Joe was pretty excited before class yesterday. He had just taken his first drug test with us…and came up clean!
Not a big deal for most people, it was the first one in hundreds he ever passed without cheating to provide a clean urine. You would have thought he hit the Lottery, Joe was so pleased with himself!
He’s been using alcohol and one drug or another for over 20 years – most recently it’s been heroine. Joe arrived at Helping Up Mission about a month ago and is still in his probationary period restricted to our campus.
But there was another side to Joe’s enthusiasm, too. Our campus has four buildings on a city block in east Baltimore.
There are 300 men in our 12-month residential Spiritual Recovery Program and another 100 graduates in on-campus transitional housing.
We also have long-term residential services for men with both the Veteran’s Administration and an intensive outpatient substance abuse program at Johns Hopkins Hospital.
In addition, there are another 50 overnight guests who arrive each evening for a single night’s stay.
Dozens of people also visit our campus daily. We’re just one big happy dysfunctional family of 500 men at HUM!
So, in one of the restrooms on campus this week, Joe found some drug paraphernalia. He knew exactly what to do with it – that’s how he’s rolled for 2 decades!
But things are different these days and Joe scooped the stuff up and turned it in to the office. He was as proud of himself for that move as he was for his first-ever clean urine!
God is good! And Joe’s doing pretty well, too, these days!
It does work, if we work it…
,,,One Day at a Time,
Pastor Gary Byers
Deputy Director