Nichols Street Church of Christ

Here is another touching testimony from another student. I didn't know much of his story or how he got my name before I got this. It is long but worth reading.

In 1996 I was in the 5th grade and I was living with my Grandparents in Small town Texas. My Grandfather was a Baptist Preacher and my Grandmother was the most Godly woman I have ever known. I went to church every Sunday & Wednesday. You couldn't tell anyone I did wrong. They weren't going to believe it.

 
I had been drinking for about a year and an older cousin introduced me to marijuana. At first it was just smoking on occasion with my cousin. But being stoned took the place of all the pain and anger and hatred that had formed a shell around my heart and kept me from knowing what love was and who my Savior and comforter really was.

 

My parents were divorced when I was about 3 years old. And I was bounced back and forth most of my school years. By the time I was 9 years old I had spent 2 1/2 years in Germany & 1 year in El Paso with my Mom & Stepdad. I was very familiar with verbal, physical & sexual abuse. So being in my Grandparents house and having freedom, I did what I wanted.

 

I never got in trouble so no one knew. By the age of 13 years a friend and me were selling pot to just about every one in town who smoked, even the adults and older teens. We were stoned all day every day and drunk all weekend. I went to church every Sunday morning with a hangover and I was just the best little boy in town. I didn't want to learn nothing about God & Jesus. They weren't doing nothing for me , they weren't easing my pain, helping me make money or keeping me safe at night.

 

At the age of 15 I borrowed a girlfriend's car with a friend and two other girls. We were drinking and smoking & I had a pint of Everclear. Well, this girl's boyfriend didn't like me driving his girlfriend's car so he chased us and I tried to get away from him. I hit a dirt embankment at what the police said was about 120 mph. I was the only one hurt. I had 34 stitches in my bottom lip,my gums and under my tongue. I was lucky to be alive. Then came the hard drugs. I began snorting cocaine and shooting up cocaine and methamphetamines.

 

By 1988 I had done about every drug on the market and I was severely strung out on crack cocaine. My best friend had been clean 2 years, was married & had a baby boy, his life was good. He was trying to get me to clean up my act. I promised I'd try. He left me that night. The following morning I was arrested for forging $1500.00 worth of checks on my Grandfather. I spent all that day in jail, sick & coming down real hard. About 3:00a.m. the following morning they pulled me out & took me to the Jail Captain who informed me that my best friend of 18 years had just been found dead on his way home from a concert shortly after his 21st birthday. After the autopsy we found out he died clean & sober, yet here I was in jail strung out & "safe". All I could think was why Russell? Why couldn't it have been me instead?

 

I eventually got out of jail and I met a woman in May of 1989 two weeks after my release. She had two children and took me for who I was. Even though she didn't drink or do any drugs. I married her in Dec. '89. In Aug. "89 our son was born. In about March of 1990 I made another trip to Prison. My drugs & alcohol & need for money just got me further in the hole. I got out in late 1991 and my wife got pregnant with our daughter. All through the pregnancy I stayed depressed, worried and scared I was going to lose my wife and or daughter. Beth was a diabetic and there were a ot of problems. At the end I broke and went back to drugs. Within two weeks I amassed several charges. Auto theft, forging, possession of controlled substances.

 

My daughter Kallie was born in June of 1992. I was strung out and on the run. I got to the hospital the next day after finding out Kallie almost died during delivery. I knew I had warrants and my family was gonna need money. I went on a crime spree sending money & different things to my wife through friends. She never knew where it came from, only that I sent it.

 

July 4, 1992 I was finally arrested. In Dec. '92 I received a letter from my wife telling me Kallie was having severe health problems. I turned to the only thing I could think of, God. I just wanted her to be okay. I didn't care about me. In Mar. 1993 Mike Barber came to see us on the Wynne Unit. He led me to Christ. For once I felt maybe there's a chance. I remember praying one night that I could be home for Kallie's 1st Birthday. I was released June 4, 1993 two days before her birthday. I guess in my mind that was just a coincidence. I stayed out 2 1/2 yrs.

