Danny63
Member
Mine is a long story as are many. I was reading through the testimony's here and was blessed so much.
I was born and raised in Philadelphia Pa grew up in a tough neighborhood. I started using pot at the early age of 7 yrs old, I know sounds young but you had to know the times and the area I lived in, plus it was always around me. At the time I was only a part time user, what I mean is when my older brother was getting high I would get a chance to sneak a little, as I got older that chance got a lot more frequent. I was first introduced to the legal system at the age of 9 when I stabbed a kid with a spork ( a spoon fork combo you got at the school lunchroom) he was going to take my food and I was not going to let him. I got taken to the local police precinct my folks got called I got in trouble and sent home and got a good woopin. But after the woopin my father came to me and said Well done son never let anyone take advantage of you. SO that was the beginning of a life of crime and drugs.
At the age of 13, already in a neighborhood gang, using drugs such as acid and trying out heroin of course pot was always the main choice of everyday usage. There came a time this guy was in our neighborhood selling pot on our corner and I took a baseball bat and broke his legs, both of them. No one told on me, although at leas 60 + people saw this happen everyone knew better then to rat on any of us.
Time goes on I never really went to school much, I flunked the 3rd grade, then the 5th grade then went to 6th but when I graduated to 7th grade I quit. By time I was 17 I was involved in a lot of drugs, selling and using, much violence and sex was like an everyday recreation. I was arrested 32 times by time I was 17, finally I did an armed robbery and got caught, I went to adult prison for 4 1/2 years.
Prison was a mess, but that is a story for another day, fast forward to 1984 I had been out of prison for about 4 months when this gang I had belonged to since I was 11 was at this time the 5th largest in the City of Brotherly Love, about 7 hundred members. Now you must know this, I had been taught about God all my life, my mom a devout Born again Jewish woman her and my Christian Jewish aunts and Grandmother where in non stop prayer for us "heathens" ::grin:: they have wonderful hearts, but a truly legalistic doctrine that was a complete turn off for me. Any way, I say that because I believe that is those prayers and God's divine plan for my life that kept me alive all these years.
This gang I mentioned was growing and getting more involved in murder and such that many of us wanted to just walk away. That is not usually a good idea, to leave the gang, and within about 5 months time at least 135 people (gang members) had been killed. I was on my way to being one of them. My mom and dad decided to move out of state and asked me to come with them, I really did not want to go but I figured it would be for the best.
So we moved to Michigan, a small town in Michigan. My oldest sister already lived here so we where not to strange to this place. But I soon found a guy to buy pot from and on we go into a new world, but an old living.
Soon I began selling cocaine and that became my business for many years. I was good at it, and I had a great supplier, but this was also a very violent life as well.
I got married we had two children she had two when I met her so with 4 kids to feed I had to make money, I never dreamed of working in the real world, no way it was to easy to sell drugs. Of course I spent the next 17 or so years in and out of jail and rehabs, almost died 3 times, actually did die one time but they brought me back with those paddles of life.
Soon my wife had enough of this life style, and I was not an easy guy to live with, hey listen, I wont lie, if you owed me money and it usually was a lot at one time I came to collect, and me and my friends did not take kindly to not getting paid, so you can guess as to how we dealt with that.
She left me, got divorced, long story short I went further into my addiction and soon I was doing about an 8 ball (3 1/2 grams) sometimes more of cocaine a day. I was getting sicker by the day and my life was falling apart faster and faster.
Ok I have been really giving you the readers digest version to try and keep this as short as possible. But this is where it gets good.
My youngest sister who was 13 when we moved to Michigan is a beautiful Christian, and had been along with a lot of people lifting me up in prayer for many years. She had started going to this singles ministry at a local mega church here in Grand Rapids, and had invited me to spend the New Years weekend with her and I did. Dude, I was so coke sick it was not funny I was snorting pain pills and anything I could get, my connections had all dried up so I was like the crack heads you see on a street corner ( I never did crack itself but you get the gist I hope).
