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December 25, 2021 9:00 am
The sunshine state isn’t always sunny when Evangelist Michael Bowen starts a new life in Florida finishing his rehabilitation program. The devil tempts him once more what did Michael do? find out on this episode of Jesus Breaks the chains. Â
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This is Rodney from the masculine journey podcast. We explored manhood within Jesus Christ your chosen Truth Network podcast starting in just a few seconds.
Sit back and enjoy it, share it, but most of all, thank you for listening and choosing The Truth Podcast Network. This is the Truth Network of the resurrection power Jesus Christ absently transforming and restoring life, making all things this power; free from the captivity.hell God is hello and thank you for tuning in to this podcast part of the Jesus Christ chain series from evangelist Michael Bowen. I pray that the Lord blesses you greatly received this word in love and truth.
This podcast is 7 mile bridge opened up with the reasonable word from second Corinthians chapter 5 verses 17 to 21. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ is a new creation.
Old things are passed away behold all things become new.
Not all things are of God was reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ and is given us the ministry of reconciliation that is that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not imputing their trespasses to them and is committed to us the word reconciliation now then we are ambassadors for Christ is a God were pleading through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf. He reconciled to God. For he made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him. I just love this Scripture.
This is one of the very first Scriptures that I read in the Bible that resonated powerfully with me when I surrender my life to Jesus Christ while laying on a prison chapel for 25 years I was addicted to alcohol and crack cocaine was in and out of jail, prisons, rehabilitation centers and even a few mental hospitals because I could not stop using drugs and drinking alcohol for 25 years I carried the heavy weight of the sin, shame and guilt that someone who is destroyed their life with drugs is burdened with in that prison. Laying on the chapel for Jesus took that weight off of me.
He broke to change my diction and he set me free to me right where I was stranded along without any hope in the captivity darkness and held my addicted life and he told me they did make me new and show me a better way if I would give my life to him.
I surrender my life to Jesus that day in the Scripture told me that the old days of my past were now passed away in all things been made new. I was eight years ago in 2013 and the Texas state prison. Jesus gave me a new life in a fresh new start. I was reborn I was filled with the Holy Spirit and I was given a new name and a new purpose as an ambassador for Christ and a witness of Jesus to the end of the earth. I became a disciple of Jesus Christ filled with the love and power of God. Acts one versus 428 and being assembled together with them, he commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the father, which he said you've heard from me for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now, therefore, when they had come together, they asked him, saying, Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel.
He said to them, it is not for you to know times or seasons which the father has put in his own authority.
But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit is come upon you, and you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem and in all Judeo and Samaria and to the end of the earth.
I would now like to take you back into time to place in my life where addiction had first taken a hold of me.
It was the first time I truly began to feel the hopelessness of being a drug addict was addicted to crack cocaine and could not stop smoking drugs its 1997 and I'm living in West Palm Beach, Florida.
I'm in Florida because it is where one of the many drug rehabilitation centers that I went to was located. I've been recently released from the program I'm now living in a recovery home for alcoholics and drug addicts. I'm 29 years old that Benedek addicted to crack cocaine for probably about eight years. At this point in my life. I was able to get out of the rehabilitation program and into the recovery home I went out looking for job and I was able to find a job at Home Depot and during that time I was faithfully going to 12-step meetings and working a 12 step program Alcoholics Anonymous Narcotics Anonymous cocaine anonymous, which everyone I went to the mall any kind anonymous that that that they had. I went to it because I was really, really messed up. At the time.
During this time doing these programs. I really truly believe that I would never do drugs again in my life is finally headed in the right direction. I begin to receive money for my job at Home Depot and decide that I'm ready to leave the recovery home that I'm in a movie with someone from work. If someone happened to be a manager and who took a liking to me and and thought he could trust me in and had had a room to rent in his home and I was talking to him saying I was looking for a place to live any he offered his room to me in his home and I was a nice home right on the canal which will which had a dock at a boat and you could go out the canal and in and be on the ocean was really nice set up and I was really excited about it.
I make plans to move into my new residence. The following week on Monday instead of moving out of the recovery home and going right into the new home.
