Welcome back, I want to introduce you to Aaron Chancy. 00:00:14.37\00:00:17.68 Aaron you heard your parents talk about the different 00:00:17.71\00:00:21.77 things they were going through as they fell in love, 00:00:21.80\00:00:24.38 as they got married, joining the service and moving 00:00:24.41\00:00:27.17 around, what was that like for you as a kid and 00:00:27.20\00:00:30.55 when did you jump into drugs, drinking, and partying 00:00:30.58\00:00:37.22 and all that stuff? 00:00:37.25\00:00:38.53 Okay let me first start by saying, there is a story in 00:00:38.56\00:00:41.74 the Bible in Luke chapter 15, there are three stories. 00:00:41.77\00:00:44.04 There are two different parables in the story. 00:00:44.07\00:00:46.73 One is lost coin, you have the lost coin and the lost 00:00:46.76\00:00:49.61 sheep and you have the prodigal son. 00:00:49.64\00:00:51.79 Myself, my story represents the prodigal son. 00:00:51.82\00:00:55.72 I grew up in Adventist home but ended up leaving. 00:00:55.75\00:00:58.52 The lost coin, the interesting thing is the coin was lost 00:00:58.55\00:01:02.25 but didn't know it was lost. 00:01:02.28\00:01:04.28 The sheep was lost, but didn't know how to find its way back. 00:01:04.31\00:01:07.44 In my instance I grew up like the prodigal son in the 00:01:07.47\00:01:10.97 home, but ended up leaving. 00:01:11.00\00:01:13.08 Events that took place that brought me to leaving home, 00:01:13.11\00:01:17.87 you heard my parents say they were in the military. 00:01:17.90\00:01:21.12 This moved us around a number of amount of times. 00:01:21.15\00:01:24.66 We lived in Germany a couple years, we lived in Hawaii 00:01:24.69\00:01:26.81 a couple years, now to the average person this is fun. 00:01:26.84\00:01:30.61 This is a good time, you know. 00:01:30.64\00:01:33.03 I enjoyed myself, I did enjoy myself. 00:01:33.06\00:01:35.15 - but you could never have any friends and connect? 00:01:35.18\00:01:37.61 You connect to them for a short amount of time, 00:01:37.64\00:01:40.14 but then you are gone and you never see them again. 00:01:40.17\00:01:42.92 I often find myself today thinking I wonder what this 00:01:42.95\00:01:46.08 friend is up to, and I left 20 years ago. 00:01:46.11\00:01:49.21 What it did was it left me with, who am I? 00:01:49.24\00:01:54.39 Because I've gone to all these different places and meeting 00:01:54.42\00:01:57.08 all these different people, I don't actually identify 00:01:57.11\00:01:58.90 with anybody, I don't identify with the rich, I don't 00:01:58.93\00:02:01.57 identify with the poor, I don't identify with Black, 00:02:01.60\00:02:04.84 White, because I have been around all different types of 00:02:04.87\00:02:06.81 nationalities, who exactly, yeah everybody, everybody. 00:02:06.84\00:02:10.71 So it left me with an identity crisis or whatnot. 00:02:10.74\00:02:14.51 But when I was about the age of 13 or so, 13, 14, when 00:02:14.54\00:02:18.57 I started getting curious to a life outside of the church. 00:02:18.60\00:02:23.05 What kind of lifestyle is going on outside of the church. 00:02:23.08\00:02:26.27 I grew up pretty much in a home that kept the Sabbath and 00:02:26.30\00:02:30.22 had worship together and things of that nature. 00:02:30.25\00:02:34.05 I started looking other ways, at about 15 years I 00:02:34.08\00:02:39.47 started getting curious, how is it that certain people 00:02:39.50\00:02:44.79 are getting money, getting rich quick? 00:02:44.82\00:02:47.46 While I am stuck with a family that is working and things 00:02:47.49\00:02:52.22 of that nature, but we never seem to have any money. 00:02:52.25\00:02:54.36 Never seem to have any fun or whatnot. 00:02:54.39\00:02:57.15 I would go to friends houses and they would be 15 or 16 00:02:57.18\00:02:59.91 years old and they would have cars with rims on it. 00:02:59.94\00:03:03.50 All the little shiny fine nice things that we see. 00:03:03.53\00:03:07.02 - I want all that. - we do want all that. 00:03:07.05\00:03:08.91 But quick money, but fast life. 00:03:08.94\00:03:10.70 So about 15 years old is when I finally ventured out. 00:03:10.73\00:03:15.67 Through with the religion, through with all that, 00:03:15.70\00:03:19.99 through with God basically. 00:03:20.02\00:03:21.47 - so let me just ask you, with your family, did they 00:03:21.50\00:03:23.64 feel or sense you moving out? 00:03:23.67\00:03:26.36 I think they probably did, they would hear me talk about 00:03:26.39\00:03:29.69 how I wanted to play sports, but the problem with the 00:03:29.72\00:03:33.03 sports was games being on Friday nights or whatnot. 00:03:33.06\00:03:36.74 Our games on the Sabbath and I would have to be church. 00:03:36.77\00:03:39.06 It became a burden to me, I can't do anything, I can't 00:03:39.09\00:03:42.46 go anywhere, so all of this began to be a burden. 00:03:42.49\00:03:45.57 So I just came to the point where I didn't want anything 00:03:45.60\00:03:48.36 to do with God sort of because it was just a burden. 00:03:48.39\00:03:51.09 It just seemed to be a burden, a check on my life sort of. 00:03:51.12\00:03:53.56 So at about 15, I started venturing out and I found myself 00:03:53.59\00:03:58.73 at 15 starting drinking alcohol. 00:03:58.76\00:04:01.68 Actually me and my brother, he had snuck out of the house 00:04:01.71\00:04:04.55 one time and went to a party. 