you never start over. You pick up where you left off and the body has readjusted itself at a lower level and is not able to compensate for the high amount of drugs that you're putting into your system so the body seizes and dogs and so that's why a lot of people relapse and so I picked up where I left off. I'm back on drugs again for another 58 months six months and long story short, I come to the place where I'm sick and tired of being back on the drugs. I go back to rehab for the second time in tell people the reason I want to read up twice is because the first two times I did it without Christ.

One of things about sobriety and recovery of been able to counsel people for years about this is the reason you need Christ to be set free from addiction of any kind could be a drug addiction.

A porn addiction.

Six of the word whatever it is the reason you need. Christ is because you are bound by sin. Sin is like a ball and chain shackled to your foot right so you can't set yourself free from the ball and chain or the prison cell, you're in, you need someone outside of yourself to come and set you free.

And so the first two times I thought I could do it without Christ.

What I tell people sobriety without Christ is a dead-end street, one way, and there's there's really no way out. And so there I was, I was in my room. November 12, 2002 87 years ago 17 years ago, basically. And there I was in my room and I cried out to the Lord I will and I was desperate at this point that I tried everything and here's what I said to the Lord God of your real I'm going to surrender my life to you and I'm going to go all in and I promise if you save me, I would tell people I will tell people in the days ahead about what you did and so what I have is this 24-hour radical Paul light conversion was so radical I got saved I went to my dad the next day method that my mother's Catholic now the time still and said that God's call me to be a preacher from each ticket's son, what are you smoking regularly that he whatever category that you like what you thought you married but being a priest or priest, dad, and that began this journey of following Christ in May 1999 which the addiction started getting radically saved 2200 amazing story, and what a work of God in your life of take a break and just let me ask you this is some parentless thing right now.

Who says you don't understand Robbie jail is going to happen or death is going to happen if I don't intervene. You don't understand. I've got to save my child's life. What you say that parent I would say that the people think that saying you shouldn't intervene much a parent shouldn't help them out.

Same parent shouldn't constructed be there for the kids. My parents were obviously what I'm saying is, there comes a point in time when you have to create a bottom. This is something about addicts mind works in adequate always find out.

And so if they don't find them out with your wife to find it with their parents or they don't find out what the parents of fun with friends and so what happens with the drug addict is you have to close off all of the outs you have to burn all of the bridges to where they understand the consequences of their actions and then when they feel the weight of that then they're going to get help mail sometimes is the Lord says in the Bible, God's kindness leads to repentance, so saying we should be kind of love our kids or family members. What I'm saying isn't in people listening. Don't talk about if you have someone who consistently relapses and consistently manipulates and consistently steals there comes a time when you have to just say enough is enough and working to cut you off and working to turn you over to the Lord is your story. It's easy to see the hand of God in bringing you to a place of desperation and then your crying out to God.

Once you gave your life to Christ and began to follow him. Were there some people are individuals who came along to walk beside you and and and serve as a model to use them. Someone that cared for you outside your family. Great question because this is really the difference that made all the difference in my own life and what will you have a pass like my pastor not we all have a past and will make it saved.

We come to faith in Christ. This infant baby Christians and what happens for many people it happened for me for the first few months my Christian life is that after I got saved. I didn't know what to do right like I knew I should go to church Academy that much but I did know how to read the Bible right handed me a Bible and said hey Rita I'm like okay you do that right somebody said you should probably pray. Is it okay well I learned our father in the Hail Mary. Growing up, but I don't know how to talk to God inexcusably said you have to memorize Scripture go and memorize Scripture and learn that, but I didn't know how to do those things and so I wandered for the next eight months actually in that time. Went back into the world to try to save some of my friends and work, share limited this, which I think is helpful before I start getting discipled and that is I felt invincible shortly after became a Christian I got I got I just felt like the Lord leaving me to preach the Bible and never have a dad in the ministry.

I didn't know any pastor but I just felt compelled to preach and share this story and so I called the only Christian guy I knew which was Jeremy Brown was the guy who told me about Christ in college and I called him on the phone he had heard from inside six years.

