Eddy’s Never Graduated From Anything!

Today Eddy stopped me, obviously very excited about something. “My mother and maybe 30 members of my family are coming from Ohio for my graduation! No way I’m going to mess that up!”

A typically upbeat guy, I could hear in his voice and see on his face just how meaningful this was to him. Almost 50 years old, Eddy’s never graduated from anything.

He arrived at Helping Up Mission last October, physically and spiritually beat up. Eddy had been ripping and running for a lot of years.

After committing to our 12-month residential Spiritual Recovery Program, he settled in, got comfortable and even began to thrive. Eddy got a lot of strength and encouragement watching other guys succeeding. He also made friends and HUM became his Maryland family.

Like everyone else here, Eddy was given a daily work therapy responsibility. Knowing he was expected to take care of certain things on our campus – and getting it done – gave him a sense of self-worth he hadn’t felt for decades.

Today Eddie is an intern and supervises housekeeping in one of our buildings on campus. And now that he’s got his sights on graduation from our 1-year Program in October, he’s also focusing on earning his high school diploma, too.

So, this morning I got excited just hearing how excited he was – and realizing all the progress he’s made this year in becoming a new man! Of course, Eddie also knows its one day at a time. But today his eye is on the prize!

What Eddie’s experiencing a bit of our Proverb for the Day 4:25 – and its working for him. See http://helpingupmission.blogspot.com/2014/07/proverb-for-day-425-whos-in-charge-here.html.

One Graduation at a Time,
Pastor Gary Byers
Deputy Director