Looking at the various twists and turns my life has taken, whether as a child, an adolescent, and even well into adulthood as a Christ follower, I can see how the Lord has used those times to impact the passion I have for people who are hurting. Whether actively working in ministry or just living life in Billings, seeing people who are hurting or trying to dig out of tough circumstances always stirs something inside of me.
I grew up in a very middle class neighborhood, but we were most likely the poorest family on the block. I remember money being a major source of tension at home, parents who rarely got along, and that it all fell apart when I was in middle school. Although I didn’t know it at the time, my home had all the markings of a home shaped by poverty. I fall between 7-8 on the ACES scale (Click below to watch a short ACES video and learn more), although I would not have known that as a child/teen. I didn’t identify my upbringing as a source of pain leading to the road I went down.
I left home just before I was 18 and went very minimal contact from my family for the next couple of years. In that time, I dove headfirst into drugs and alcohol, and adopted the lifestyle that came with it…violence, theft, gangs, and hate. In 2004 the Lord saw fit to reach out and save me from a life I had utterly destroyed.
The life that the Lord has graciously poured out on me is undeserved and proof of a grace that is much bigger than our understanding.
So much of my past is never far from my heart as we spend our days in the neighborhood. The things I see kids going through, the struggles the parents have on a daily basis, and the hand that has been dealt to so many, oftentimes out of their control, is paralyzing.
I often wonder if the right person had come along during my adolescent years and spoke life to my situation, believed in me, and shown me that I was created for so much more… if that could have impacted my trajectory. I was a good kid that was straddling a fence of wanting to be good but often falling on the “bad” side of the fence. Could someone have helped me fall on the good side of the fence? I don’t know.
What I do know is that there is hope. This pain does not have to endure forever. You do not have to stay on the trajectory that you see. Most people cannot imagine me doing the things I’ve done, yet here I am. Things can get better.
That is the hope I want to convey to students. The broken relationships in my family have seen healing. The dad that I refused to talk to for years, is now my father and friend. He is also following the Lord. My identity is not a criminal drug addict, but instead a new creation and a beloved son of a King.
I once was telling a bunch of students at breakfast about the Apostle Paul. I ended it with “If God can save Paul, surely he is able to save us all”. I didn’t mean to rhyme but the kids loved it. Just this week a student reminded me of that and I loved that it stuck with him.
I pray that kids and families will see the grace that I have seen. The way the Lord can enter our lives and change everything. That kids can see hope, even if it seems too far away.”
-John Geiger, YW Director