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I am a Christian and God's call me to preach in Germany� Again and Jerry Jerry got told me were to go to ministry together and Jeremy said that what essentially got it told me anything and let me pray about this and so we began shortly thereafter, a ministry will we began to travel and preach, and I would share my testimony and got started, the blessed that and so I felt invincible and this is an insider want to share because this is a lesson that was very expensive as a crucial lesson in my life I thought I could save my friends right away. And so here I was leaving this to hundred dollar a day heroin and cocaine addiction that I had. I got saved and within two months back sharing Christ with the guys. I just left so I went into the world and went to my friends that I met you mind if I share with Jesus is doing in my life with you and my friend you are at the time and he's unfortunately passed away. Since then, but he said sure is that I don't mind. He said do you mind if I roll a joint why you do it now know I'm a Christian, invincible right and so I'm sharing Christ with him and I don't even know all that happened leading up to the two weeks of doing this but I just remember coming to walking on Bourbon Street. Two weeks later I got a Bud Light in one hand and I'm going back to his apartment this morning. A ball of cocaine as a Christian preacher is what some a preacher and a Christian and I'm back on drugs again. And here is what I tell people.

These guys were and they meant well and they were good friends of mine but they were in the world and so they were pulling me off of this alleged that I had gotten on and they had sucked me back into the world, which I tried to bring them out and I wasn't prepared or mature enough to a place where I could bring them out and so what happened was a nail back on drugs and it's only the Lord in the grace of God that he didn't just take me out. At that point I'm preaching on Sundays and traveling on the weekends that advance and getting high during the week and preaching on the weekend and people are still getting save dock which is crazy and shows you that God's gonna work. In spite of the messenger because God's gift annuity.

He wants to do. The differences are we gonna be used by him and we get the blessing for himself how I was in the drug world again back on drugs. I blow about $28,000 worth of money again over the next 2 1/2 three months and the question is how to come back to the Lord at this point. Every morning I would wake up and this is my daily routine outlined a lot of this in the book of the talk about this is the daily routine of a drug addict is every morning I wake up I would go to the daiquiri shop at 10 AM. One of things about the college which is an interesting culture is that there is a 24 hour day, seven day week bars, environment open in the daiquiri shops are the ones that are open a lot and so today I might roll out of bed. I would go score drugs from the from the drug dealer in the in the project, but I would stop to get a daiquiri on the way the girl working the daiquiri shop was a girl named Christie, and remember I'm a Christian now, so come on drugs. I'm a Christian. So I would share this with her as I'm ordering the drinks at all.

Take the 190 octane strong district they make. I think the one that he ought to know. By the way, did you know that Jesus died for Debbie to fit okay. What did you know that the Bible says if you confess with your mouth and believing okay. Here's a great thank you okay if you confess with your mouth and believe in our Jesus is great that you be safe, you know, and she would hear this from me and I would leave and I did this for like two months right I drive through the drink. God uses this unbelieving pot smoking girl at the time to lean out the window and bring me back to Christ. With this line.

She leaves out the window and she says Robbie you know, for someone who knows so much about Jesus. You sure don't act like it in guys that was the shot across the bow of my heart. I was stunned, and here's what the Lord did in the process of leaving her to Christ. God actually brought me back to him that here's a cool story about this girl Christie she actually she got saved.

I let a guide to the Lord at the gym shortly thereafter, who became a friend of mine. I introduced them as a couple. Both of them now are serving the Lord at a church plant in Miami so cost is really how is this girl to bring me back to here's a lesson I learned no one share this with those listening.

The lesson I learned was this no one is immune from the effects of sin which takes a lifetime to build a testimony to be destroyed in a moment, and so I learned a very valuable lesson that I needed parameters of my life. I needed protection of my life and that I could fall in the right environment with the right factors just like any of us or anybody listening right like we could fall if were not careful and considerate of our shredding so I came back to the ward and shortly thereafter the grant your question, I met a man named David Platt. Now you may her of you guys for me with David Platt current use affidavit wrote a book called radical many of May, knowing from that and he's the pastor of a church in Virginia, claim Bible church, but back then.

He is a seminary student, and he looks about 14 at the time in 2014 and he comes across church one Sunday and he's like a man, would you be interested in studying the Bible memorize Scripture and praying together once a week over lunch that I love to eat� He said pray about that already have.

