“for a decade and a half, man that's what my life consisted of. Criminal activity and drug use”

Calvin describes his childhood as “pretty normal.” He went to church and grew up in a stable home with his parents. His mother was a nurse, his dad a police officer. Growing up, Calvin sought to take advantage of his father’s occupation by getting away with as much as he could. “I think I was 12 years old when I got my first misdemeanor,” Calvin recalls, “and I was 14 years old when I got my first felony. From that time forward, I was in and out of jail.”

As Calvin began getting in trouble with the law, he also started dabbling in drugs. “Mainly it started off with weed but quickly progressed to methamphetamine, and for a decade and a half, man that's what my life consisted of. Criminal activity and drug use,” Calvin explains.

Calvin worked a number of jobs while he was using, “but nothing that I took super serious,” he says. “Even when I was making decent money, I was still using methamphetamine and I would get off work and use drugs to stay awake and do criminal activity. Eventually it definitely caught up with me.”

Old friends

Calvin found his way to the Mission, where he began to read the Bible in earnest. “However,” he says, “even though I was educating myself and people were helping me be educated on Biblical knowledge, I still didn't have a relationship with Christ.” He left the program before graduating because, in his words, “I had it figured out … I went back to work. I got into a clean and sober house and it didn't take long. It was about a month before I started using drugs again. I stopped doing everything that kept me sober.” 

Calvin started hanging around old friends, quit going to church and recovery meetings, and even stopped praying. “It got dark really quick,” he remembers. 

Taking off the mask

God led Calvin back to the Mission. Thankfully, things were different this time around. He developed a relationship with God for the first time in his life. He also began being honest with himself about his emotions. “The game changer for me was finally taking off the mask that I constantly wore,” he says. Through a class he took at the Mission, Calvin says he was able to “recognize where God is at in all situations … I went through that class twice and I'm so thankful that I did.” 

Today, Calvin is full of hope. As he looks to the future, he says he’s “looking to surround myself … with like-minded people all pointing in the direction of Christ. It's critical for me. My worst fear is going back to the man I was.” “I am a new creation,” Calvin declares, adding, “I'm so thankful, I'm so grateful for the restoration of my mind.”