Participants: Pr. Marquis Johns (Host), Darren Cumberbatch
Series Code: TNJ
Program Code: TNJ000035
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00:01 The following program discusses sensitive issues.
00:03 Parents are cautioned that some material 00:05 may be too candid for younger children. 00:08 Welcome to The New Journey, 00:09 a program about real life people 00:12 with real life testimonies 00:13 doing real life ministry for Jesus Christ. 00:15 I'm your host, Pastor Marquis John. 00:18 Join us on The New Journey. 00:55 In the Bible, many of the Bible characters 00:57 struggle with all manner of things. 00:59 David killing a man to take his wife, 01:02 Abraham, polygamy, 01:05 but uniquely we find that Noah struggled with drunkenness. 01:10 On today's show we have someone who has not only struggled, 01:13 but by the grace and power of God 01:14 has overcome alcoholism. 01:17 Thank you for being with us today, Darren. 01:18 How are you doing? I'm doing well, how about you. 01:20 Mr. Darren Cumberbatch, how are you? 01:22 I'm doing well, Pastor John. 01:23 Good, good, good. 01:25 I want to get right into your upbringing 01:28 and tell us a little bit about your family history 01:30 and your interfacing if you will with the church? 01:35 My family, I was born in Guyana. 01:39 We came over in the 80s to New York 01:43 and my aunt and my grandmother... 01:48 Well, aunt first, Sandra Sam was, 01:50 she became Seventh-day Adventist 01:52 and eventually my grandmother, 01:55 and it trickled in to the rest of the family 02:01 but for the most part we were brought up with a religious... 02:06 Religious background. 02:07 So your aunty became Adventist, your grandma became Adventist 02:10 but what about your side of the family? 02:12 Your mom because Sister Sam is your aunty 02:16 through your father or through your mother? 02:18 My mom. Through your mom. 02:20 So did your family also embrace Adventism? 02:22 Your mom and your siblings, did you guys embrace Adventism? 02:25 No, no. 02:26 Unfortunately, my mom was a single parent 02:29 so in New York at the time, 02:33 she had to work two jobs. 02:34 So we were too busy basically. 02:39 And so basically what you're saying is, 02:42 so a good portion of the family becomes Adventist 02:45 but your side of the family, 02:47 your mom, she doesn't embrace it 02:49 and so you guys kind of grow up just, 02:51 you know, moving through the streets 02:53 the way brothers move through the streets, 02:54 so tell us about your growing up, 02:55 mom, single parent, working, 02:58 are you spending a lot of time by yourself? 02:59 Tell us about that? 03:01 Well, my aunt and my grandmother lived 03:04 actually right across the street from us, 03:06 so because my mom was at work all the time, 03:09 I would go back and forth across the street. 03:12 So I knew about them being, 03:14 I can't say the word Seventh-day Adventist 03:17 but I knew that they did something different. 03:19 I just knew that, you know, they couldn't eat this, 03:23 they couldn't do that and I used to sit there 03:25 and be like, "Why I can't do that? 03:26 I can do this," you know, 03:28 and so I knew something was always different. 03:32 So we just... That's what I know. 03:35 Okay, so you are noticing a difference between 03:38 your family and your aunt's family, 03:41 but now you're growing up where, in Brooklyn? 03:44 Were you in Brooklyn? Yes, Brooklyn. 03:45 So you're in Brooklyn. 03:46 Tell us about young Darren in the streets of Brooklyn. 03:48 Mom is single, 03:49 even though aunty and grandma live across the street, 03:52 tell us about what you're getting into in life 03:54 for you in Brooklyn? 03:56 My mom was so busy. 03:58 I'm in the street and that's it. 04:01 Stole from my mom's purse every chance I got, 04:04 went to the corner store, 04:06 Puerto Rican store playing video games, 04:09 just running around. 04:11 Whenever I got suspended from school 04:15 whatever like that they will call my grandmother 04:18 and she will come and rescue me from church... 04:22 I mean, I'm sorry, from school. 