When we meet for the next two years.

We met every week twice a week we started at the Chinese restaurant over general says chicken we moved to the Pizza Pl., David and said, hey, you probably need to consider going to seminary. David was instrumental in baptizing me. David stood up my wedding. David took me to my first mission trip. I failed at the say I am the product of discipleship. David taught me the things of the say that obviously people actually like did you study the finer tenets of Sochi rheology did you pack eschatology, yet we did that, I'm sure, but I can't remember any of those things really. Here's what I remember.

I remember how David emulated before me what she would then expect from me. I watch the David left his wife and that gave me a picture of how to let my future wife. I saw how David shared the gospel passionately gave me a passion for the gospel.

I listen to David preach the word unapologetically and that rubbed off on me to do the same. So I tell people discipleship is you guys there was more caught the taught and I had the wonderful privilege as an eight-month-old Christian spent two years with David Platt. I know exactly what you don't buddy look 1420 buddy.

You can just hear you note he cared about you. He came alongside you and walked with you and now it seems to me that you're doing the same thing with your writing in your teaching in your your pastoring you doing the same thing that David was doing for you right and that's why 2008, became a pastor and started leaving a church I started to see that what was normative for me and just intuitive what is really abnormal for the church and what I mean is I heard a lot of pastors talking about making decisions, making converts, making Christians, but I didn't hear a lot of people talking about making disciples and being a Christian is obviously what the goal is but it's to be a disciple of Christ to his learning and growing and reproducing their lives and so I started a ministry called replicate that's that's why do that to help pastors to see how they can from start to finish.

Created disciple making movement in the church and what I found is that a lot of pastors wanted to do that. A lot of church members listening to you may want to do that but they simply didn't know what to do and in the church world X relationship stock is your counseling people in love languages or olive leaf. Most people when they don't know what to do. They don't do anything at all.

And so, I realize we needed to create a resource ministry to help people do that and so I really given my life to that and and and here's what I found what the problem is and there's usually a lot of issues here but one of the problems. Could it be that for years and years we have taught all of our people to share their faith which is a good thing. Share your faith, we people to Christ but we haven't taught people how to share their life which is a big deal right.

I mean, it's not just want to cross the threshold of faith which is important, but it's leading someone into a nurturing life giving abundant life that Christ promised and a part of it for me. I know this is a discussion on the flip time, but part of it for me as I think we have preached half the gospel right like wheat we have taught people there saved from something we haven't taught people with their safe for work and for Jesus when he talked about the kingdom of heaven. I mean, it was always in the present 90% of the times of the study recently on Jesus using this phrase kingdom of heaven which is as listening is the most important concept.

Jesus ever preached on and yet it's the most confusing concept in the church to eat of the kingdom of heaven is an interesting topic for Jesus 90% of the time. For Jesus, the kingdom of heaven was a person of power or a people presently known for it's about as the average American Christian, I would say what is the kingdom of heaven or where is the kingdom of heaven, and they would say some future place in the spiritual heavens that we go to after death, which is partly right. Yeah, but for Jesus. It was a present reality. It was a power himself for discipleship. I show people that Jesus didn't just save you from something he saved you for something most American pastor sadly were trying to get Christians out of the world to be in heaven with God. But Jesus is trying to bring heaven to earth through people today as I listen to you reminded of Dawson Trotman the founder of the navigators you may know of that group has the same emphasis that you're talking about is making disciples not simply bringing people to Christ taken them for they are experiencing the power of God in their lives now as people read this book and I think many of our listeners will want to read this book, how you hope it's going to equip the pastor small group leaders, church leaders, to better minister to those who are struggling with addiction or to those that perhaps you have not had that problem but have other problems in the reason I wrote this book was twofold. One is I wanted to bring people who haven't experienced addiction and haven't struggled with it. Personally I wanted to bring them into the mind of an addict shot a kid of a boy who had great parents and this happened to him so he was the byproduct of something happening to him, didn't ask for this to happen didn't want it to happen, but it happened. I wanted to bring them into the mind of what it was like for me as I struggled to try to experience sobriety struggled to get out relapse let his parents.