00:04:04.58\00:04:06.37 That was my first time drinking, experiencing alcohol and 00:04:06.40\00:04:10.56 I woke up the next morning with a hangover, but it really 00:04:10.59\00:04:14.48 didn't matter, I gravitated to a certain type of lifestyle 00:04:14.51\00:04:19.85 that seemed to intrigue me. 00:04:19.88\00:04:21.95 Though I had a hangover the next morning, I knew that this 00:04:21.98\00:04:25.64 was what I wanted to do. 00:04:25.67\00:04:26.65 I want to live this kind of lifestyle, 00:04:26.68\00:04:28.24 basically rebellious, to what all I want. 00:04:28.27\00:04:30.66 I'm watching the movie videos and things, watching music 00:04:30.69\00:04:33.67 thugs in the streets and things. 00:04:33.70\00:04:38.17 It's like living a lifestyle of don't care, do what you 00:04:38.20\00:04:41.87 want to, when you want to do it, and hang out all manner 00:04:41.90\00:04:44.44 of times at night and things like that. 00:04:44.47\00:04:46.10 - It is crazy to me, because I came from that lifestyle 00:04:46.13\00:04:50.59 looking at somebody that was fairly normal or a Christian 00:04:50.62\00:04:53.61 family that loved each other and I'm thinking, I'm looking 00:04:53.64\00:04:56.23 and saying I want that. 00:04:56.26\00:04:57.85 But lots of time some of the people who are more 00:04:57.88\00:05:00.21 conservative and more Christian are looking at our 00:05:00.24\00:05:01.83 lifestyle and saying, I want that. 00:05:01.86\00:05:04.26 Exactly! - you're saying I want all that, 00:05:04.29\00:05:05.56 I just what I want to do what I want and 00:05:05.59\00:05:07.39 nobody tell me what to do. 00:05:07.42\00:05:08.40 - exactly, and I got intrigued about the fast money. 00:05:08.43\00:05:11.88 Like I said, I would see kids, I would go to school with 00:05:11.91\00:05:14.63 kids that are coming to school with tattoos on, 00:05:14.66\00:05:17.64 gold teeth in their mouth. 00:05:17.67\00:05:19.12 At 15 year old, car with rims, and systems in the trunk and 00:05:19.15\00:05:23.68 I'm like what in the world are you doing? 00:05:23.71\00:05:25.69 So I basically ended up jumping headfirst into it. 00:05:25.72\00:05:29.07 I found myself stealing, robbing and things of that nature. 00:05:29.10\00:05:35.09 With that kind of lifestyle, street life, comes 00:05:35.12\00:05:38.71 consequences, there comes consequences. 00:05:38.74\00:05:40.78 I think the first time I was incarcerated I was 16 years 00:05:40.81\00:05:43.38 old, I went to juvenile facility for a week. 00:05:43.41\00:05:47.30 I was incarcerated for what you call burglary and 00:05:47.33\00:05:50.20 habitation, I did a week. 00:05:50.23\00:05:52.20 - during that time, that's your stuff, during that time 00:05:52.23\00:05:56.05 what were your folks doing? 00:05:56.08\00:05:58.51 I could see your mama just crying and on her knees trying 00:05:58.54\00:06:02.41 to figure out what happened? What did we do right or wrong? 00:06:02.44\00:06:05.37 What is really tough, and I heard them in the first part 00:06:05.40\00:06:08.62 of this interview, what is really tough is that they look 00:06:08.65\00:06:11.44 at what have we done wrong? 00:06:11.47\00:06:13.52 So they must have been doing all that with you right now. 00:06:13.55\00:06:16.94 They pretty much were, they were trying to figure out 00:06:16.97\00:06:21.05 where has Aaron gone wrong? 00:06:21.08\00:06:23.86 My brother would even try to talk to me. 00:06:23.89\00:06:25.23 What is wrong with Aaron? 00:06:25.26\00:06:28.40 For a while we went to a psychiatrist. - counseling. 00:06:28.43\00:06:33.25 Went to counseling and trying to figure out what was wrong with 00:06:33.28\00:06:35.43 me, it seemed like the guy was trying to diagnose me with 00:06:35.46\00:06:38.49 a problem and in my mind I was thinking I don't have 00:06:38.52\00:06:41.13 a problem, I am just interested in fast money. 00:06:41.16\00:06:44.15 I didn't see the point of why going to school for all 00:06:44.18\00:06:47.34 these years to wait for a paycheck every week, or every 00:06:47.37\00:06:50.49 two weeks or month, when I could just sell some drugs, 00:06:50.52\00:06:52.98 steal it or whatnot and get rich quick. 00:06:53.01\00:06:55.63 You know get-rich-quick, I watched those music videos and 00:06:55.66\00:06:58.09 see people flashing money and things like that. 00:06:58.12\00:07:00.55 I want this, this is what I want. 00:07:00.58\00:07:03.21 - it is so seductive! - it is so seductive. 00:07:03.24\00:07:05.07 I found out with that life comes consequences. 00:07:05.10\00:07:10.55 So the next incarceration, actually about that week I got 00:07:10.58\00:07:13.78 out and began seeing a psychiatrist. 00:07:13.81\00:07:15.70 At about 17 years old with my next incarceration which 00:07:15.73\00:07:20.09 was for a home invasion, second-degree home invasion. 00:07:20.12\00:07:23.66 Breaking in houses and trying to get money, trying to 00:07:23.69\00:07:26.66 get rich quick once again or whatnot. 00:07:26.69\00:07:28.66 I found myself incarcerated for about six months, 00:07:28.69\00:07:31.66 about six months incarceration in a prison boot camp, 00:07:31.69\00:07:34.69 in a halfway house, then I was on house arrest for about 00:07:34.72\00:07:38.35 three months, so was a total of about nine months 00:07:38.38\00:07:41.73 altogether in between there. 00:07:41.76\00:07:43.58 After that a proposition came to me for my probation 00:07:43.61\00:07:48.29 officer when I got out. 00:07:48.32\00:07:49.91 I was in Michigan at this time. 00:07:49.94\00:07:51.81 - so at this time, more than likely more than drinking, 00:07:51.84\00:07:55.56 drugs are involved? 00:07:55.59\00:07:57.14 At this time I was drinking alcohol on a regular basis, 00:07:57.17\00:08:00.15 everyday, I was smoking weed everyday. 00:08:00.18\00:08:02.00 We would maybe go through an ounce of weed everyday. 00:08:02.03\00:08:05.63 I was getting the money from stealing, that's how I got 00:08:05.66\00:08:09.20 the money, I would go to school for an hour, go to someone's 00:08:09.23\00:08:13.52 locker room and take their money. 