04:24 She would come and rescue me from school 04:26 and wait till my mom come in 04:28 and then the hammer will come down. 04:30 Hammer will come down. Yeah, yeah, yeah. 04:33 That's basically it. 04:34 So tell us about your introduction to alcohol. 04:36 When did you first start drinking? 04:39 When were you introduced to alcohol? 04:41 I didn't have my first drink until about 13. 04:46 Well, let me backtrack real quick. 04:48 I was getting in so much trouble in New York 04:51 that my mother could not take care of me to the point, 04:56 not necessarily financially, but she was at work, 04:58 I was in too much trouble. 05:00 I had an incident at school 05:01 where my best friend's girlfriend and her friend 05:07 followed us home from school, 05:09 just playing around, 05:10 and she pulled out a little kitchen knife, 05:13 a little two or three inch knife 05:15 and was, you know, playing around jokingly 05:17 and chasing us back, you know, home, 05:19 so, of course, Darren being 05:20 the very smart intelligent brother that he is, 05:24 I decided to bring my mom's meat cleaver 05:28 in my book bag to school the next day. 05:30 So she was going to play, so I was going to play too. 05:35 That incident, I got caught 05:38 and got suspended for about two three weeks, 05:41 so I'm like actually, either I was like nine, 05:47 eight or nine at the time, 05:48 so that was like the last straw but there was many straws, 05:53 you know, there was many straw before that, 05:56 so my mom sent me down to Georgia 05:59 to live with my uncle. 06:00 Okay. 06:01 This is her brother or your dad's brother? 06:03 Her brother. Okay. 06:04 My father was never in the picture. 06:05 Never in the picture. 06:07 I didn't meet him until I was 23. 06:08 Okay, so you get in trouble 06:10 for bringing a meat cleaver to the school. 06:11 Okay, so again, let's paint the picture. 06:14 You and your family come over from Guyana. 06:16 Part of your family embraces 06:17 the Seventh-day Adventist message 06:19 but your mom because of her busy work schedule, 06:21 she doesn't embrace this message. 06:23 She doesn't begin to practice or doesn't practice Adventism, 06:25 so you grow up recognizing 06:27 there is a difference between you and your cousins 06:29 and so forth and so on 06:31 and it wasn't such a big deal to you initially 06:33 but now you're in school and mom is not around, 06:37 so you're getting into a little trouble, 06:38 the climactic moment 06:40 is you taking a meat cleaver to school, 06:42 although in jest, 06:43 nonetheless taking a meat cleaver to school, 06:45 this is found out, boom, 06:46 kicked out of school for three weeks, 06:48 mom says, okay, enough is enough, 06:50 I can't handle you, 06:51 I'm sending you to Atlanta with your uncle. 06:54 Pick up the story from there? 06:55 So while I'm down there, it gets even... 07:02 My mind at the time, of course, like I said 07:04 I hadn't seen my father until 23, 07:06 but now I'm away from my mom, so now I'm really angry now. 07:12 I'm upset. Okay. 07:13 When I say I'm upset, I'm to the point 07:16 where I will go to a birthday party 07:18 and walk in, and if I don't like the cake, 07:20 I'm throwing the cake on the floor. 07:22 At anybody, random birthday party. 07:23 It didn't matter. It didn't matter who it is. 07:25 This is not exaggeration, this is who I was. 07:29 So tell me about that party. 07:30 So somebody invites you to a birthday party. 07:32 You're in Atlanta, you're living with the uncle. 07:34 Someone invites you over to a birthday party, 07:35 you walk in and the first thing you do is turn over the cake 07:38 or somebody said something that you didn't like? 07:40 I didn't like the situation. 07:42 They had a mom, they had a dad. 07:43 I'm all here by myself so it was chaos. 07:47 That was, I mean I'm speaking presently of my past... 07:50 Yeah, in hindsight, yeah, yeah, right. 