 

I went to church on special occasions. But I was still drinking & drugging. In Dec. 1995 I found myself right back behind the walls of a cell. This time my wife divorced me. We had been having problems and everything was coming to a head. See, I was accused of "touching" my step-daughter in an inappropriate way. Now my whole life was coming apart. Nothing I did was coming out right. I had 20 yrs. in Prison to do, a divorce, I was 3 hrs. from my closest family, my Mother hated me, my Father, well he was always non-existent. I was getting no visits and the only thing I had going for me was the fact that I was gang related & I could easily intimidate. From Dec. '95 to Jan. '98 I became the most violent, hate filled, racist, institutionalized person you could imagine. I had respect, but I was still alone.

 

In Jan. '98 I cut both wrists and I overdosed on pills. I wanted everything to end. I was lost and alone with nowhere to turn & not a friend in sight. I was transferred to a psyche unit & put in a strip cell (4 walls, a ceiling & a floor - all concrete)with a hole in the middle for a drain. No clothes, but I had a blanket to lay on the cold floor in the middle of Jan. in Lubbock, Tx. NOW I was at the bottom. NOW God truly had my attention becuase if anyone could help me HE was the only one. After 3 days in this strip cell, I was given a pair of boxer shorts & a cell with a mattress, sheets & blankets. And a man across the hall that was in about the same state of mind I was in.

 

I told him I needed a friend to write. I didn't care who it was, I just wanted someone to share my thoughts with and make me feel that maybe I had a reason to hang on. He gave me this address. I remember he told me "Its some Christian chick, but she seems nice." So I wrote to this lady. And the first letter I got, she was so encouraging. She sent me a Bible study & I did it & sent it back to her. For 4 yrs. I have been doing the studies she sends and corresponding with her. She helped me to find Light while I was in a very dark tunnel. She has encouraged me and helped guide me in many ways.

 

For the first time in many years I felt like I had a true friend. She has never let me down and never asked me for anything. She has been a God-send. For once in my life I met someone who wasn't a user. She has shared God's Word with me and helped keep me on the straight road when I was really down. I fully gave my life to Christ in June of '98 and thanks to Patricia Burt and the things she has shared with me and advice she has given me towards how to react and think when it comes to my own children I have grown considerably.

 

I put my whole life in God's hands and have let the Spirit guide me in my actions. I am no longer 3-6 hours from home. In Nov. '99 I came to the Powledge Unit and am 30 mins. from home. I see my kids about once a month. My ex-wife talks about reconciliation. The truth has yet to come out on my case & I am still doing this 20 yrs., but I'm doing it with Christ. I know everyday is a blessing & that God's Will is being done. All the time that I felt lost & alone, all the accidents, nights of driving drunk, weeks of filling my body full of poisons, I know now, everything in life has a purpose. God's Word says, "For all things there is a season."

 

My Aunt told me at a visit a couple months ago, she said if I thought 15 yrs. ago the way I think & act now, I wouldn't be here now. If I had not gone through the things I have I would not be thinking and acting the way I do today. God has a plan for each & every one of us. That plan will be followed. There may be some delays here & there, but when it comes time we will do His bidding. The one thing I can say about all that I have learned is this. He will take us just as we are, but He will not leave us like He found us. The desire of God is that we share in the benefits of being an heir to the throne. He gave His Son for our salvation. Why should He deny us anything we ask. He loves us that much.

 

Thank you God for never giving up on me and thank you Patricia Burt for helping me to learn that we are each and every one worth loving. I have been behind these walls for 6 years now, but never in my life have I felt more free. I finally know how to love and how to be loved and have no desire to return to my old self.

 

You have been a true blessing in my life.When we first began communicating I was just out of a strip cell, stitches still in my wrists and searching for a reason to continue living. I was truly at the bottom of the pit that was my life.

 

With love in Christ, Jarvis Baker