00:08:13.55\00:08:15.97 I would go back to other friends and go to the weed house. 00:08:16.00\00:08:19.77 - beyond the fact that this was not okay? 00:08:19.80\00:08:23.42 This is not my stuff, the weed and alcohol just numbs that. 00:08:23.45\00:08:27.54 Yes, and I was smoking cigarettes and things of that 00:08:27.57\00:08:29.96 nature, just doing it every day of the week basically. 00:08:29.99\00:08:33.98 That is just what I was doing. 00:08:34.01\00:08:35.47 At that time it was bringing so much problem between me 00:08:35.50\00:08:41.10 and my brother, my mother and father, there were so many 00:08:41.13\00:08:44.33 issues going on and it was like in our home darkness 00:08:44.36\00:08:50.13 and light first of all, can't live together. 00:08:50.16\00:08:52.15 It's like when you walk into a dark room and you flip 00:08:52.18\00:08:54.26 on a light, darkness flees. 00:08:54.29\00:08:56.28 Those two cannot inhabit, so we were having this problem 00:08:56.31\00:08:59.20 in the home where I am basically living the life that 00:08:59.23\00:09:02.66 Satan would have me to live. Just doing whatever I wanted. 00:09:02.69\00:09:05.24 My father and mother trying to live a Christian life and 00:09:05.27\00:09:09.16 it is just a constant knocking heads, constantly. 00:09:09.19\00:09:12.14 - did you finally leave? 00:09:12.17\00:09:13.77 Yes, actually several times I left or would actually get 00:09:13.80\00:09:18.76 put out sometimes and I will go live at my cousin or 00:09:18.79\00:09:22.63 something like that, various different things. 00:09:22.66\00:09:24.49 I was incarcerated for a while so I would be away and then 00:09:24.52\00:09:27.89 come back home for a little while. 00:09:27.92\00:09:29.33 But various things like that, but actually running away. 00:09:29.36\00:09:33.15 I never actually ran away, but I was incarcerated and put 00:09:33.18\00:09:36.44 out the house several times because there was a clashing 00:09:36.47\00:09:38.95 going on in the home. 00:09:38.98\00:09:40.93 So after I left Michigan, I got my GED while I was 00:09:40.96\00:09:46.59 incarcerated, I was 17 at the time. 00:09:46.62\00:09:49.12 I went to Southwestern Adventist University and was 00:09:49.15\00:09:53.24 accepted there, but my mind... 00:09:53.27\00:09:55.83 - I can even imagine that because you're crazy right now. 00:09:55.86\00:09:57.96 See my mind state was not on school, - on partying. 00:09:57.99\00:10:01.26 That's exactly what I wanted to do, but there was the 00:10:01.29\00:10:04.59 thing that my probation officer came up with this 00:10:04.62\00:10:06.27 proposition, if you want to leave Michigan, 00:10:06.30\00:10:08.02 it needs to be two ways. 00:10:08.05\00:10:10.02 Either you go to school full-time or you go to work full 00:10:10.05\00:10:12.56 time, so I had my brother and some my cousins were in 00:10:12.59\00:10:16.08 college and they say will come down to college it's nice 00:10:16.11\00:10:18.64 and things of that nature. 00:10:18.67\00:10:19.74 So I went, but my mind was not on that. 00:10:19.77\00:10:22.65 It was on money, fast money and things of that nature. 00:10:22.68\00:10:25.59 So I found myself getting suspended and I ended up 00:10:25.62\00:10:30.04 getting kicked out of college, I was there for a semester 00:10:30.07\00:10:32.89 and got kicked out. 00:10:32.92\00:10:34.20 A year later when I was 19 years old, I was locked up 00:10:34.23\00:10:38.72 again, I robbed a store and broke into a bank at night 00:10:38.75\00:10:43.54 and tried to rob that. 00:10:43.57\00:10:45.84 I ended up getting sentenced to prison this time, 00:10:45.87\00:10:48.13 it was to juvenile at 16. 00:10:48.16\00:10:50.05 And at 19 I went to jail, at 17, I became an adult at 17. 00:10:50.08\00:10:56.36 19 I am an adult but I have prior felonies also, so now 00:10:56.39\00:11:00.80 it is time for me to go to the big house. 00:11:00.83\00:11:02.37 Like they tried the little things and now they shipped 00:11:02.40\00:11:05.10 me off to the big house at 19 years old. 00:11:05.13\00:11:06.97 They hit me with a five-year sentence back in 2001. 00:11:07.00\00:11:11.14 Praise the Lord, in that five-year sentence I only had 00:11:11.17\00:11:15.65 to do 13 months, one year and one month based upon good 00:11:15.68\00:11:18.99 behavior I ended up getting out on parole. 00:11:19.02\00:11:24.30 - I can't even imagine that good behavior was beside 00:11:24.33\00:11:27.66 your name at any point. 00:11:27.69\00:11:29.52 One thing I learned from old school was being incarcerated 00:11:29.55\00:11:32.36 with young people and then with the older people. 00:11:32.39\00:11:34.70 The young folk like to get in there and fight, 00:11:34.73\00:11:38.03 they pass their time fighting but what I learned is that 00:11:38.06\00:11:40.83 keeps you there longer. 00:11:40.86\00:11:42.39 See I wasn't built to be in a cage, I knew that. 00:11:42.42\00:11:44.72 I'm not built to be in a cage, but I could adapt to it. 00:11:44.75\00:11:47.35 Talking to the older folks, they would say if you want to 00:11:47.38\00:11:51.62 get out sign up for everything on the program. 00:11:51.65\00:11:53.89 Sign up for GED, sign up for AAA, any type of program you 00:11:53.92\00:11:58.27 can in, stay out of trouble to occupy your time so when you 00:11:58.30\00:12:01.13 come before the parole board, they see you are trying to 00:12:01.16\00:12:03.60 do something, whether I am or not I am just trying 00:12:03.63\00:12:05.66 to show them something. 00:12:05.69\00:12:06.78 - just want a certificate. 