07:52 You understand so. 07:53 So just any little thing could set you off 07:57 and in this particular instance 07:58 seeing what was the picture-perfect 08:00 or ideal family just didn't gel well, 08:03 didn't sit well with you. 08:04 No, no, no. 08:05 When the holidays came around and stuff like that, 08:07 I had to, I would get, 08:08 you know, I was still blessed to get stuff 08:10 through the mail 08:12 but, you know, at the same time 08:13 I'm getting stuff through the mail, 08:15 and folks are upset about their parents not behind them 08:19 these Jordans or that, and I'm like... 08:21 I didn't even see my parents. I didn't even see my parents. 08:23 I don't know my dad and I don't see my mom. 08:25 Yes, so it was a situation where I was just in trouble 08:28 just to be in trouble, 08:29 like I didn't like peace and quiet 08:31 like it was just reckless. 08:32 Right. 08:34 So okay, so now you're a young kid, 08:37 you're angry, 08:39 your mom is in New York, 08:40 you're now in Atlanta with your uncle, 08:42 no one can really control you, 08:45 so again you were walking us 08:46 through your introduction to alcohol? 08:48 Okay, so while I'm in Atlanta, 08:51 again, I'm from the islands, 08:53 and we would have parties all the time. 08:55 So our parents would, uncles and aunts 08:59 would have massive amount of friends come over, 09:02 so I had my first drink around 13. 09:05 Thirteen. 09:07 Sneaking down the stairs to sneak a wine cooler, 09:08 covert mission, black ops, 09:11 steal one of those bottles with James 09:13 and come back and open it and take two, three sips. 09:15 Not drunk, not kind of that nature 09:17 but it did make the stomach a little wheezy 09:19 but that was my first taste of alcohol. 09:23 Not necessarily for a feeling 09:25 but that's just what, you know... 09:27 So again acting on this rebellious nature is like, 09:32 okay I want to do something, 09:33 I'm going to sneak down and get a wine cooler. 09:35 And so you began sneaking quite often 09:38 to get wine coolers? 09:40 Yeah. Whenever there was a party. 09:45 For me, I ended up to speed up the process, 09:48 I ended up graduating from high school at 16. 09:52 Okay. 09:54 So were you drinking heavily from 13 to 16 09:57 or you were just again occasional sneaker 10:00 whenever it was available? 10:01 It was the occasional. Okay. 10:02 But I'm about to bring it to the story. 10:04 Go ahead, go ahead, go ahead. 10:05 So it was just regular, I would say 10:09 in the category of what kids do, 10:11 sneaking when their parents aren't looking, 10:13 get a cookie, you know, they didn't see it. 10:15 Except your cookie was a wine cooler. 10:16 Yes, So when I graduated at 16 10:20 and I got engaged at 17. 10:24 So I'm on my own. Okay. 10:26 Still in Atlanta 10:27 and my mom is still in New York. 10:28 Still haven't seen my father. 10:31 And I'm engaged at 17, 10:33 so I'm working, of course, drinking... 10:39 Hennessy. 10:40 So you've graduated to stronger and harder drinks. 10:43 Yes, I'm not even old enough to buy 10:46 but, you know, because our family 10:48 just kept alcohol around all the time, 10:50 so I'm an adult now. 10:54 Now, for clarification. 10:55 This is your uncle in Atlanta who also was not Adventist? 11:00 Not at the time. Not at the time. 11:01 Okay, so 'cause I just wanted to clarify 11:03 because you already has pointed out 11:04 that part of your family is Adventist 11:06 and then as you said, well, the family always had it, 11:08 this is not the Adventist section, 11:09 this is the non-Adventist section of your family 11:11 that is making alcohol accessible to you. 11:14 Yeah, but they still believed in God 11:19 but wasn't necessarily Adventist. 11:22 You know, but of course, being so young, 11:24 you just did what your parents did. 11:25 They say, if it was time to go to church you go to church. 11:27 Whatever day it was. 11:29 Yeah, of course, you don't know what, why, and who so... 11:31 Right, right, right. 11:32 But again, I'm on my own now 17, 11:34 so of course, grown man, engaged, having a beer... 11:40 Not even a beer now. 11:41 I'm drinking Hennessy, you know, stuff like that. 11:45 Speeding up the process, 11:47 we ended up getting married at 19. 11:50 Okay. 11:51 How I ended up graduating to beer 11:56 was at my bachelor party 11:59 which I'm 19, I'm still not old enough to drink. 