Let me back up a min here, see as my life had began to fall apart more rapidly then before, I had been divorced about 8 yrs then, so I was out on my own all those 8 yrs, I moved into my moms between girlfriends and jail. But in 2000 the year I went to my sisters for the New Years party, I was living back home again, and this is when I started to get the sickest. As I lay in my room, becoming a hermit, going out just to get drugs if I could or find ways to get them.
Around November 2000 I would be laying in my room not really living just existing, I had TV but not cable upstairs so I would watch whatever I could get on the rabbit ears (remember when we could use them? LOL) Late at night I would see this same Pastor every night he came on and I would think to myself this guy is stupid but yet I did not turn it off. Now I can not tell you anything at the time he was saying, but I am sure God had me tuned in in the spirit.
Ok so I go to my sisters for New Years, again, DUDE these Christians are so lame, I mean no drinks other then soft drinks, like Pepsi oh dear, some did have champagne for the midnight hour but my sister thought it best for me to not have any, she thought I would get drunk and violent, ha ha she was probably rite, but I wanted to drink so bad. I was good that night, the next morning they had Church, oh wait, you want "ME" to go to church? yeah rite, well ok for my sister I would. Besides she promised me a free lunch after ward.
So this was a singles group that met every Sunday morning and they where ok I guess, (my thoughts at the time) but the Pastor came up to me at the end of the class and asked me point blank, "if you were to die today, where would you go" Hmm, I thought I know where I am going, to Hell but rite now I am going away from you!!! Everyone there has been coming up to me, oh Your Danny Kim's brother, we been praying for you blah blah blah, I yelled at my sister, I said what have you been telling these people. She just smiled.
So I went home that night, back to my moms who lived 40 some miles south of Grand Rapids, and went back to my hibernation in my room, Jan 3rd I was done, I mean I was done with this world, I knew I was never good enough to be one of these Christians, I felt led to them in such a strong way, but there was no way God would except me, I was so bad. On the morning of Jan 4th 2001 I got up went down stairs, everyone gone I went and found my mothers sleeping pills, I went back to my room with a glass of orange juice and a bottle of pills, my plan was to take them all and just go to sleep.
As I sat on the edge of my bed pill bottle open, I heard this voice, No, it was just the television, and for some reason it was that TV Pastor I had been watching at night, only what is he doing on this time of day, and by the way, Who Turned The TV On???
Anyway he stole my attention and I do believe for the first time I heard what he was saying, I later found out it was a re-run of an Easter program but I listened to the sermon, towards the end he said these words that will forever be the trumpet that resounded in my ears and my soul, "You Do NOT Have to change to come to the Father, come to the Father just as you are, and He will change you" it was like this light went off in my head, dude that's it, I don't have to change my life to come to God, He wants me and loves me just where I am rite now. I got on my knees and I asked for forgiveness, I mean I must have been on my knees 30 min. When I open my eyes I was in a fog, I really mean it, I was in a heavy fog, and could not see, it soon cleared up and so did my mind and my body.
What I am saying is the sickness was rite then and there GONE!!! 100% Gone, I could breath out of my nose again, I had no pain, I was not having withdraws, I was, well I was healthy like I been off drugs for years. Now that my frineds in the power of the Holy Spirit, that is true resurrection power.
That was Jan 4th 2001 and let me tell you it has not been the easiest road, but it sure has been a blessed road. I soon went into full time ministry, I work with at risk youth. How wonderful our God is, He delivered me from the pit, just to put me back there but this time I am there being His salt, His light, and what a wonderful experience to see God work.
My plan now is to be a youth Pastor, I want to train up kids that want to be in the ministry, to be better equipped to minister to inner city kids. There are so many kids that grow up in the Church, not subjected to the life I lived or the kids I have been ministering to, but they have such a desire to go out there and be God's light to the urban areas of our nation. So my prayer is that God would use me in some way to help educate the Church teens on ministering to gang members and so forth.