My coworker I decided I would move out on Friday and then drive down to the Florida Keys and spend the weekend in Key West. I convince myself that I been doing so well working so hard work my 12 step program doing such great things, and in finally got a job on making some money and and I really thought that I old myself a much needed vacation on the beach in the Florida Keys center like an excellent idea to me. Turns out I was wrong and ended up being a very bad decision on my part in the so I leave West Palm Beach on a Friday thinking that I'm in a go make this beautiful drive go down and have this incredible weekend sitting back on the beach, relaxing, pondering my life. Maybe even read from the big book of the 12 steps or whatever. I had all these great plans. I was going to do and give and have myself some Michael time I so much desperately needed. You know how we would build up something vacation or a place for them to go before we go, we build it up in our mind we see it we think it's going to be something so wonderful so peaceful so great. And boy, sometimes it didn't work out that way. But anyway, it's just to tell you about this drive. It is such a beautiful drive through the Florida Keys on Highway one. I'm not sure if anybody if you if you know what I'm talking about. But if you listen to this and you know you know it's one island after another along the way and you travel over the water in and see some very beautiful bridges and about halfway through the Florida Keys.
There is a bridge called the 7 mile bridge and it goes over the water about 7 miles from the most beautiful views I've ever seen am very much enjoying this drive. What I would call a beautiful beach Paradise on my way to a beautiful, wonderful, magical, awesome time that I had truly deserved for myself I been working so hard and anyways I get down to Key West when I arrived. I decide I'm hungry. Haven't eaten anything just been enjoying the drive little watching the scenery CMC goals and just holding up this expectation in this excitement within myself. Wow, here I go. And really it's it's one of the first times that I've since gone to treatment and being in recovery home and doing all this work that I had some time by myself for myself and in doing something like this. Salt so once I arrived in Key West. I decide to get somebody, I'm hungry.
I figured I would eat and then go find a hotel to check into and stay for a couple my nights before I head back to West Palm Beach to move into my new place on Monday so I drive around and I see a sign I thought I find this supposedly famous eating and drinking, establishing Key West called sloppy Joe's. So I decide to give it a try pullover in the parking lot at Park and I go into sloppy Joe's.
Now mind you, sloppy Joe's, is a well-known famous and also I come to find out if you missed Key West saloon and they say that that it had its official opening on December 5, 1933, the day prohibition was repealed when alcohol drink alcohol was illegal in the United States and when they finally allowed alcohol to took to not be a crime and then they allowed people to drink again. That was the day that prohibition was repealed. That was the day that this saloon in Key West was open its first day, so even the great writer Ernest Hemingway frequented this establishment when he was in Key West.
I thought to myself, let me check this place out remind you. I am currently clean and sober.
About eight months. At this point is supposedly working a 12 step recovery program. In reality, I had absolutely no business driving all by myself and going to place in Key West is famously known for its heavy drinking many bars and party atmosphere. A newly recovered alcoholic drug it has no business in the saloon in Key West Florida. Come on man, what was I thinking. Anyways, that's the alcoholic and drug addicted mind. It just starts to take over and we have no clue that it happened to us in that and that's what was happening to me at that point in time, even Key West.
The islands motto is this Key West is close to perfect and far from normal. I would say this motto became very accurate for me close to perfect for an alcoholic and drug addict to get drunk and high and far from normal for a person who is trying not to drink or use drugs. This by far the worst places on the entire planet for me to be that weekend. But I was clueless. I was still in my little dream world of having this fantastic wonderful beach vacation that I earned that I needed that. That did that I old myself. I've been working so hard at a programming job and everything else in my life so sit at the table looking around looking all the pictures on the walls just just taking everything in of what this place is and where I am in and the waitress came to take my order. She asked me if I would like something to drink and instead of saying iced tea. I said I would like a beer… How on earth, and that one quick moment that I just decide to throw away my sobriety and drink beer. That just doesn't make any sense at all. I told myself the all-too-familiar lie that I would only drink one beer well we know that's a lie and I don't know if there's a by this listener. This that that has struggled with alcohol or drugs and you had some time sobriety were not drinking, and then you figure that hey boy, am to do it different this time I will be able to control this thing. I just have one and I know you're out there saying yeah that's me. You're probably always in your hands right now because a lot of us of said I'll just do one and one. It really never works. But so you know what happens to me just run the tape forward and I'm about to tell you what happened without one beer led to two beers, three beers and then the mixed drinks then the shots and then me in a drunken mess. Sitting there in sloppy Joe's sloppy drunken mess sloppy Joe's yes sloppy Michael was at sloppy Joe's thinking he was Ernest Hemingway about to write the next great novel. I don't know. Anyways, just like that. I relapsed and was headed for destruction in Key West Florida like a ship lost at sea without a rudder. I was headed for disaster and up watery grave. Let me tell you, like every other time when I would relapse on alcohol at some point the alcohol would not be enough of a high and I would go in search of something stronger in for me that was always crack cocaine. So when that time came I left sloppy Joe's, and soon found a crack house and began to smoke, to say the least. I became very good at finding crack houses that's that's one skill that that unfortunate. I have to say I possess that I can find a Kraków's in any city in any town any place on planet Earth Mobile would find a Kraków's because that's where the crack is and I used to be a crack at it anyways. I stayed in a crack house for two days and smoke crack nonstop the entire time.
