Many years ago, I was looking for the real me. You know what I am talking about. The real you that is looking for their place in this world but you just can’t seem to get a handle on. We spend so much of our young adulthood trying to be like other people we find interesting. We dress like them, talk like them, we even try to party like them. It is amazing how far we will go in search of the “real you” when it is there all the time.

My way of being the other person was to get high. It didn’t matter what the drug or the drink as long as I achieved my goal of being the life of the party. I would go from being shy and quiet to loud and in my own mind the “real me”. I felt confident and outgoing. Because I had an identity, I was the guy who always passed out or did something crazy.It didn’t start out that way. My mom would take me to church a couple times a week. I really enjoyed church. The music and preaching was okay and even as a teen I stayed involved. One day I fell in with the wrong crowd and within a couple of years I was a raging drug and alcohol addict. But the God of my youth even in my wasted state was always there. I can’t explain how I know I knew he was watching over me.

I was working in Alabama but I would drive back to my home in Louisiana on the weekends. It was about a seven hour drive. I would get off work on Friday afternoon and drive straight through to my home. Then on Sunday afternoon I would drive back.

One weekend I had partied very hard and I found myself wasted and still needing to get back to Alabama. The young and the dumb in me won out so I set out about ten Sunday night. I had been on the road for several hours and I just felt so tired. I was driving about sixty or so mph. Then I heard a voice. It was someone in the front seat with me and he said in a calm voice, “I know you must be tired, just turn loose of the wheel and let me drive”. It sounded good to me so I just simply let go of the steering wheel. No sooner had I turned loose that someone else yelled at me to take the wheel. So I did as I was told and once again I was driving. This would be a simple story if I had not been alone in the car. As I drove on through the night these two entities held a conversation I could not understand their language but I knew I was the topic. I held on to the wheel the rest of the trip and arrived safely to my destination.

I will always believe that there was a plot by dark supernatural forces to take me out that day. I am grateful that the supernatural forces of light came to my rescue. The God of my youth had once again saved me. I will as long as I live believe that a demon and an angel fought over my life that night. This was the beginning of a long and exciting spiritual journey that is still on going.

By the way, He is no longer the God of my youth; He is the God of my now!