Will continue, to much for this one page lol
Glory to God.
I was born and raised in Philadelphia Pa grew up in a tough neighborhood. I started using pot at the early age of 7 yrs old, I know sounds young but you had to know the times and the area I lived in, plus it was always around me. At the time I was only a part time user, what I mean is when my older brother was getting high I would get a chance to sneak a little, as I got older that chance got a lot more frequent. I was first introduced to the legal system at the age of 9 when I stabbed a kid with a spork ( a spoon fork combo you got at the school lunchroom) he was going to take my food and I was not going to let him. I got taken to the local police precinct my folks got called I got in trouble and sent home and got a good woopin. But after the woopin my father came to me and said Well done son never let anyone take advantage of you. SO that was the beginning of a life of crime and drugs.
At the age of 13, already in a neighborhood gang, using drugs such as acid and trying out heroin of course pot was always the main choice of everyday usage. There came a time this guy was in our neighborhood selling pot on our corner and I took a baseball bat and broke his legs, both of them. No one told on me, although at leas 60 + people saw this happen everyone knew better then to rat on any of us.
Time goes on I never really went to school much, I flunked the 3rd grade, then the 5th grade then went to 6th but when I graduated to 7th grade I quit. By time I was 17 I was involved in a lot of drugs, selling and using, much violence and sex was like an everyday recreation. I was arrested 32 times by time I was 17, finally I did an armed robbery and got caught, I went to adult prison for 4 1/2 years.
Prison was a mess, but that is a story for another day, fast forward to 1984 I had been out of prison for about 4 months when this gang I had belonged to since I was 11 was at this time the 5th largest in the City of Brotherly Love, about 7 hundred members. Now you must know this, I had been taught about God all my life, my mom a devout Born again Jewish woman her and my Christian Jewish aunts and Grandmother where in non stop prayer for us "heathens" ::grin:: they have wonderful hearts, but a truly legalistic doctrine that was a complete turn off for me. Any way, I say that because I believe that is those prayers and God's divine plan for my life that kept me alive all these years.
This gang I mentioned was growing and getting more involved in murder and such that many of us wanted to just walk away. That is not usually a good idea, to leave the gang, and within about 5 months time at least 135 people (gang members) had been killed. I was on my way to being one of them. My mom and dad decided to move out of state and asked me to come with them, I really did not want to go but I figured it would be for the best.
So we moved to Michigan, a small town in Michigan. My oldest sister already lived here so we where not to strange to this place. But I soon found a guy to buy pot from and on we go into a new world, but an old living.
Soon I began selling cocaine and that became my business for many years. I was good at it, and I had a great supplier, but this was also a very violent life as well.
I got married we had two children she had two when I met her so with 4 kids to feed I had to make money, I never dreamed of working in the real world, no way it was to easy to sell drugs. Of course I spent the next 17 or so years in and out of jail and rehabs, almost died 3 times, actually did die one time but they brought me back with those paddles of life.
Soon my wife had enough of this life style, and I was not an easy guy to live with, hey listen, I wont lie, if you owed me money and it usually was a lot at one time I came to collect, and me and my friends did not take kindly to not getting paid, so you can guess as to how we dealt with that.
She left me, got divorced, long story short I went further into my addiction and soon I was doing about an 8 ball (3 1/2 grams) sometimes more of cocaine a day. I was getting sicker by the day and my life was falling apart faster and faster.
Ok I have been really giving you the readers digest version to try and keep this as short as possible. But this is where it gets good.
My youngest sister who was 13 when we moved to Michigan is a beautiful Christian, and had been along with a lot of people lifting me up in prayer for many years. She had started going to this singles ministry at a local mega church here in Grand Rapids, and had invited me to spend the New Years weekend with her and I did. Dude, I was so coke sick it was not funny I was snorting pain pills and anything I could get, my connections had all dried up so I was like the crack heads you see on a street corner ( I never did crack itself but you get the gist I hope).
