Prison-Shaking Savior

I am not ashamed to say I love going to the Minnesota Adult and Teen Challenge Gala.

 

Last Tuesday night (Oct. 1) was no exception. 

 

In the spirit of full disclosure, my love of what these people do is entirely biased as I have been sober now for forty years. But wait a minute please– before you start congratulating me on this great accomplishment, I want to be absolutely crystal-clear that I did not do it. I tried to quit drugs and alcohol and all the sin in my life many, many times and I failed each time.

 

I couldn’t do it.

 

That’s the point. 

 

There are some things some people cannot do without the help of God Himself. Addiction is often one of those things. While there may be someone out there who might say they gave up an addiction solely under their own power, the statistics show that a whole lot of people die trying.  According to the CDC, there were just under 108,000 overdose deaths in the United States in 2023, Of those, 1,343 were Minnesotans. About 70% of those deaths are from fentanyl.

 

The National Safety Council says, “It is estimated that the economic cost of opioid use disorder and fatal opioid overdose in 2017 was $150 billion. In addition, non-economic costs of $871 billion are estimated due to reduced quality of life from opioid use disorder and the value of life lost due to fatal opioid overdoses.”

 

Those are 2017 stats. We know the problem has gotten worse since then –and that’s just the economic cost. There are emotional, spiritual, and generational costs that just cannot be calculated.

 

And that, my brothers and sisters, is one of the reasons I am so grateful for what Teen Challenge does and for Kinship Radio’s sponsorship and involvement with that ministry.

 

I come from a long line of alcoholics and drug addicts. When Jesus changed my life, He didn’t just save me –He changed the trajectory, outcome, and future of my family and the generations that will follow me. When these galas are held, they ask the people whose lives are changed how many of their parents were addicts, and almost every hand goes up. They ask how many were introduced to drugs or alcohol by their parents, and many hands go up. They ask how many of the people standing before us have children and most hands go up.

 

The best news, (which I have saved for last) is that 2024 marks the first year Minnesota Adult and Teen Challenge had a facility near Mankato. Welcome Manor in Garden City is an amazing facility in that it has a licensed daycare so moms in the program don’t have to be separated from their children while they heal. That’s huge because women are far more likely to seek treatment if they can do it without being torn from their children. It preserves the family and changes everything.

 

This year’s gala concluded with a young man named Gunnar belting out “Chain Breaker” by Zach Williams –and as he sang that there was a better life, I knew our prison-shaking Savior was indeed a chain-breaker. HALLELUJAH! 

 

Today’s Praise

Luke 4: 18-21

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see,

that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.”

He rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the attendant, and sat down. All eyes in the synagogue looked at him intently. 

Then he began to speak to them. “The Scripture you’ve just heard has been fulfilled this very day!”

 

(Photo of Wellcome Manor courtesy of Minnesota Adult and Teen Challenge.)