Finally, late Sunday evening I had a moment of clarity got myself together and then drove back to West Palm Beach so I can move into my new place on Monday when I ride West Palm Beach. I found a place to park and I went to sleep in my car Monday morning like clockwork. Got up went to work and acted like we can never happen and I'm telling you, I really acted like it never happened.
I blocked it completely out of my mind and said hey that did not happen.
What I went where I went and did that that that just don't even exist. I did not do that and I blocked it out of my mind that evening after work I moved into my new place where I was renting a room again with with with the manager from Home Depot and he had no idea at that point time that he was allowing a full-blown crack at it to move into his home. Unbelievable things and not get off to a very good start because just like any time you start smoking, drugs, or doing drugs you don't stop and you smoke up all your money and that two days I smoked up all my rent money over the weekend and have a tell my roommate that I would have to pay him on the following Friday when I received my check from Home Depot. He wasn't happy about that at all but gave me a bit of the doubt and said okay.
I worked hard all week. Every day after work I would go home, eat and go to sleep at that point I look like a very good roommate that first week I mean I was great. I did make any noise. I got up early was real quiet leaving the house go out work hard all day, he'd see me all day walking up and down the aisles at the Home Depot and being friendly to people and and just you know doing my thing and Home Depot and anyhow he was probably thinking why got a good roommate. This guys going to be good but didn't turn out to be that way because the wheels were about to fall off, so when Friday rolled around that Friday right around hospitals go get my paycheck and go give him his $350 or however much I can't remember what it was but that, but I was. My paycheck was impacted pay for the rent so I picked up that paycheck at work and I went and cast it. But instead of going home to pay my roommate the rent.
I went where I knew they sold crack and I got high. I smoked up my entire check in one day and went around bouncing checks and stealing things to continue getting high.
I never did go back to my new place where I live or my job at Home Depot. After about two weeks of living out of my car and Kraków's is undecided, roommate to see if I could go get all my belongings back. I called him and he was mad. He was so angry at me and told me that he would call the police I ever set foot on his property.
Again, he also told me I was fired from Home Depot and not ever to go there again either call the police and he told me that he gave all my belongings away to goodwill. That in turn may meet angry. I was so mad I slammed down the phone and and decided that at that point time I'm going to go back Key West get drunk and high like a maniac. You know I was feeling sorry for myself tell myself, how could you give in and all my stuff away.
Here I am.
I have no money. All I have my card. Nowhere to live. I have no job.
I've lost everything all my belongings everything I just had a big old pity party for myself why I tell you what I gotta do the greatest thing you probably should push me in the nose if he could get his hands on me because I mean how do I go and do that.
That's is the really bad thing to do it but it was I was angry Philip Madden so so I decided to go back Key West.
I knew where to go and I just figured that I'll just go down there and get drunk and high and see what happens. So before I left was when into a grocery store and stole food bottles of wine and beer in a cooler with some ice and I loaded in my car and took off and headed toward after a few moments of driving began to feel great amount ashamed you and hopelessness. As I drove them began to drink alcohol, smoke the last bit of crack that I have what I got to Miami I stopped and called my mom thank you for listening. For more information on Michael Billington ministry sons and daughters of thunder sons and daughters. Offender OIG and remember there is no addiction Jesus Christ Jesus breaks the chain.
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