God has "called [us] out of darkness into His marvelous light" (1 Peter 2:9) that we may be "children of light" (Eph. 5:8).
Today, I am certain that you will all be blessed with our guest post today. It is an incredible story of God's love and His mighty power working to save us. When I first read this (for editing), I cried a million tears as I personally know Tudor. But I never thought he went through this as he was growing up. He admits he made bad choices--- really bad choices--- that set him out on a life of drug hell. Now, I am praising God with him for what He did, showing us that He is able to save. Oh, how He loves each of us so much. And He aches to bring us home with Him, despite of our brokenness. For He alone can forgive sins and can heal broken lives. I'm not going to say more. Let Tudor tell you of what God did.
By the way, this post comes in two parts, so don't forget to come back to find out what happened next. Be blessed!
How It All Started
I never had an alcoholic drink until I got to highschool. And that, is a big deal as I come not only from a Christian home but one that advocates a healthy lifestyle. Not only that, I was also educated at a Christian school. My friends, however, persuaded me to drink alcohol with them. I said to myself at that time that that would be the first and last time I would drink, with only two or three glasses. But it didn’t happen that way.
A week later, my friends invited me to go out drinking with them again, but I told them that I wouldn’t be drinking. I don’t know if they believed me, but it didn’t matter because I found myself drinking for the second time. I once again resolved not to do it any more. But the following week was the same story--- my friends invited and I got drunk.
It didn’t take long afterwards for me to be doing the invitation to my friends to skip classes just to drink. Yes, it was just a matter of weeks after I had my first glass, but how it got me rolling to a drinking habit. My friends and I drank almost everyday after getting out from school.
A few months after, some other friends introduced us to mixing cough syrup with our drinks. We liked it so much that we started taking the cough syrup alone. And that was my first drug experience that set me off on a dreadful life of drugs.
It began in small dosages, but as is often the case of most drug users, I got fed up with it that I wanted to try other stuff. A friend introduced my friends and I to weed/marijuana. I liked it and brought some home with me. I would puff at it every night but my family had no idea what I was into.
Getting Into Trouble
One summer, my ‘drug’ friends and I went out of town to a friend’s place. We took some weed for him as gift. We also brought along some aerosol spray to vandalize some walls. We had planned to hike a few kilometers at night so we could vandalize some walls while on our way to his house. As planned, we did vandalize some walls. But before reaching our friend’s house, we passed by a public elementary school. It was early morning and the sun was about to shine, so we decided that the school would be our last stop. After that, we proceeded to our friend’s house.
A few minutes later, four or five people came, accompanied by some policemen. They asked my friend who we were. Not certain about who we really are, they invited us to the police station. When we got there, they placed us directly in a prison cell. They were thinking we were rebels since there were a lot of them in the area who also vandalize walls, writing all kinds of things against the government. The police thought that we were part of that group and were writing some codes to our comrades. Luckily, my friend’s mom came and told the police that we were just highschool students under the influence of graffiti fever. Fortunately for us, we were released with just a warning 'not to come back ever again'.
Unfortunately, the news reached our school and the incident was published in the local papers the following week. The school board wanted to suspend us from school and that made my father decide to transfer me in a non-Christian school.
I continued my junior year in my new school but, regrettably, nothing has changed. The new friends that I made not only used the same drugs as my previous friends and I did, but they also used shabu or meth.
At first, I was afraid to try it because I have seen in television and watched in movies the danger of using such kind of drugs. But, stupidly, I said to myself again that I would only try once and nothing more. Sadly, as it happened before when I tried things for the first time, the same thing happened again: I got hooked. Helplessly, I was sinking into a quicksand with no line for help. I got into it so badly that I started stealing from my parents, sold my things just to buy the drugs that I needed. Too bad, I got through highschool without being caught.
Sinking Deeper
My parents then enrolled me in one of the most expensive universities for my college. I met some new friends--- one, a son of someone involved in a drug syndicate operating outside of town; another, a son of a millionaire who owns almost half of the city where his family comes from. They own hotels, a gas station, grocery stores and more. Every weekend my millionaire friend would ask my other friend to purchase some drugs from his dad for our consumption. The latter almost got caught in the airport! During that time, airports were not strict on checking cargoes. There were no sniffing dogs and high-tech machines to detect drugs, only those for firearms. We could easily insert drugs inside socks, underwear or stitched it in bags. He could’ve gotten caught, until a friend introduced us to someone who sold drugs inside the university campus.
On our first purchase from this person, he was shocked with the amount of drugs that we ordered from him. He suspected us of being police agents. So he arranged for us to meet outside of the campus. When we met him, he brought us to a car parked nearby and even invited us to go inside. I was hesitant but my other friend told me not to worry because if they send us to jail, it would only be a call away for us to get out since they have connections.
Another man was inside the car. Our drug dealer told him to get the drugs out. The other man took a bag from under his chair and handed it to us. We checked if it was really what we wanted. Even with suspicions, the deal went uneventfully from there on.
The transactions were repeated until we became good friends. He then invited us to their place. We met with his family. They were all in the drug business, even his mother and sister. The place where they live was drug infested and where crime was a way of living. There, snatchers, robbers and gun-for-hire men live. The place was so awful that you could see almost everyday people stabbing and shooting at each other and nobody dared to interfere.
I saw with my own eyes a man who was stabbed just few meters away from me. He fell down and nobody came to help. People were just passing by like it was a normal happening. I found out the following day that the man did not make it. But everyday that we went there, we were untouchable because everyone knew that we were friends with one, whose father is the ringleader in that area. Even if we left our car doors unlocked, nobody dared to touch it.
More people came into our circle of friends--- sons of millionaires and most of them were sons of VIP’s in the biggest casino of our place. That time, we had unlimited drugs, even guns. We would check in in five-star hotels to have a party--- drinking and using drugs. Almost everyday, we would be in a casino to play a bit and then proceed to the hotel to have a party. That was my life for almost two years.
To be continued...
Click here for Part 2
Tudor hails from Cebu City, Philippines. He is currently working with God in a Christian publishing and support ministry, where he, together with a team, actively organizes Youth Revival and other Spiritual events to bring the Bible truth to people and for them to know God personally and His saving power.
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