Out of the Pit
By J. Howard
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The Lord lifted me out of the horrible pit and planted my feet upon a rock. The horrible pit was the abyss of drug abuse and all that it entails. The rock upon which the Lord planted my feet is Jesus Christ, my Savior.
I was born 24 years ago, the second of two children in my family, in a state located in the heart of the so-called Bible Belt. My father was a career man for Uncle Sam, so our family traveled and moved quite frequently. When I was eleven, my father, who was a fairly dedicated member of the Church of Christ, was fatally stricken with a heart attack. About a year later, partly in deference to his oft-expressed desire, I was baptized and became a member of the Church of Christ. My mother has long been a member of that church also.
At fourteen I had saved enough money from earnings on a paper route to purchase a motorcycle. This enabled me to associate with an older crowd of teenagers with whom I started almost at once to smoke marijuana. Little did I realize that this was to be the beginning of almost nine years of anguish, heartbreak and indulgence in almost every sin known to man. I ran away and went to a distant city when I was fifteen. The police there returned me to my mother. I was greeted with her tirades.
In defiance I told her I would leave again. She advised me if I did that I should not bother about ever returning. So I left again and went to a city in California that same summer. I returned to my hometown late in the summer and stayed with friends during the first semester of school. My mother permitted me to return home for the second semester. At the end of school I took off again for California. Returning home in September I entered high school in the Senior year, but stayed with a friend in an apartment and worked during the eve-
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During this period of approximately four years, I continued and expanded my experimentation with all types of drugs, including hallucinogenic and narcotics. Despairing of this existence and finding no help or encouragement from family, friends or church, I entered the military service. During the ensuing five-year hitch in the military, I served in several installations in the United States, Germany and Vietnam. Obtaining illicit drugs in all of these places, and especially in Vietnam, was unbelievably simple.
As a result I became heavily addicted to heroin during the last eighteen months of the hitch. When I was ultimately separated honorably, the service doctors who examined me were wholly oblivious to my addiction. Following my discharge I joined an outlaw motorcycle gang in Colorado, and, for the next several months, engaged in gang wars, fostering prostitution, pushing drugs, engaging in thievery and other illegal activities to support my heroin habit which, by this time, was costing me $90.00 or more daily.
After several months of this existence, several friends forced me into cold-turkey withdrawal by taking me and forcing me to remain with them in an isolated residence for nearly seven days. In the distressing days of torture that followed, and having no real friends upon whom to call, I decided that I would be better off if I returned to military service. Three weeks later I re-enlisted and was sent to an installation near Washington, D.C.
Not long after arriving in that area I found myself continuing to smoke marijuana and using some of the stronger hallucinogenic drugs, including LSD. After some two months of this, I became thoroughly disgusted, sick, burdened with a tremendous feeling of guilt, and began searching for a way out. I knew that the establishment, including the organized church, could offer no real help. Somehow, in my despair, I searched the yellow pages of the telephone directory and came upon the name of a Church of Christ minister with whom I was not acquainted. Although it was 11 o'clock at night, this fine man got out of his bed, drove across town and counseled with me until 4:30 a.m. In parting from me, he prayed for me and urged me to try attending a nearby church where there were several members my age. He thought this would be an encouragement to me. I was impressed by this preacher because he unselfishly spent time with me and because he made no attempt to drag me to his congregation.
I followed his advice and began attending the congregation he recommended. About a month later, a member invited me to his home one Sunday afternoon for dinner and a subsequent study and prayer session. I confess that I accepted largely to get the free meal, but praise God, what happened afterward has changed everything!
During the prayer session I really met Jesus Christ! As these fine people prayed for me, I was at first a little embarrassed and then overwhelmed by their obviously sincere and genuine interest in me. Shortly after the praying began I found myself rejoicing in a way that I had never known. I was completely enveloped by the love of Jesus and these brethren. It was then that I came to know assuredly what Jesus meant when he said, "If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth in me, as the scripture has said, 'out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.' " (John 7:37, 38).
I praise God and thank him that the rivers of living water are still flowing, giving me a love and a joy that cannot be described in words. Of a truth, Jesus has given me his Spirit which has empowered me to tell others of him, and which has given me the strength to overcome any and all desire for dope and drugs. I rejoice too, that he has forgiven my grossly sinful conduct. He has transformed me and now I love him and all of my neighbors. Hallelujah! It is true
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Editor's Note: The above name is a pseudonym, used to avoid embarrassment to the family and friends of the author.