Former drug, alcohol abuser finds freedom in Christ

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FORT WORTH—Seated behind his office desk wearing a neat haircut, a polo shirt, pressed slacks and a smile, few would ever suspect what Zack went through for more than eight years.

“From age 19 to about 26 or 27, I had what my dad likes to call my ‘stupid years.’ It’s like I was making up for lost time from having been on the straight and narrow for so much of my upbringing,” said Zack, who asked that his last name be withheld to protect his parents’ privacy.

Zack

He grew up in a loving home. He never got in trouble in high school. His father was a classically trained concert pianist, and music lessons were a big part of Zack’s early life.

“My parents were good about developing me, enriching me and giving me lots of opportunities in different dimensions of my life. But after high school, a curiosity that wasn’t surrendered to God led me to experiment with drugs. I led a pretty sheltered life up to that point.”

At age 23, after a couple of wasted semesters at Texas Wesleyan University and four years using drugs, his parents urged him to set goals and accomplish something with his life. Zack enlisted in the Air Force, where drugs no longer were an option. He switched to alcohol, which was, in his words, “a whole different animal.”

A year and a half and a slew of drunken bad choices later, Zack was court-martialed and discharged. He returned home to live with his family and wrestle with what had become a serious addiction.

“They told me I couldn’t drink and live there. I understood, I agreed and promised and I really didn’t want to do it anymore. But I was utterly incapable of not drinking. It was almost like I was possessed—like someone was controlling my body. I have numerous recollections of a bottle to my lips and tears streaming my eyes at the same time,” he said.

Perpetually drunk for nearly two years, he could see his behavior tearing at his parents’ hearts and marriage. He contemplated suicide. His parents kicked him out and he found the Fort Worth Salvation Army’s Adult Rehabilitation Center in December 2004 at age 26.


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He relapsed during his first visit home and was kicked out of the center for a month. During that time, he lived in a seedy hotel in a dangerous neighborhood and went on a month long bender.

“My mom would come to the hotel to bring me food,” he said. “My friends would come by and bring me a couple bucks here and there. My mom knew I was going to use it to drink. She didn’t want me to walk in that area more than she didn’t want me to drink. So she would drive me,” Zack said.

When Zack reentered the rehab center, God showed up during a chapel service.

“The pastor was doing his thing, speaking the word, and I felt this conviction. I suddenly understood the depth of how I’d violated the law of God. The cross, for the first time, wasn’t superfluous or meaningless. It became the most passionate expression of love I’d ever contemplated. Tears were streaming down my face and the best way I can describe the sensation is waves of liquid love washing over me.”

Everything changed after that. After completing the six-month program, relapsing, and completing the program once more, Zack has been sober for almost five years.

“God has completely freed me from the bondage of alcohol. There’s not a vestige. Not a trace. I’ve found that if my motives are pure and my heart is completely surrendered into his hands, God will protect me from that bondage,” he said.

He has lived in the New Life Center, a program of Cornerstone Assistance Network in Fort Worth, more than four years. The center’s focus is facilitating education for men who seek it. Rent and utilities are heavily subsidized, allowing men to work part time jobs while attending classes and living independently. Cornerstone Assistance Network is a multi-faceted community ministry that receives support from the Texas Baptist Offering for World Hunger.

In 2008, Zack graduated from Tarrant County College’s honors program with an associate’s degree in arts and humanities.

That fall, he entered the social work program at Texas Christian University on a full scholarship—the same university where his dad studied under renowned pianist Lili Kraus 27 years earlier. He graduated from the honors program in May with a 4.0 grade point average. Later, at his mother’s urging, he learned that he ranked first in his class of 1,156 students.

“I cannot verbalize sufficiently how much it is my heart for God to get all the credit for that. God was really faithful and I told him at the outset that I would give him full credit for anything I accomplished in my scholastic pursuits. It was just a really cool experience—especially to go from being homeless and nearly suicidal to receiving a full ride to a private university.”

Zack’s relationship with his parents has been completely and miraculously restored. He said the work God is doing in his life has even inspired a revival in his family—religion wasn’t a big part of their lives before.

He currently works as an intake case manager at the Cornerstone Assistance Network in Fort Worth. He has been accepted to Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary for the fall, but he is looking for a second job to finance his education.

“I’m waiting for God to open those doors financially and looking for another job to supplement the one I have at Cornerstone,” Zack said. “Right now is a time of earning for me. I need to save $3,000 for the first semester’s tuition. God paid for what amounted to a $120,000 education at TCU. If he can do that, how much more can he pay for seminary?”

 


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