I was raised here in Pasco, Washington. As I was growing up here, I grew up in a split home
My mom and my dad were always arguing and fighting, and there was really no attention on me and my siblings.
So in the middle of all this, I kind of just started hanging out with the wrong crowd.
I was able to get out of the house with nobody really like paying attention to me,
so I ended up becoming involved in this gang. And in this lifestyle with the drugs and trying to fit in and be a part of the scene,
because I really don't have a father figure. Like, my dad's always gone.
So these gang members that I'm being surrounded by, they become my father figure.
And I see that they're people that get respected and people that get looked up to in the school,
so that's who I want to be. So I end up becoming involved with these gangs.
At the age of 15, we get arrested. I get arrested for a possession of a firearm charge.
I ended up going to do some time for this, for a minor in possession of a firearm charge. And I end up doing some time for that.
When I get out, I get kicked out of school. And it just kind of makes me get more involved in the gang,
because I don't have to go to school now. So I'm kind of more in the mix of all the gang stuff.
And at the age of 20, about to turn 21, I get arrested for a felony rioting charge and felony possession of a firearm.
And I end up having to go do a prison sentence. So two friends of mine got shot,
and now I'm starting kind of catching up on everything that's been going on.
And another friend of mine got shot and he got shot in the finger and his head,
but he survived and he was good. As we're driving down Court Street,
the rival gang pulls up right next to us. At first I don't notice it, but I hear someone yelling and stuff.
So I rolled down the window, and I noticed that it's these guys and I have my kids
in the back in the car seats and stuff. So they're over here and one of the guys waves a gun and
I had a gun as well in the car at the time, but I didn't want to shoot or do anything
because my kids were in the car . So I told my friend, I was like “Hey, just take me home."
I kind of sit there with the kids, and I'm kind of panicked a little bit too because the situation could
have gone really bad, and I knew if they would have shot the car they would have shot my kids
or just the car alone. So this girl tells me that that I should go to church.
So I go to church and I'm at the church and the message that they were preaching kind of was speaking to me,
to what was going on in my situation during that time. I wasn't a person that had a lot of patience,
so I want stuff to happen immediately, and stuff's not happening for me.
It's already been like a couple weeks and Pastor Tony had given me this Bible, and I'm reading scriptures and all this stuff.
And I was like “Man, I've been praying and nothing's really happening.”
I'm already looking for other alternatives, instead of just waiting for God to come through,
to start selling drugs or something so that I could get myself back on my feet.
That week I had gone with my brother to a dispensary because when I went into prison there was no dispensaries,
and I got out and weed was legal. So I'd gone with my brother, and we had been smoking dabs.
Now I'm here like a couple weeks later, and I know it takes more than 30 days to get clean.
My probation officer calls me. He tells me like, “Hey, you need to come in. You were supposed to be here yesterday."
And he pulls out a sample cup, and he tells me, he goes, “Can you give me your sample?”
So I kind of stared at it for a little bit, and I was like “Oh, yeah. Yeah.” And he tells me, “Are you clean?”
And I don't know if he could tell that I was nervous. And I told him, “Oh, yeah. Of course, yeah. I'm like “I'm clean.”
But I remember I was saying this little short prayer, and I was like, “God, if you're real
I need You to show up like right now. I need You to help me.” So when he gives me the cup,
I look at the cup and I'm clean. Like, THC is all normal. Everything is normal.
And I'm kind of like in awe a little bit, I'm kind of like "Oh my gosh, like I'm clean!" you know.
As we're driving back home, my sister was a Christian, and she was also trying to get me to church.
And I just never really went with her. So she's listening to this radio station called K-Love.
And as we're driving, there's this guy and he comes out and he's on the radio,
and his name's Luis Palau. He's talking about how in the Hebrew language there's no word for coincidence.
And he was saying that that is happening is because God's ordained it that way
and that the Hebrews believed in that. So the sooner that we stop saying that it's a coincidence or that it's luck,
but we start acknowledging that it's God, the more we'll see the blessings poured out upon us.
And it just hit me; and it hit me hard. God was telling me “No, that’s not a coincidence. It's Me.
All this stuff that's been happening positively is Me.”
So, I'm looking out the window, and I'm just kind of lost. So as we drive home,
I turn around and look at my sister, and I'm kind of emotional. Now I'm just seeing God move,
and I could just see Him, that He's all over me. He's kind of pushing me to go to church,
and I feel like He's just answering me. Everything that I'm asking is just happening fast.
I get to church and the service that they're having just hits me again. God's all over me,
and I just feel emotional. And they call people up, and they're like “If you've never given your life to Christ, come to the altar.”
I'm just emotionally broken, and I start crying at the altar.
I cut out like everything. I cut out the unhealthy relationships, other friends, and stuff like that.
I go back, and I kind of just go back into the Word, go back into prayer, go back into having a relationship with God.
And moving forward, I cut out doing tattoos, because I was doing tattoos as well.
I know that that was something that God wanted me to cut out.
So that was something that was hard for me because I was making good money.
It was something I didn't want to let go, because as a kid I was always drawing and doing art.
So I ended up cutting that out too, and I already knew that it wasn't what I wanted - that it's what God wants.
That's what brings me joy - is doing what God wants. So that's what I decided to do,
and that's what I'm going to continue to decide to do, as I continue forward.