Chris’s Success Story

It took a 27-hour bike ride over a steep mountain pass, but I finally made it to the Rescue Mission. I call it the bike ride that changed my life.

That bicycle ride came after 18 years of active addiction that had left me homeless on the streets of Price, Utah. It was June 2, 2022 and I had decided to take my own life. I wrote a note telling the people who knew me goodbye and then tried to overdose, but I came through the overdose and a few days later someone I knew told me about the Rescue Mission of Salt Lake.

The person said they thought the Mission could help me. It was at that moment that I decided to fight for my life. I had no car, was facing several felonies for drug-related crimes, but I did have my bike. With nowhere else to go, I started the trek. Over the mountain and finally down into Utah County and then up into Salt Lake County and finally into downtown.

I told the Mission’s staff I was facing several serious felonies and that I would be facing a painful withdrawal from quitting opioids. But they said I could join the New Life Program and that they would help me in any way they could. God helped me through my withdrawal period and a few months later I pled guilty to nine felony charges over a Zoom court appearance. However, the judge let me stay out of prison and gave me the hope that if I completed the New Life Program and stayed sober, I might avoid incarceration all together.

The New Life Program truly changed my life. The Genesis Process curriculum helped me talk about my past traumas that had contributed to my drug use.  When I was having bad days, I could walk into a case manager’s office and let out my frustration and they would help me through it.

I did well throughout the program and while I was initially sentenced to three years’ probation, my probation officer said I did such a good job that he requested my probation be terminated after just one year. I was able to move into the Freedom House, the Rescue Mission’s home for New Life Program graduates who are transitioning away from the Mission but still want some stability and accountability as they adjust to “normal” life.

We don’t often show before and after pictures, but Chris wanted to share his picture from the day he came to the Mission compared to how he looks today. Your support not only spiritually transforms lives, but physically heals people as well.

The Freedom House was peaceful and helped me adjust to working again and living a sober life. I worked, but my goal was a start my own handyman/remodeling business. I saved up money and purchased the tools and equipment I needed to start my own business. Then I started to save up enough money for a place of my own. I moved out of Freedom House to an apartment in Draper and started my own business. My business is going well and we have steady work. I developed a collaboration with a realtor who owns several properties in the area and that work keeps us busy.

My home church, Adventure Church, is also in Draper so it has been good to live close to my church family. I love attending services there and can attend recovery meetings there too. I thank God for changing my life and leading me to the Rescue Mission. Before I came to the Mission my parents had a restraining order against me and would barely talk with me. When my life changed, they dropped the restraining order and we built back our relationship.

My four children live with their mother in Vernal, Utah. I used to work in the oil fields there and in North Dakota. Now I am able to talk to my kids on the phone often and have real relationships with them.

Thank you so much for supporting the Rescue Mission, the place that God used to change my life. I might be the only person ever that God took on a 27-hour bicycle ride in order to find a new relationship with Him through Jesus, but I am so glad He did. Thank you for helping create a place where once hopeless people like me can find a new life.