“Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!  Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he has redeemed from trouble and gathered in from the lands, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south.”

I remember standing on a street corner in the rain talking to my dad on a payphone.  He said “son, your mother has been so worried about you that she’s neglecting me. I’ve had this infection in my nose for over a year.  It was misdiagnosed by my doctor and I just found out that its cancer.  He said… son, you’re killing me.”  That was a moment of clarity.  I began to cry.  I was 31 years old and for the first time in my life, I realized that my behavior was affecting other people.  That was it.  I had to get sober but I still refused to repent.  I was going to do it my way.  The drugs were the problem, and if I could just stop using, it would all be ok.