I was a normal kid. Did the boy scouts thing, played sports, made decent grades, fished allot with my grandpa and family. Life was good, really good, no reason at all for me to end up the way I did. Most of my uncles drank lots of beer and would sometimes give me some at an early age but nothing big, didn't really like the taste. God was nowhere in my thoughts or in my life. At the ripe old age of 15, my friend called me and we met with 4 other friends under a bridge by my house. He had a full unopened bottle of whiskey, we popped the top and passed it around, all of us taking some swiggs. We drank most of the bottle and all of us ended up drunk, later everyone went home and some got in trouble cause there was no way to hide it, vowing to never do it again. Not me, I remember walking home and thinking, I like this. I made freinds with an old drunk who lived down the street from me and he would by me liquer all the time, school nights, weekends, sometimes before school would drink. I was a full blown alcoholic by the age of 16, had to have it, that was the year quit school and was hanging with "cool" people older than me. Partying everynight, my parents got tired of it and didn't know what to do with this out of control kid so at 17 they told me to move out if I was gonna continue the path I had chosen. So I moved out and partied every night my now I was smoking weed and trying other things. Lots of fighting, arrests, and hurting people along the way. When I was 20 years old I was a blackout drunk, would black out allot. By the time I was 21 and able to go the the bars they were already sick of me. I was hitting bottom, couldn't hold a job, nothing. Thats when I tried Meth for the first time, it was like my first drink of whiskey, man I liked it. Within a couple of weeks I was hooked, started buying and selling it in big quantities. I earned a reputation for being able to turn it fast so I had lots of hook ups, never ran out, went for a few years like that doing satans dirty work. I never thought of getting out as long as I was high its all that mattered. I hurt allot of people who loved me, did allot of things I would later regret, watch allot of families be torn apart while I was selling them Meth. I was the scum of the earth and I was headed straight for hell. Then I got busted, and that began my up and downs. After that I was busted again and went to prison for four years, four sober years. It was there in prison that a man came by my cell and handed me a small pocket size new testiment, I looked at him and asked, where do start. The man asked if I knew the gospel, no i did not. He shook his head and asked if I knew what Jesus did for me, I did not. He told me to read the book of Mark and he would be holding a church service the next day that I should come. I crawled up on my steel bunk and opened to the book of Mark and started reading, I had nothing better do do, lol. This was a different kind of book now, it was speaking to me, and then I got to the 11th chapter of Mark the 22nd verse,"verily verily I say unto you, if you say to this mountain be thou removed and cast into the sea, and believe in your heart in which the things you say shall come to pass, than it will come to pass, but if you have any doubt in your heart than it will not come to pass." Believe, believe, that word was sticking out in my mind, I looked up at the cement ceiling of my prison cell and said out loud,"You mean all I have to do is believe, I can do that." I got off my steel bunk and got on my knees in the floor of my cell and prayed, didn't know how but I prayed and prayed for God to help me. Then I got up tired and took a nap, when I woke up there was something different, something alive inside of my broken mind, a new hope, a new freedom, inside a prison cell I was free, wow. The next day that man showed up and they let us out to attend church service, after the service he asked if anyone wanted to come forward and accept Jesus Christ as savior. Out of 30 inmates I was the only one, but I did it. 2 days later they shipped me to a minimum security prison, when I got off the bus shackled and handcuffed all I heard was a song, Victory in Jesus, they were holding a church service, I looked up and the sky was clear, I said thank you God. God sent me there, cause over the next year I was walking on air, in love with this God, who spent the time to visit me in prison. We had church servic 3 times a week there, awesome, I met a man who became like my spiritual mentor, i thank God for him and even though we lost contact a long time ago I still pray for the man and hope I meet him again someday. Because he helped me so much in my new walk with Jesus. God bless you Carlos. The next couple years went by and I was released, scared of what to do, I slipped back to the drugs for a couple months, checked myself into rehab and hit my knees again, I asked God to take this addiction from me that I was tired of it and I could not defeat it on my own. You know what, again God came through. That was in 2002, I have been sober and walking with the lord since, growing day by day, little by little into a deeper relationship with Him. Now I live the life I always dreamed I would live, I don't have money or fortune but I am rich in the glory of God. I have a family today, beautiful wife who loves God, children who love me. I play the drums on my chruch's worship team and I am a youth leader. Hallelujua, God is good, I have a chance to own my own business in 2 years, God is good. My wife and I read together, Gods word, we pray together, and it is amazing what we have seen God do, the miracles we see everyday, the love and joy I have in my heart today is better than any drug or drink I ever did. Do I have regrets, some, but I believe that if one thing would of been different in my past I wouldn't be exactly where I am today. So no i would not change anything, its what made me who I am, a child of God Almighty, my king, my savior, my lord. It is through my faith in Him that I can make it through this life, I am still growing, still learning, and still asking questions, but there is no denying what God has done for me, I am His miracle and witness, and I hope if anyone reads this that you know God loves you, and He gave His son for you, that if you believe and confess Jesus, you will be saved.