12:02 Right. 12:03 Still not old enough to drink, 12:05 still not old enough to purchase, 12:06 but you've already moved 12:07 from wine coolers to stronger things 12:10 and here's the introduction to beer. 12:12 Yes. 12:13 My bachelor party was at a strip club. 12:16 So after partying for a while 12:19 we ran out of money for the Hennessey 12:21 so I never did like beer. 12:24 So I didn't care, I just wanted a beer. 12:26 So once I had the taste of beer in that environment, 12:29 I loved it... 12:31 And that was that. 12:32 So that set into motion a chain of events 12:35 to where you began to frequent these type of clubs 12:39 and indulge in drinking beer. 12:42 Oh, yeah. Okay. 12:43 It was cheaper than Hennessey. Okay. Of course. 12:45 It was cheaper than Hennessey, so it isn't about love, 12:47 but it was definitely cheaper than Hennessey. 12:50 Okay, so now you're 19 years old. 12:53 You are drinking... 12:54 you've been introduced to beer. 12:56 How many beers a day would you say you were drinking? 12:59 At that time, 13:02 I would say may be a six-pack. 13:06 A six-pack a day at 19? 13:09 I mean at that time you have to understand 13:11 it's regular life to me. 13:14 You understand, so it was like 13:15 if someone may have a couple of bottles of water 13:17 throughout the day, 13:19 you know, it's just, you know, it was regular. 13:21 In my mind, it was you went to work, you came home... 13:24 You had a beer. There was a beer. That was it. 13:27 And it's almost like honestly, Darren, 13:29 I mean to kind of defend that mindset, 13:33 it's what America promotes. 13:35 When you sit down and watch TV, 13:36 I mean, you're getting bombarded with all manner, 13:39 you know, all different brands of alcohol 13:42 and more specifically beer. 13:44 I mean if it's a football game, what do you do? 13:46 You go and get a Miller. 13:48 You know, I mean, it's Miller time 13:49 and it's things like that 13:50 and so in American society as you pointed out, 13:53 it's not that this is some big deal, 13:55 this is just what you do. 13:56 This is a part of being an adult 13:58 and hanging out with friends. 14:00 You crack open a cold one. Yes. 14:02 That's exactly what it was. 14:04 So then what I want to ask is 14:06 so that is what America promotes 14:09 but when did you realize, 14:11 or did you realize that you had progressed so far 14:13 that now it was causing trouble in your life? 14:16 Your desire to drink was now causing some trouble... 14:21 I mean, 19, you're married. 14:23 You're married at this point. 14:24 Is the alcohol causing trouble in your life at all? 14:28 Looking back, it was. 14:31 But at the time this is normal. Right. 14:33 Again, this is normal. 14:35 I'm 19, I'm married now, I'm a father. 14:40 A father and you're drinking a six-pack a day. 14:42 Drinking a six-pack. 14:44 Things got really drastic 14:46 when I found out that I was going to have a child. 14:50 My mentality changed. 14:52 And this is a key, right? 14:54 This is the key component. 14:56 At the sheer thought 14:57 of the responsibility quite possibly, 15:00 I don't know if you've ever looked at it this way, 15:01 that your father, 15:04 the responsibility that he shirked, 15:06 you approached and realized this may be your responsibility 15:09 that caused you to reach out for some way to deal with this. 15:13 Oh, of course, of course. 15:16 My mentality growing up as a teenager 15:19 was even if I had a child with a ugly person, 15:24 I was never going to leave my child 15:27 because of what my father did. 15:31 Here I'm 19, married, I have a child at 19, 15:35 my whole mentality changed. 15:37 Okay, how did it change? 15:38 It changed with... It got real. 15:40 Okay. 15:42 It really got real. 15:43 It was, you know, diapers and daycare 15:45 is not something to play with. 15:47 You know, while others aspire for Mercedes, 15:50 you're paying $600, $700, $800 for daycare, 15:54 you know, and again at 19 years old... 15:57 Again at that time it still seemed normal. 16:00 It still seemed normal. 