by Mike Kennon

Created on: January 07, 2009   Last Updated: October 23, 2009

By the time I got to Nebraska, I was exhausted and stressed. I had been hitch hiking for twelve days, and the only thing I had in my system was coffee and a ham sandwich that someone bought me.

A man named Joe picked me up and asked me if I wanted to get high. I told him yes but thought to myself that it would surely kill me. We stopped and got high together and everything in my life seemed to become clearer. I knew that I had nowhere to go; I doubted I was wanted at home, and I had no future. This was it. I had hit bottom. I made small talk, but I kept these thoughts inside. Joe sensed my desperation and said, "Hey, if you'd like, I have pounds of this at home if you want to take some with you." Yet another person was giving me something for nothing. Of course I said yes, as I was a taker. I'd be able to sell it for food or use it for my own habit.

A few minutes after Joe dropped me off, it began to rain. Perfect, I thought. I wanted to suffer. I stood there for hours and was soaked to the bone. Finally, I decided to try to find someplace to get warm, but there were only a couple of gas stations in the area, and they were closed. There was a bridge a short distance away, and I decided to stay under it till the rain passed. I started to cry. I could not stop, and I could not regain control of myself. Every time I thought I might have hit bottom, I found a new level to sink to. I cried, and then I began praying. I gave the most heartfelt prayer I had ever said. I asked God to forgive me for what I was about to do, but I couldn't live anymore. It was too painful. I took a knife out of my bag and stabbed myself on the wrist. I started to pull on the blade to end my lifeand I stopped. An overwhelming sensation came over me, a force that I had never felt before. I stood up and took a sock out of my backpack and wrapped it around my wrist. Newfound energy had surged through me, and I walked down to the road. I didn't even put my thumb out, and someone pulled over. This is a miracle, I thought to myself. The man who pulled over was in a Volkswagen station wagon, and he looked like the pictures and statues I had seen of Jesus. I jumped in his car. The first words he said to me were, "Have you confessed your sins to Jesus?"

I panicked a little and responded, "I went to church with my mom all growing up, and I know a little about the story of Jesus, but I don't know what to say."

"I can help you," he replied. He said the Lord's Prayer, and he asked me to pray and recite

• 1
• 2
• 3
• Next Page >>