Let me back up a min here, see as my life had began to fall apart more rapidly then before, I had been divorced about 8 yrs then, so I was out on my own all those 8 yrs, I moved into my moms between girlfriends and jail. But in 2000 the year I went to my sisters for the New Years party, I was living back home again, and this is when I started to get the sickest. As I lay in my room, becoming a hermit, going out just to get drugs if I could or find ways to get them.
Around November 2000 I would be laying in my room not really living just existing, I had TV but not cable upstairs so I would watch whatever I could get on the rabbit ears (remember when we could use them? LOL) Late at night I would see this same Pastor every night he came on and I would think to myself this guy is stupid but yet I did not turn it off. Now I can not tell you anything at the time he was saying, but I am sure God had me tuned in in the spirit.
Ok so I go to my sisters for New Years, again, DUDE these Christians are so lame, I mean no drinks other then soft drinks, like Pepsi oh dear, some did have champagne for the midnight hour but my sister thought it best for me to not have any, she thought I would get drunk and violent, ha ha she was probably rite, but I wanted to drink so bad. I was good that night, the next morning they had Church, oh wait, you want "ME" to go to church? yeah rite, well ok for my sister I would. Besides she promised me a free lunch after ward.
So this was a singles group that met every Sunday morning and they where ok I guess, (my thoughts at the time) but the Pastor came up to me at the end of the class and asked me point blank, "if you were to die today, where would you go" Hmm, I thought I know where I am going, to Hell but rite now I am going away from you!!! Everyone there has been coming up to me, oh Your Danny Kim's brother, we been praying for you blah blah blah, I yelled at my sister, I said what have you been telling these people. She just smiled.
So I went home that night, back to my moms who lived 40 some miles south of Grand Rapids, and went back to my hibernation in my room, Jan 3rd I was done, I mean I was done with this world, I knew I was never good enough to be one of these Christians, I felt led to them in such a strong way, but there was no way God would except me, I was so bad. On the morning of Jan 4th 2001 I got up went down stairs, everyone gone I went and found my mothers sleeping pills, I went back to my room with a glass of orange juice and a bottle of pills, my plan was to take them all and just go to sleep.
As I sat on the edge of my bed pill bottle open, I heard this voice, No, it was just the television, and for some reason it was that TV Pastor I had been watching at night, only what is he doing on this time of day, and by the way, Who Turned The TV On???
Anyway he stole my attention and I do believe for the first time I heard what he was saying, I later found out it was a re-run of an Easter program but I listened to the sermon, towards the end he said these words that will forever be the trumpet that resounded in my ears and my soul, "You Do NOT Have to change to come to the Father, come to the Father just as you are, and He will change you" it was like this light went off in my head, dude that's it, I don't have to change my life to come to God, He wants me and loves me just where I am rite now. I got on my knees and I asked for forgiveness, I mean I must have been on my knees 30 min. When I open my eyes I was in a fog, I really mean it, I was in a heavy fog, and could not see, it soon cleared up and so did my mind and my body.
What I am saying is the sickness was rite then and there GONE!!! 100% Gone, I could breath out of my nose again, I had no pain, I was not having withdraws, I was, well I was healthy like I been off drugs for years. Now that my frineds in the power of the Holy Spirit, that is true resurrection power.
That was Jan 4th 2001 and let me tell you it has not been the easiest road, but it sure has been a blessed road. I soon went into full time ministry, I work with at risk youth. How wonderful our God is, He delivered me from the pit, just to put me back there but this time I am there being His salt, His light, and what a wonderful experience to see God work.
My plan now is to be a youth Pastor, I want to train up kids that want to be in the ministry, to be better equipped to minister to inner city kids. There are so many kids that grow up in the Church, not subjected to the life I lived or the kids I have been ministering to, but they have such a desire to go out there and be God's light to the urban areas of our nation. So my prayer is that God would use me in some way to help educate the Church teens on ministering to gang members and so forth.
Will continue, to much for this one page lol
Glory to God.