16:02 Again but, so my drinking was still to me 16:05 on a normal pace. 16:06 And tell me what is normal drinking for you at this point? 16:09 Normal drinking again is a six-pack. 16:11 You know, Hennessy, it's... 16:13 You can't go anywhere without drinking. 16:16 This is regular. 16:18 You know, this is regular. 16:20 So progressing in a few, after being with my... 16:24 I was engaged for about two years. 16:26 I got engaged at 17, got married at 19, 16:29 had my first child at 19. 16:33 Six months later, I move out, right? 16:37 Our relationship, as soon as we got married, it got ugly. 16:39 Why? 16:41 Or better yet, I want to kind of guide you, 16:44 did the drinking have anything to do with it? 16:47 Again, at the time it didn't seem much. 16:48 At the time it didn't but looking back...? 16:51 Looking back, there were some decisions 16:52 that definitely could have been made differently. 16:56 There were a lot of things. 16:58 Okay, so now, a young kid comes into the States 17:01 with his parents, with his family, 17:03 with his mother, single mother, 17:05 living in New York, gets out of control, 17:07 mom can't handle him, sends him down to Atlanta, 17:10 he begins to sneak and grab a wine cooler 17:12 whenever that's a viable option, 17:15 and then he graduates school at 16, 17:17 progresses from wine coolers, to the strongest of... 17:22 To drinking a six-pack a day, 17:24 19, he's married, he has a baby, 17:27 and the alcohol problem, 17:29 which you don't see as a problem then 17:31 is contributing to some issues in this marriage, 17:34 and I'm sure there are a lot of periphery things 17:35 that are also contributing you guys 17:37 are youth and inexperience, 17:39 the responsibilities now, and so you move out 17:42 and what happens when you move out? 17:44 Oh, man. 17:46 I got wild. 17:49 'Cause I want to clarify and unpack 17:51 why because like you've said, wine cooler is a six-pack a day 17:55 and maybe a fifth or so of Hennessy a day, 17:57 that's not wild, 17:58 so tell us what was wild now that you've moved out. 18:00 Oh, man. 18:01 When I moved out it was, all we had in the fridge, 18:05 my cousin and I, we got our own apartment, 18:08 Ramen noodles and beer. That was all. 18:10 Ketchup and maybe a cup of packets of mustard, 18:12 that was it. 18:14 Different girl every day. 18:16 And you're still married? 18:18 Technically, yes. 18:19 Yes, there is no technically. 18:21 You haven't divorced yet. 18:23 So you're married, you're drinking, 18:25 I mean, and I now remember, 18:27 I remember that phase in my life 18:29 where it was just popular at one point 18:31 to drink a 40-ounce. 18:32 You wasn't hanging out 18:34 unless you was on the street with a 40 in your hand. 18:37 And then it really got bad. 18:39 When it really got bad was when they came out 18:43 and this was probably, I don't even know, 18:46 when they came out with the 22, 18:48 and you can go and get one for like a dollar? 18:50 That's the baby. 18:51 And it was like we don't realize at that time 18:54 how America is fostering alcoholism. 18:57 Of course. 18:58 So now you're out on your own, 19:01 I mean, all you're eating 19:02 is Ramen noodles and drinking beer. 19:04 That's breakfast, that's lunch, that's dinner 19:06 and so now, of course, the strip clubs 19:10 probably became more frequent here? 19:12 Of course. 19:13 You have women even though you're married, 19:14 you're having illicit affairs with women 19:17 and so when does or did alcohol 19:22 and your problem bring you into conflict with the law? 19:28 Not until... 19:30 Now this is like 1999... 19:34 Not until... 19:35 I got my first DUI in 2007. 19:39 So again, this is just normal. 19:43 What I would consume would probably kill somebody 19:48 but to me this is just normal here, okay? 19:53 So the first time I got... 19:55 That was when I got arrested but there was a lot of things 19:58 that happened before then per se. 20:01 Yes, like you said, had some affairs 20:05 while I was still married, 20:06 didn't technically get divorced until 2003. 20:13 I had some trauma... 20:16 Her mom had got sick and we actually... 