00:12:06.81\00:12:07.78 That is what would happen and I was able to get out. 00:12:07.79\00:12:10.23 But my mind state when I got out was not changed yet. 00:12:10.26\00:12:14.96 What I did is, I basically went into prison with no 00:12:14.99\00:12:20.42 education on how to sell drugs, but when I came out 00:12:20.45\00:12:24.56 basically I came out with a degree in how to sell drugs. 00:12:24.59\00:12:27.66 Because you are in there with so many different people 00:12:27.69\00:12:30.01 and I came out and switched from stealing and robbing 00:12:30.04\00:12:34.11 to now it was time to selling weed. 00:12:34.14\00:12:36.35 I began selling drugs for some time and I was actually 00:12:36.38\00:12:41.57 getting my drugs transported from Texas to North Carolina 00:12:41.60\00:12:45.52 where I had moved back to. 00:12:45.55\00:12:46.97 I would be on the block selling weed like that. 00:12:47.00\00:12:51.69 My mind was set on getting out. 00:12:51.72\00:12:53.59 A situation took place where it made me start thinking. 00:12:53.62\00:12:57.05 One night there was a drug deal basically gone bad. 00:12:57.08\00:13:00.36 A particular person wanted the amount of weed I had left, 00:13:00.39\00:13:04.99 which was about 7 and 1/2 ounces that I had left. 00:13:05.02\00:13:07.47 So we were talking and discussing and went to a place 00:13:07.50\00:13:11.52 to make the deal and the next thing I know we are weighing 00:13:11.55\00:13:15.21 the drugs on a scale and things of that nature. 00:13:15.24\00:13:17.08 I gave him about 4 ounces of it, so I said let me see the 00:13:17.11\00:13:21.42 money for those 4 ounces so he started fiddling in his 00:13:21.45\00:13:24.60 pocket in I knew it does not take long to find a roll. 00:13:24.63\00:13:28.21 One thing about it on the streets, you don't carry hundred 00:13:28.24\00:13:30.25 dollar bills, it's ones, fives, small bills like that to 00:13:30.28\00:13:34.48 make change for people. 00:13:34.51\00:13:35.91 So I knew he was taking too long to show me the money for 00:13:35.94\00:13:40.54 those, and next thing comes out is the gun. 00:13:40.57\00:13:43.40 It was a 25 caliber pistol held to my face, 00:13:43.43\00:13:46.59 directly in my face about this close. 00:13:46.62\00:13:48.72 At that time basically my life was no longer in my hands. 00:13:48.75\00:13:53.14 My life is in somebody else's hands at this time. 00:13:53.17\00:13:56.13 I said a quick prayer to the Lord, 00:13:56.16\00:13:59.79 Lord help me basically like that. 00:13:59.82\00:14:01.96 - you know it's funny, don't you think that just cracks 00:14:01.99\00:14:04.82 you up, it's like God is not in your life and then all of 00:14:04.85\00:14:08.90 a sudden I'm calling for mama and God. 00:14:08.93\00:14:10.90 That is what happened, and the thing is you hear some 00:14:10.93\00:14:14.88 people when... - but I have to ask you, 00:14:14.91\00:14:17.87 is there any point where you started at all, even during 00:14:17.90\00:14:21.61 this time, to think maybe this is not the direction? 00:14:21.64\00:14:25.61 Have you gotten to any of that stuff yet? 00:14:25.64\00:14:27.90 Well basically I was still at the point of this is the 00:14:27.93\00:14:31.50 way I want to live till I die. 00:14:31.53\00:14:33.64 But one thing about music, hip-hop music in general, 00:14:33.67\00:14:37.79 that is what I was really on. 00:14:37.82\00:14:39.57 It has so much power to influence the mind. 00:14:39.60\00:14:42.37 I was almost 24/7 with the headphones, in the car, 00:14:42.40\00:14:46.76 some type of way and it hypnotizes, it has a hypnotizing 00:14:46.79\00:14:51.31 affect so it is basically I'm living the life 00:14:51.34\00:14:53.80 ride or die, do what I want, to live this way until I die. 00:14:53.83\00:14:58.17 Somebody was going to kill me eventually, that is 00:14:58.20\00:15:01.70 just what it's going to happen with the life I was living. 00:15:01.73\00:15:03.82 - but that doesn't matter? 00:15:03.85\00:15:05.27 Yes and the thing is I was so hypnotized 00:15:05.31\00:15:08.88 into this lifestyle that I didn't care. 00:15:08.91\00:15:10.74 I had little oddball jobs at the time, fast food jobs. 00:15:10.77\00:15:14.03 Because of my background I would have to go to college, 00:15:14.06\00:15:18.77 I was not interested. 00:15:18.80\00:15:20.61 I couldn't get a good job so was like problems were 00:15:20.64\00:15:23.18 mounting and these little bitty jobs just don't help. 00:15:23.21\00:15:26.46 So the streets was basically what I gravitated to with 00:15:26.49\00:15:30.40 friends and things of that nature. 00:15:30.43\00:15:32.30 Okay hold up Aaron, what about the gun in your face? 00:15:32.33\00:15:35.03 Well like was saying the gun was in my face and I sent 00:15:35.06\00:15:38.19 a quick prayer up to the Lord, and basically I had the 00:15:38.22\00:15:43.03 rest of the weed in a book bag on my shoulder and he say 00:15:43.06\00:15:45.70 give me the rest of it. 00:15:45.73\00:15:46.98 I gave it to him but in my mind thinking I can either run 00:15:47.01\00:15:49.98 with it or we can get into a scuffle, something to that 00:15:50.01\00:15:53.08 effect because I don't want to loose it, 00:15:53.11\00:15:55.31 I'm loosing money at the same time. 00:15:55.34\00:15:56.82 So what ended up happening, where we were at I drove to, 00:15:56.85\00:16:00.28 so he tells me to turn around, so I turn around. 00:16:00.31\00:16:03.53 At this time I don't know what he's going to do. 00:16:03.56\00:16:06.47 Whether he is going to pull the trigger or even if 00:16:06.50\00:16:08.57 he is trying to pull the trigger, 00:16:08.60\00:16:09.79 it's not going off, I don't know. 00:16:09.82\00:16:10.99 So he walks me back to my car and I end up getting in the 00:16:11.02\00:16:14.82 car, when I got in, I leaned the seat all the way back 00:16:14.85\00:16:20.54 because I said if he fires that gun, the bullet will go 00:16:20.57\00:16:23.67 over the seat and out the window. 