Growing Up in a Storm
It’s hard to grow up and be a man when your whole life is stormy chaos. I never knew my parents. Because they were drug addicts, the State took me and my older siblings away when I was two months old. By the age of 15, I had been in 15 different foster homes. Maybe that’s why my siblings and I all rebelled as teenagers. We were angry at a world that abandoned us. All we had was each other.
By the time I was 15, we were on our own. But none of us was truly grown up. Someone needed to step up and lead this family. And despite being the youngest, I wanted to take that responsibility.
Looking to Lead
The problem is, I had no idea how. I wasn’t mature enough to hold on to a job. I ended up homeless, sleeping in an abandoned car. I tried to kill myself a couple of times, but God always restrained me.
Meanwhile, my brother and sisters kept struggling. They never got married but my sisters ended up with seven kids between them. My family needed me. So I just kept thinking, “You have to find a way.”
Growing Up
In October 2010, God led me to the Milwaukee Rescue Mission. Shortly after I got here, a complete stranger came up to me and said, “David, the Holy Spirit told me to tell you, ‘Put your trust in God and everything you want to do is going to come to pass.’ Before long, another man said, “You can do whatever you set your mind to. I see something in you that you don’t see in yourself.”
These men encouraged me to grow up. So I studied my Bible and devoted myself to learning everything I could. The Mission gave me a foundation and taught me I really can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
As I prepare to leave the Mission, I look back and see that when I first came, I was a child and I acted like a child. But thanks to this Mission I am leaving a man — a godly man who’s prepared to lead his family