20:20 I was actually there in the room 20:21 when her mom passed away, 20:23 took her last breath. 20:24 And I'm sure and I want to accelerate this 20:27 and I'm sure that caused the drinking to accelerate. 20:30 Oh, that caused the drinking to accelerate drastically. 20:34 So about how old were you in 2000... 20:38 When you get the divorce, how old are you? 20:40 I'm probably twenty-two. Twenty-two. 20:44 So you married at 19, divorced at 22? 20:46 Yeah. How many kids? 20:47 At this point two. 20:49 Two kids. 20:50 Twenty-two, married, divorced, 20:53 two kids, drinking heavily, 20:57 what I want to ask now is 21:00 when does or when do you start to... 21:04 you know, in 2007 you said you got a DUI. 21:06 Yes. 21:07 Okay, when do you start thinking or crying 21:10 or hearing God say anything to you? 21:19 When I got my second DUI. Second DUI. 21:22 I got my second DUI two months after I got my first one. 21:26 Mercy. 21:28 So I had my first one July 4, 2007, 21:34 I had my second one September... 21:36 Labor Day 2007. 21:39 So that was when I realized that I had a problem... 21:45 Not even to say I had a problem. 21:47 I just was like well, I'm not going out on holidays anymore. 21:50 So I just stayed in the house and was drinking. 21:53 So when you decided after you received the second DUI 21:57 when God begins to speak to you, 21:58 how do you act on what you're hearing from God? 22:01 What is it, do you reach out to someone, 22:03 did someone reach out to you? 22:05 Give me a series of events 22:06 that led you to reaching out to God 22:09 or allowing God to reach in to you if you will? 22:13 As far as with the alcohol, to be honest, 22:16 none of that happened 22:18 until about 2010 22:24 but I always told myself I was going to stop. 22:28 Okay. I had made a list. 22:29 We had made a list of, you know, things you do by 30? 22:32 And stop drinking was on my list by 30. 22:35 Because I knew I did drink, so that was on my list, 22:40 but again, had a whole bunch of events 22:42 that happened before then. 22:43 I ended up getting back married to the same woman again. 22:47 That right there graduated to a gallon of alcohol 22:52 like every day and a half now. 22:53 So because I don't want to be married 22:56 but I had these kids so... 22:57 Right, and so you're trying to do the right thing 22:59 because you made the decision 23:00 that you wouldn't leave your kids. 23:02 Okay, Darren, so 2010, I want you to... 23:07 because I know that one of your cousins 23:09 was instrumental 23:10 in reaching out to you spiritually, 23:13 tell us about that? 23:14 Okay. 23:16 So with that situation, before we get there, 23:19 just a couple of seconds here. 23:21 What was instrumental was 23:23 I was so broken inside 23:28 in my drunken stupors, I would still pray to God 23:31 and I just started asking Him for, 23:36 again in my mind at the time 23:37 I was like, I can't do this without the right female, 23:41 I cannot, like because of how I grew up, I wanted a family. 23:45 I honestly like, you know, I had to have one, 23:50 and I met my current wife now 23:53 and she was heaven sent, 23:55 so this is how the path starts 23:56 before we even get to what my cousin did, 24:00 met her, three weeks later we got married, 24:02 I wouldn't suggest you do that. 24:04 Okay. 24:05 I wouldn't suggest anybody do that. 24:06 But what happened was I told her exactly who I was. 24:09 Right. 24:11 At this point that's why I said 2007 was very important to me 24:12 because I was honest with myself. 24:16 So I'm like, hey, I'm an alcoholic, 24:19 I'm a pornographer, 24:21 I do this, I do that, I go to the strip club, you know, 24:24 but I'm going to stop. 24:26 I don't know when 24:27 but, you know, if you take me like this we're good. 24:31 So we got married 24:32 and we went through our regular struggle 24:37 and my cousin calls, he's like, 24:40 you know, I got this prayer line, 24:41 get on this prayer line, 24:43 it's like 6:30 in the morning. 24:44 I'm like, "Dude, I'm not trying to hear a prayer line 24:46 at 6:30 in the morning." 