00:16:23.70\00:16:25.97 So as immediately as I drove off, the gun went off. 00:16:26.00\00:16:28.97 So what I don't know it is whether he was trying to shoot 00:16:29.00\00:16:32.39 me the whole time and it just wasn't working, 00:16:32.42\00:16:35.25 I really don't know, but I know that the Lord intervened 00:16:35.28\00:16:38.47 to even spare my life. 00:16:38.50\00:16:40.12 The interesting thing is while I got robbed for 7 and 1/2 00:16:40.15\00:16:43.52 ounces of weed, I wasn't even from this neighborhood 00:16:43.55\00:16:47.39 that I was selling in. 00:16:47.42\00:16:48.85 A few weeks later a person ends up getting killed, 00:16:48.88\00:16:51.80 robbed over some weed, for 5 dollars worth of weed, 00:16:51.83\00:16:54.66 5 dollars where I got robbed for hundreds of dollars 00:16:54.69\00:16:57.44 worth of weed so I pondered for a while, 00:16:57.47\00:16:59.88 Lord you spared me, why did You spare me? 00:16:59.91\00:17:03.05 But even in that it still didn't fully get my attention. 00:17:03.08\00:17:06.79 But the fact that God in our silliness, we are wanting 00:17:06.82\00:17:10.92 to be all that, I want to be this gangster, I want to be the 00:17:10.95\00:17:14.34 person with money and to be out there and God just says, 00:17:14.37\00:17:16.78 you know what hon I love you, I love you. 00:17:16.81\00:17:19.21 I know that you have gotten more and more into addictive 00:17:19.24\00:17:23.10 stuff which stops you from being able to get money. 00:17:23.13\00:17:26.24 I mean you got lost in your addictions, so tell us about 00:17:26.27\00:17:29.55 that, and more important how you recovered. 00:17:29.58\00:17:32.91 Well like I said for about the last six months or so, 00:17:32.94\00:17:36.62 I didn't know that I was about to change my life. 00:17:36.65\00:17:40.43 I didn't know that, there was trouble in the home when 00:17:40.46\00:17:44.43 I got married, me and my wife were constantly bumping 00:17:44.46\00:17:48.18 heads. - was she a druggie? 00:17:48.21\00:17:51.92 No she wasn't she had stopped already. 00:17:51.95\00:17:55.26 She used to smoke marijuana but she had a ready left 00:17:55.29\00:17:57.60 alone, we had some children already. 00:17:57.63\00:17:59.42 She had left it alone was trying to get her life together. 00:17:59.45\00:18:02.08 She was going to church and things of that nature. 00:18:02.11\00:18:03.78 - and you're out there be a fool! 00:18:03.81\00:18:05.69 I'm out there being a fool and the thing is we were 00:18:05.72\00:18:08.49 constantly, constantly going at it. 00:18:08.52\00:18:10.80 So one of my friends, Byron Green, got in contact with 00:18:10.83\00:18:14.58 me from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. 00:18:14.61\00:18:16.80 He would say, you can come and live out here with me. 00:18:16.83\00:18:19.57 I was like okay, so I went to visit him and about a month 00:18:19.60\00:18:22.50 later I moved out to Baton Rouge, Louisiana. 00:18:22.53\00:18:25.10 At this time I was just fed up with life. 00:18:25.13\00:18:29.30 I'm not getting anywhere in life, I'm steadily getting 00:18:29.33\00:18:32.45 this little rinky-dink jobs that won't really 00:18:32.48\00:18:34.33 provide anything for me. 00:18:34.36\00:18:36.37 I was at the point of wanting to die, I have a gun. 00:18:36.40\00:18:41.43 What kind of drugs were you taking at that time? 00:18:41.46\00:18:42.99 At that time I had begin again on heroine, I periodically 00:18:43.02\00:18:47.34 used heroin but I didn't like the high of it. 00:18:47.37\00:18:50.08 So be every now and again. 00:18:50.11\00:18:52.93 Cocaine use was pretty much everyday. 00:18:52.96\00:18:55.45 Alcohol was pretty much everyday, weed with periodic and 00:18:55.48\00:18:58.45 ecstasy pills every day, well not every day, 00:18:58.48\00:19:01.39 every few days a week. 00:19:01.42\00:19:02.59 - You are pumping yourself with stuff? 00:19:02.62\00:19:04.43 Yeah I was dealing with five or so different drugs. 00:19:04.46\00:19:07.71 But in my mind it was I want to die, but I don't want to 00:19:07.74\00:19:11.92 take the way out of using a gun that I had, and putting 00:19:11.95\00:19:15.51 it to my head and killing myself. 00:19:15.54\00:19:16.93 I just thought I didn't want to go out that way. 00:19:16.96\00:19:19.04 Because what if this doesn't actually kill me? 00:19:19.07\00:19:20.92 Then I would just feel the pain, so what I was trying to 00:19:20.95\00:19:23.43 do was overdose myself and get high and too much stuff 00:19:23.46\00:19:27.08 and just not wake up the next morning. 00:19:27.11\00:19:28.96 That was what was in my mind because I was fed up with 00:19:28.99\00:19:31.72 life, but one particular night, the Lord got my attention. 00:19:31.75\00:19:35.77 It was April 9, 2008 when the Lord got my attention. 00:19:35.80\00:19:40.20 About 11 o'clock that night, that evening I was already 00:19:40.23\00:19:45.11 high, I had popped an ecstasy pill on a Monday, 00:19:45.14\00:19:48.48 this was a Wednesday now. 00:19:48.51\00:19:49.85 On Monday I had popped and ecstasy pill but I was still 00:19:49.88\00:19:52.56 high off that pill come Monday, I mean come Wednesday. 00:19:52.59\00:19:55.93 I was still high on that pill so that night about 00:19:55.96\00:19:58.26 11 o'clock at night I ended up drinking a little alcohol. 00:19:58.29\00:20:01.82 I had gotten a 24 ounce can of beer, and smoke some weed 00:20:01.85\00:20:04.93 with the next-door neighbor, and I had earlier that day 00:20:04.96\00:20:07.97 got a dime bag of cocaine and I was snorting the cocaine 00:20:08.00\00:20:11.69 and I came into the house that night after smoking 00:20:11.72\00:20:15.54 marijuana, I came in. 00:20:15.57\00:20:17.48 Now mind you I'm on about 4 different things that night. 