Dale stole from them and I wanted to do that in order for people to have some empathy really for the people who are in this addiction is a serious issue, ravages our society and the thing about addiction today show no what was years ago an inner-city issue of people who were of certain social economic class that that's not addiction anymore addiction is your neighbor next-door.

Right. It's a friend down the street coming every body has been affected by the Celexa person.

The second reason I wrote this book as I wanted to write it to be given to someone in addiction challenge with addiction is that world there's not a lot of hope there's not a lot of victory. There's not a lot of success and I wanted people to read this book, I weave the gospel through the book 3 different places very blatant, very open, through conversations, so it's not just forthright and you're going to hell if you don't trust in Christ.

It's conversational and it's how I process the gospel and why I surrendered to Christ. I really wrote it to be given to the addicts to give them hope to say wow if God can do this with Robbie the man God can do this with me. I think another cool insight something that just came out it's amazing and I'm not supporting this, but I will say it's interesting Netflix just came out with a show recently called the pharmacist I did know about the show I did know anything about it and about supporting this show, but I will tell you an interesting insight about the show.

The show is about a pharmacist in my hometown.

It's a really crazy guy call up all the towns in all the world and all of the epidemics happening in America. They pick my hometown with a pharmacist and so I'm very intrigued by this and start watching this program and I went to this pharmacist multiple times. I did know was back story, but I went through multiple times with the story.

The Netflix shows it is is a real-world documentary on how his son gets addicted to drugs get shot and killed in the ninth Ward, which is really rough area of New Orleans over a drug deal and get killed. I'm watching the show in my book. I'm documenting how I used to buy drugs to streets over from where this kid got shot. Episode two moves on to him as a pharmacist now realizing that most of the pharmaceutical purchase prescriptions that are coming into his pharmacy have the name of Dr. on them. It is a doctor named Jacqueline Clagett. That's the name of this doctor. He documented in the in the documentary the named Jacqueline Clagett was the doctor I wrote about in my book that ruined my life this guy goes on a survey multiple 10 year mission.

He single-handedly takes this doctor down. What are the chances that it's the doctor that that runs my life. Here's a point of saying all this I'm watching the show.

Unbeknownst to me, I realize that the epicenter of the OxyContin distribution. In fact, they said the most OxyContin pills were being written in the world were coming from the doctor that got me addicted and so I just think it's cool how the Lord is bringing to light some of these things and I talked to my parents after we watched the miniseries together. One of things we talked about was I didn't have a chance. I want seven friends who were connected to this doctor who didn't have a chance at me once you get on this stuff is very hard to get off so I fail it to say my prayers that God would use this book to encourage people to impact people and to really help people in the addiction world to say there is a chance if there's hope.

And if there's breast. There's a chance in his life. And so that's my prayer. Since we come to the end of our program there. Someone who is been listening who is addicted to alcohol, drugs, or whatever. Just speak a brief moment speak directly to them as we close the program. I would say number one is I know where you are and I know what you're dealing with and I'm telling you this is the toughest journey in battle you'll ever go through. I know that the good news is you don't have to battle it alone. The best thing you can do right now is to read your life completely to Jesus Christ and fully surrender not just namesake or or just repeat a prayer I'm talking fully surrender and Jesus the keys to every room in your heart you let him drive the car and you watch what God does in your life and don't give up if there's breast. There's hope in life and so I just want to encourage you one day at a time. Think about tomorrow about the next day. Trust Christ today and watch Italy tomorrow. Thank you for being with us today know that those are listening help in this program and I hope that many you can reach out and get this book for themselves or for a friend. So thanks for being with us today. Thanks for having all the addiction in the world today. All the struggles with drugs and alcohol. Rob Gallaty is given a whole Lotta hope you hear that day and there's more in the book that is written find it by love languages.com. The title again recover how an accident. Alcohol and addiction led me to go to "The 5 Love Languages" .com. Next week is Easter weekend will talk with singer and songwriter Michael Carr about a Hebrew word perfectly describes the love of God should be a great conversation is always caring for Miguel. Let me think our connection team and Janet's time Building Relationships. Dr. Gary Chapman's radio in Chicago, gazing with my ministry and Bible Institute. Thanks for listening