24:47 Very well knowing that I'm up at 6 o'clock in the morning 24:51 because there is a beer that I fell asleep 24:54 that's right near my bed 24:55 so I'm waking up to finish the drink. 24:58 So I'm making up every excuse 25:00 and what happened was I got so drunk one night 25:04 I forgot my phone outside of the house 25:06 and I woke up and couldn't find my phone, 25:10 went outside, 25:11 and I got my phone, it was dead, 25:12 I charged it up and I had a voicemail. 25:14 I'm like, who is leaving me a voicemail 25:16 at 6 o'clock in the morning, 25:18 so I checked my voicemail 25:19 and then all of a sudden I hear these voices. 25:22 And when you hear it 25:23 they are like in the middle of conversation 25:25 and I have no idea who this voice is. 25:27 And as I'm listening 25:30 I realized that they were praying 25:31 and then I hear my name. 25:33 So now I'm like really intrigued. 25:35 I keep reminding now I'm still drunk. 25:37 I woke up drunk. 25:38 So I'm just like, yeah, what's going on. 25:40 And then I hear my cousin's voice, 25:41 so I'm like "Do they know that there are voicemail?" 25:45 You know, I'm like okay, so what are they doing? 25:48 So you're listening to a voicemail? 25:50 I'm listening, they called my phone, 25:53 they called my phone... 25:55 Left this message. 25:56 And while on the prayer line, 25:59 they just started praying for me. 26:00 Wow. Right? 26:02 So I'm like, I got this beer in my hand 26:03 and I'm looking at the phone like 26:06 do they know their own voicemail 26:07 and I'm like, so I'm listening 26:09 and the voice who I was hearing 26:10 praying for me was Anderson 26:14 and I didn't even know who this guy was 26:17 but then I heard my cousin's voice. 26:19 So after that I was like you know, what? 26:21 Let me just go ahead and get on this prayer line. 26:23 That's it. This is crazy. 26:24 It blew my mind 26:25 because I'm hearing someone praying 26:27 then I hear praying for me. 26:30 So I started getting on the prayer line 26:32 and I still got my beer on my hand, 26:34 I'm getting up, the next thing I know 26:36 like one day, 26:38 like the next day or two days later 26:40 I had my beer in my hand and they were talking 26:44 and then they just say something that hit me. 26:46 I can't even remember what it was 26:47 but it just related so much to life. 26:51 I want to kind of move this story ahead so, 26:54 you make a decision to get clean 26:56 and the trail of events, 26:59 new wife who accepts you as you are 27:02 but wants you to be better, 27:03 a cousin, a prayer line, and eventually baptism. 27:07 Now, this is probably not the usual journey. 27:10 This is something completely different 27:12 but what I want you to do right now is 27:13 I want you to take about the next 30 seconds, 27:15 I want you to look into this camera 27:16 and I want you to talk to someone 27:17 who may think that alcoholism is a way of life, 27:19 who may think it's okay to drink a gallon of vodka 27:23 and I want you to talk to that person 27:25 as though you're talking to Darren. 27:28 This Darren is talking to that Darren. 27:32 What I would say to myself 27:34 or whoever is struggling with alcoholism 27:36 or anything of that nature 27:37 is to think past your nose. 27:41 By yourself I mean, sit down and write down 27:45 what you want on one side 27:47 and write down what you're doing 27:49 and look at it 27:50 and see if what you're doing as up to what you want. 27:55 And you're going to be very surprised with that 27:58 because when you look at it 27:59 you're going to see that you've tried everything, 28:03 you've done everything except for one thing 28:05 and that is you have not tried God at all. 28:08 And that's what I did. 28:12 I literally sat down and I wrote down 28:14 every place I've been 28:15 whatever I did 28:17 and I realized the only thing I did not do was try God. 28:20 Amen. 28:22 Darren, thank you so much. 28:24 I just want the viewers to know 28:26 that you have not sunk to the point 28:30 that God cannot reach and save you 28:33 and even take you from alcoholism 28:36 on to a new journey. 28:37 Thank you for being with us. 28:39 God bless you. |
Revised 2017-11-02