00:20:17.51\00:20:19.94 I walk in the room and it's dark in the room and 00:20:19.97\00:20:23.64 immediately as I came in, a fear came upon me. 00:20:23.67\00:20:26.38 Not like a spook from a high or anything, but it was a 00:20:26.41\00:20:30.25 fear that I had never felt before, I was scared out of my 00:20:30.28\00:20:33.07 mind, so immediately a close the blinds in the room. 00:20:33.10\00:20:36.07 It's 11:30 at night and I had closed the blinds, 00:20:36.10\00:20:40.01 I didn't turn on a light, I laid down on the mattress 00:20:40.04\00:20:42.85 on the floor and I got under the cover. 00:20:42.88\00:20:45.27 I looked up at the ceiling as I laid down and it was like 00:20:45.30\00:20:47.93 demons were floating all around the ceiling. 00:20:47.96\00:20:50.32 It was like the whole room, the whole atmosphere was 00:20:50.35\00:20:52.93 filled with demons, it felt like. 00:20:52.96\00:20:54.55 I was scared out of my mind. 00:20:54.58\00:20:56.48 I took the cover and covered my head thinking that might 00:20:56.51\00:21:02.89 protect me something or whatnot. 00:21:02.92\00:21:04.77 - so inside of all of this you are still this little boy. 00:21:04.80\00:21:09.41 Yeah, somewhere inside of that. 00:21:09.44\00:21:11.88 About that maybe a cover, or a blanket, or something was 00:21:11.91\00:21:14.67 going to protect me. 00:21:14.70\00:21:16.06 Back to the cover and covered my head and I was still 00:21:16.09\00:21:19.00 scared at the time, but at that point I heard the Holy 00:21:19.03\00:21:23.44 Spirit voice tell me something. 00:21:23.47\00:21:25.41 See for a period of time I was actually pulling a Jonah. 00:21:25.44\00:21:28.60 I would hear the Holy Spirit and I would run, I would go 00:21:28.63\00:21:30.64 and hide, I was trying to fry Him completely out of my 00:21:30.67\00:21:33.50 mind, but at that point I heard the Holy Spirit say, 00:21:33.53\00:21:37.30 Aaron you either get your life together now or that is it. 00:21:37.33\00:21:40.37 That is a horrible place to be. 00:21:40.40\00:21:42.37 - yes it is and thinking have I gone too far, not really 00:21:42.40\00:21:47.47 sure, but have I gone too far? 00:21:47.50\00:21:49.18 The thing is I got on the phone, I had my phone beside me, 00:21:49.21\00:21:53.27 I sent my dad a text message. 00:21:53.30\00:21:55.63 Basically in my mind trying to send out a lifeline, 00:21:55.66\00:21:58.47 hoping that somebody would grab hold of it basically. 00:21:58.50\00:22:02.59 I was throwing it out hoping that somebody would get it. 00:22:02.62\00:22:05.87 - and they had been trying to. 00:22:05.90\00:22:07.56 Basically while I was in Louisiana I remember that they 00:22:07.59\00:22:12.58 sent me pictures of my childhood when I was younger and 00:22:12.61\00:22:15.52 things and of that nature. 00:22:15.55\00:22:16.76 They would send me CDs to listen to and things like that. 00:22:16.79\00:22:19.31 Tapes or whatnots, stories and different things. 00:22:19.34\00:22:22.15 They tried to bring my mind back to different period 00:22:22.18\00:22:25.51 In my life, but I was so bent on going wrong that these 00:22:25.54\00:22:30.75 things were only making little impressions upon me 00:22:30.78\00:22:33.30 at the time, I was so far out there that they weren't 00:22:33.33\00:22:36.75 impacting me enough. 00:22:36.78\00:22:38.54 Like said that particular night, it was about 11:30 00:22:38.57\00:22:41.34 at night and where my dad was and mom in Georgia it 00:22:41.37\00:22:46.13 was 12:30, they are an hour ahead. 00:22:46.16\00:22:49.26 Like I said I wanted someone to grab hold of this 00:22:49.29\00:22:53.75 lifeline, I need somebody to talk to. 00:22:53.78\00:22:56.15 I grab my phone and I wrote in a text message, 00:22:56.18\00:23:00.40 I feel lost and friendless. 00:23:00.43\00:23:02.32 I put those very words, I feel lost and friendless. 00:23:02.35\00:23:04.77 I sent the message and 11:30 at night not really 00:23:04.80\00:23:09.64 thinking that my dad was going to respond, 00:23:09.67\00:23:12.49 but hoping that he would respond. 00:23:12.52\00:23:15.43 One thing that is amazing about that, is normally my 00:23:15.46\00:23:19.76 parents don't have text messaging on their phone, 00:23:19.79\00:23:21.99 but they happen to have text messaging at that time. 00:23:22.02\00:23:25.43 Normally they do not. 00:23:25.46\00:23:26.54 So I set my dad a text message, I feel lost and 00:23:26.57\00:23:29.99 friendless and about two or three minutes later 00:23:30.02\00:23:33.32 a reply comes back. 00:23:33.35\00:23:35.28 I saw the phone light up and immediately it was like joy 00:23:35.31\00:23:37.10 back into my heart, like the prodigal son when he thought 00:23:37.13\00:23:41.78 of home, joy sprung up in him, I want to go home. 00:23:41.81\00:23:45.18 It's time to go home. 00:23:45.21\00:23:46.47 I looked at the phone and grabbed the phone and its said, 00:23:46.50\00:23:50.23 what a friend we have in Jesus, what a friend we have in 00:23:50.26\00:23:53.58 Jesus and I knew the song, what a friend we have in Jesus. 00:23:53.61\00:23:57.03 It just brought so much joy to me that I immediately 00:23:57.06\00:24:00.71 called my dad and we began talking. 