I first met James almost 4 years ago. He was in attendance the very first night I started our Tuesday night recovery group in Frederick County, Maryland, where I live. We became friends and it became a regular thing for him to come up to me after group with some Bible or life question. While he has moved away from the area, I still hear from him every now and then and he continues to daily work his recovery.
Today I got to meet James’ mother for the first time. She was here at Helping Up Mission in downtown Baltimore to attend our Friday chapel service. Her brother, Paul, graduated today from our 12-month residential Spiritual Recovery Program. If you are keeping score, that would make his James’ uncle.
I also got to meet James’ siste,r with whom I had flurry of correspondence a while ago about her boyfriend who was struggling with addiction. His name is Colin and he has now been a member of our 12-month program for almost two months. I am happy for James, Paul, Colin and the whole family. Hope James understands that we don’t offer any finders fees!
God has been very good to all of us here and sometimes we just feel like one big happy family at Helping Up Mission. We are connected by struggling with the same addiction issues. We are all also looking to the LORD for hope, answers and empowerment over our addictions. We also tend to know each other from the streets and the recovery rooms in the community. We have quite a bit of history together around here – like one big dysfunctional family with a bunch of crazy uncles!
Thank you, family and friends out there, for putting up with us, supporting us and continuing to pray for us. It is working and we are getting a little bit better every day.
One day at a time,
Pastor Gary Byers
Spiritual Life Director
PS On August 13, we are starting HUM-ANON here at Helping Up Mission. I will let you know more about it shortly.