00:24:00.74\00:24:03.08 At the time I was high on several different things, 00:24:03.11\00:24:06.63 I was probably going through some hallucinations due to 00:24:06.66\00:24:10.37 the demons and things I was seeing the room. 00:24:10.40\00:24:12.56 But I was talking to him and I was explaining to him, 00:24:12.59\00:24:15.61 I see that you are all in Ministry work, but the Lord is 00:24:15.64\00:24:19.71 providing and I'm out here writing to and fro and just 00:24:19.74\00:24:22.87 struggling, trying to make a dollar while the Lord is 00:24:22.90\00:24:26.63 providing for you all. 00:24:26.66\00:24:28.05 No actual full-time job or anything at this point because 00:24:28.08\00:24:31.19 they had gone into full-time ministry and it was like how 00:24:31.22\00:24:34.35 in the world are you so happy about this? 00:24:34.38\00:24:37.19 So my dad began talking to me, and we were talking 00:24:37.22\00:24:39.63 about 15 minutes or so. 00:24:39.66\00:24:41.98 We prayed and got off the phone. 00:24:42.01\00:24:44.81 Immediately I got on my knees and began praying, and as 00:24:44.84\00:24:48.13 I began praying it was like weights were coming off. 00:24:48.16\00:24:52.47 I mean literally I can feel stuff coming off my back. 00:24:52.50\00:24:55.69 It was like the world was on my back and it was coming 00:24:55.72\00:24:59.41 off while I was praying. 00:24:59.44\00:25:01.42 Immediately after I finished praying I began reading 00:25:01.45\00:25:04.90 a book I had, 'The Great Controversy'. 00:25:04.93\00:25:07.15 Which is a fantastic book, a fantastic book. 00:25:07.18\00:25:09.29 There was a chapter in there entitled 'Snares of Satan'. 00:25:09.32\00:25:13.19 You see I knew that I was about to make a change in my 00:25:13.22\00:25:16.93 life because I had decided it was time to start making 00:25:16.96\00:25:19.24 a change, and I knew that Satan was going to start 00:25:19.27\00:25:21.65 attacking me. - you know what's hysterical to me? 00:25:21.68\00:25:23.86 When you see demons it is easy to decide then. 00:25:23.89\00:25:25.69 Because a lot of people don't know how crazy that moment 00:25:27.74\00:25:30.05 is, but that moment is all of a sudden it feels like God 00:25:30.08\00:25:33.45 in His mercy, let Me just show you what is actually 00:25:33.48\00:25:35.86 happening here, let Me show you your liver, let Me show 00:25:35.89\00:25:38.94 you what you're getting faced with what I've done in 00:25:38.97\00:25:42.24 my life and we start to run back to God. 00:25:42.27\00:25:45.52 You are right He is standing right there saying, come on. 00:25:45.55\00:25:49.18 As I began reading, I read that night and a little the 00:25:49.21\00:25:53.64 next day, but before I got off the phone with my dad, he 00:25:53.67\00:25:56.21 said, I will come and get you. 00:25:56.24\00:25:57.51 This was a Wednesday, and on that Friday he came and got 00:25:57.54\00:26:01.32 me, he was teaching at Wildwood at the time. 00:26:01.35\00:26:03.20 He said I can leave Thursday evening and get you Friday 00:26:03.23\00:26:07.62 morning, so he came and picked me up. 00:26:07.65\00:26:09.67 One thing about my parents, you often hear stories of a 00:26:09.70\00:26:12.82 loving, praying grandmother or grandfather or something. 00:26:12.85\00:26:15.82 While I was out there I always had parents, 00:26:15.85\00:26:19.30 or somebody praying for me. 00:26:19.33\00:26:21.47 - could you feel it? - at times it yes. 00:26:21.50\00:26:24.01 It was certain situations, certain situations I'm not 00:26:24.04\00:26:26.90 really supposed to be here. 00:26:26.93\00:26:28.38 The Lord worked it out to where I still am, because 00:26:28.41\00:26:31.91 there are times where I could not have been here. 00:26:31.94\00:26:33.84 Even times when incarcerated where I could have been 00:26:33.87\00:26:37.60 there longer, so I know from the power of prayer can get 00:26:37.63\00:26:43.11 us out of situations and there is a benefit 00:26:43.14\00:26:46.45 in being in situations sometimes. 00:26:46.48\00:26:48.25 Sometimes the Lord leads us into situations 00:26:48.28\00:26:50.34 for our benefit. 00:26:50.37\00:26:51.65 My dad, he came and got me that Friday. 00:26:51.68\00:26:54.45 - it takes you to Wildwood! - it takes me to Wildwood. 00:26:54.48\00:26:56.47 For people who don't know that, that is a conservative 00:26:56.50\00:26:58.62 Ministry, they are incredible, but they are really 00:26:58.65\00:27:01.26 conservative so I can't see this little drug addict 00:27:01.29\00:27:04.17 okay I'm not Wildwood. 00:27:04.20\00:27:06.18 You see I knew about Wildwood because my parents had been 00:27:06.21\00:27:09.64 there for some time, my day to six month health evangelism 00:27:09.67\00:27:13.06 course there and was teaching there now. 00:27:13.09\00:27:14.79 But in 2005, my parents sent me to the Wildwood Health 00:27:14.82\00:27:20.28 Retreat, so I really knew how this life style was. 00:27:20.31\00:27:23.82 Like it was a rehab place, a 30 day rehab that I was in. 00:27:23.85\00:27:26.72 I did good and when I left I got on track. 00:27:26.75\00:27:29.70 It was short lived, a few months and I was back at what 00:27:29.73\00:27:34.07 I was doing, but it did set some roots in me. 00:27:34.10\00:27:38.25 I gained some things that never left me. 00:27:38.28\00:27:41.03 Anyway I knew how Wildwood was even before, I knew what 00:27:41.06\00:27:46.08 was to be expected. 00:27:46.11\00:27:47.45 So I left all my, guess you as a worldly or street clothes 00:27:47.48\00:27:51.26 behind because I knew at Wildwood it is different. 00:27:51.29\00:27:54.76 I was trying to make a change anyhow. 00:27:54.79\00:27:57.48 So what I did is, my dad picked me up and we went to 00:27:57.51\00:28:00.99 Wildwood, I was there a good month. 00:28:01.02\00:28:03.14 I ended up making a mess of it because I was still 00:28:03.17\00:28:06.36 battling with cigarettes, nicotine is by far out of all 00:28:06.39\00:28:09.86 the drugs, the heroine, the cocaine, the ecstasy, 00:28:09.89\00:28:12.88 the weed, the alcohol, cigarettes were by far the 00:28:12.91\00:28:16.15 hardest for me to get off of, as it is for most people, 00:28:16.18\00:28:19.08 it is difficult, very difficult. 00:28:19.11\00:28:20.52 But that particular night in April I had made up my mind 00:28:20.55\00:28:25.76 it's time to get on track. 00:28:25.79\00:28:28.09 Though I was battling with the cigarettes, and I messed up 00:28:28.12\00:28:31.62 at Wildwood, I ended up going to North Carolina. 00:28:31.65\00:28:33.69 At this time me and my wife had divorced, we had gone 00:28:33.72\00:28:38.44 through a divorce about two or three months before. 00:28:38.47\00:28:42.18 I went back, I stayed away from my friends for a good week 00:28:42.21\00:28:46.49 or so, but I found myself back with my friends and still 00:28:46.52\00:28:50.79 smoking, drinking, doing the cocaine again. 00:28:50.82\00:28:54.45 But at this time I was still reading, I was still reading. 00:28:54.48\00:28:58.77 - reading the Bible. - reading the Bible, I knew 00:28:58.80\00:29:03.28 that I am coming to the Lord, coming to the cross, 00:29:03.31\00:29:06.47 and as I was coming to the cross I saw that this habit 00:29:06.50\00:29:10.21 stop, that this habit stop, and that had to stop. 00:29:10.24\00:29:12.95 Cigarettes were the last thing to go. 00:29:12.98\00:29:14.90 - don't you want to say to someone, don't judge the 00:29:14.93\00:29:17.65 journey, because every step really was even though 00:29:17.68\00:29:21.55 you were relapsing, and people were seeing all this up and down 00:29:21.59\00:29:24.84 stuff is that God was wooing you. 00:29:24.88\00:29:27.42 - yeah He was wooing me. 00:29:27.46\00:29:28.91 One thing I had to do was continue to come to the cross. 00:29:28.94\00:29:31.94 Even though I was still doing what I was doing, 00:29:31.98\00:29:35.25 I stilled tried to read the Bible in the morning and 00:29:35.28\00:29:38.91 go smoke a cigarette or get high or something like that. 00:29:38.95\00:29:42.54 I knew I had to continue to just come forward. 00:29:42.57\00:29:45.30 As I did I saw these habits just go away. 00:29:45.34\00:29:50.51 - family is still praying? - my family's praying 00:29:50.55\00:29:52.37 and at the same time my parents were doing some called 00:29:52.41\00:29:54.73 hydrotherapy on me at various different times. 00:29:54.76\00:29:57.70 They were trying to do these different things, 00:29:57.73\00:30:00.60 one being a Russian steam bath and what it would do 00:30:00.63\00:30:04.00 was detoxify me to get the alcohol and nicotine and 00:30:04.03\00:30:06.58 all these, it with sweat these things out of me. 00:30:06.62\00:30:09.09 They had me drink in a lot of lemon water and things of 00:30:09.13\00:30:11.83 that nature to help with the addiction. 00:30:11.86\00:30:13.69 About two months of this it took about two or three months 00:30:13.72\00:30:17.93 till I was actually done with everything. 00:30:17.96\00:30:20.46 Actually June... - you could actually start feeling 00:30:20.49\00:30:22.46 your body? - yes I could feel my body start feeling 00:30:22.49\00:30:24.42 better and things like that. 00:30:24.46\00:30:26.55 It was about June 8, 2008 when I had my last cigarette. 00:30:30.08\00:30:34.12 I was actually done with them for about a week and I said, 00:30:34.15\00:30:37.90 let me just smoke a cigarette to see the desire is still 00:30:37.94\00:30:41.06 there, I've smoked about half of it and couldn't take it. 00:30:41.10\00:30:43.82 I didn't like it and I was going through the thing of 00:30:43.85\00:30:46.17 buying a pack of smoking two or three and throw the pack 00:30:46.20\00:30:48.59 away, things like that and I went through that battle for 00:30:48.63\00:30:52.31 awhile but June 8, 2008 was it, and one thing about when 00:30:52.35\00:30:56.88 you are recovering from all these things, it's like on one 00:30:56.91\00:31:00.67 whole day without this, which is good because I was use 00:31:00.71\00:31:04.44 to smoking a pack of cigarettes a day. 00:31:04.47\00:31:06.26 - it's a celebration! - it's a celebration. 00:31:06.29\00:31:07.80 I'm use to getting high everyday, I am use to these 00:31:07.83\00:31:10.79 things every day for a day, for one day let me see if 00:31:10.83\00:31:13.30 I can do it two days, let me see if I can do three days. 00:31:13.34\00:31:15.78 Maybe three weeks, let's him see if I can do it two 00:31:15.82\00:31:18.10 months now and that is what it has been. 00:31:18.13\00:31:20.28 So now I has been almost 2 years that I have actually 00:31:20.31\00:31:23.39 touched it, I don't like it, I can't stand being around 00:31:23.43\00:31:27.67 it, but to all the mothers and all the fathers out there 00:31:27.70\00:31:31.32 that are struggling with their children and their loved 00:31:31.36\00:31:34.94 out there, understand that there is hope. 00:31:34.98\00:31:37.60 There is hope. - we are going ahead and break because 00:31:37.64\00:31:40.53 I want to come back and bring the entire family up because 00:31:40.56\00:31:43.52 we have your whole family here and then I want you to say 00:31:43.56\00:31:46.49 some things to parents. 00:31:46.52\00:31:47.89 I'm going to have even your parents speak to parents and 00:31:47.92\00:31:51.20 say things about recovery and then I want you to tell them 00:31:51.23\00:31:54.48 what you are doing now, because it cracks me up. 00:31:54.51\00:31:57.85 Because you are now in Ministry. 00:31:57.88\00:31:59.49 I am in Ministry. 00:31:59.53\00:32:01.13 It is amazing so we will be right back and know that when 00:32:01.16\00:32:04.33 we come back you are going to be amazed at what you see 00:32:04.36\00:32:07.67 because when God restores family, He restores a family. 00:32:07.70\00:32:10.97 Stay with us! 00:32:11.00\00:32:12.92