Recovered

Today on Building Relationships with Dr. Gary Chapman how one man overcame alcohol addiction and a life-threatening accident you keep being there for your morning light. When you have the Lord really turned them over there that welcome Dr. Gary Chapman on the New York Times bestseller "The 5 Love Languages" today author and pastor Rob Gallaty joins us to tell his amazing story of a covering. That's the title of her featured resource covering subtitled how an accident.

Alcohol and addiction led me, and this is our final summer best broadcast what a conversation with Rob Gallaty a few months ago.

I would imagine that was many years you've been faster.

You have some pretty amazing stories of God turn people's lives. Chris never tire of hearing stories and watching God's lives excited about our program as we talk with another man whom God has touched recovered and brought back, and so this visit will be exciting. We introduce our guests Rob Gallaty is the senior pastor of long-haul Baptist Church in Hendersonville, Tennessee. He was radically saved out of a life of drug addiction. In November 2002 in 2008 he began replicate ministries to equip and train men and women to be disciples who make disciples featured resources. His book recovered how an accident. Alcohol and addiction led me to God.

You can find out more at 5lovelanguages.com pastor Robbie welcome to Building Relationships you grew up in a very religious home. Tell us about your childhood and adolescence really good family. Growing up my parents were middle-class hard-working parents. My dad owned a collision center. My mom worked downtown New Orleans oil company. We raised Catholic, Roman Catholic, half Italian, so we were very religious Catholics.

We weren't what I call crease Thursday no Christmas, Easter only Catholics we went every week and I knew the Lord was growing up I didn't have a relationship with you like for me. God was this overbearing, domineering father, who was out to chastise me every time I got out of line. I never saw God is a God of the God relationship and so I was kind of going through the motions. Growing up I went to an all boys Catholic high school, got a scholarship to play basketball at the time it was 66, 220 pounds to play basketball at UNC Greensboro, North Carolina, and pray for me with school and at the last minute, the girl I was dating at the time was going to LSU school in Baton Rouge and she's like Robbie.

There's no way you can go that far away. You know in high school. Your love right so close to home and I literally opened the phone book up and I found William Carey College in Hattiesburg Mississippi now. Have you guys heard about scuba force. Yes, I believe Gary was right. Like I didn't know anything about missionary the father mission that and so I called the coach coach trial for the team and this is like two weeks before school starts and so the coaches like I don't think Celtic we have room Robbie you are crazy with school but sorry about that will coach him playing for D1 school can at least try out hesitantly. She let me try out my mom with me to try out that practice it was almost as if the word providential sovereignty is like everything aligned. I was making every shot. The spirit of Michael Jordan, God is making three pointers module. Years later she likes I have to be honest she said prior to that day.

I've never seen you play the good work and the coach called me a few days later he like manner, giving you a full ride to come play basketball. William Carey two weeks into the semester.

The girl left the Division I school for to go to William Carey breaks up with me here I am at a Southern Baptist college Roman Catholic like the target of every other vandalism class on campus right game that I don't know about call convert the Catholic I was like it was cool how the Lord worked that out because I heard the gospel. They are for the very first time and heard about Christ. I knew I was a sinner and I wouldn't come to faith in Christ in college, but I would remember that seven years later when God would bring those seeds to fruition.

Well, that's amazing is you can look back and see God's hand working in things for you knew him right exactly, that when you were growing up as a kid.

Did you have ideas of what you wanted to be when you grew up you know I wanted my parents were great parents. They really motivate us to work hard and really succeed in life.

And so I wanted just wanted to be successful at something. I had a really good work ethic back in college is what happened at 19 years old I got asked to be in a network marketing company which like Amway or ACA phone company. We ran the money, but my dad did and my dad said you got time put up the money. If you were my contacts and you know we can do this business together and by the time I was 20, my father and I had this huge network marketing business.

We broke all the records in the city. We are 20 years old, 21, I thought I would be a millionaire so I'm like traveling the country giving these business presentations, my mentors at the time were Tony Robbins, zig Ziglar (I'm thinking document to be a millionaire about 20 to 23 hours test driving Ferraris on like this is it. 21 I had a downline of about 2000 people in my downline and what happened was the business was a pyramid scheme 22 years old. 21. It really was a pivotal time in my life.

I got a phone call from the company after I graduated from college and thought this is what I'll do the rest of my life and they said you're not going to get paid anymore and no longer will the people in your downline. Make sure you tell them. 21 I didn't have the emotional or spiritual capacity to navigate that because it was just overwhelming.

And so I went through a season of depression and that really started the pivot in my life where I wanted to do nothing in the business world and that's when I started this my book I started to train Brazilian jujitsu melt. Are you guys heard of UFC before like the fighting championship that I so here I am back. 662 90 pounds.

I am training to be a professional fighter with a college degree and I got no health insurance, so that's not never smart at the time of its trading.

The BME UFC, restaurant one night and this is, whether life shifts guy comes up to me and he's like a man Iona club downtown New Orleans. Would you be interested in being the head bouncer in the middle of Mardi Gras get this straight, you pay me to fight for €22 so I start working at the bar. You can imagine this is a wild season of time. I realize I need a career change of the time I'm escorting two guys to the parking lot when guy leaves under his seat, pulls out a loaded 9 mm gun pointed at my head and says, now tell me what to do. I need a career change and bouncing bartending right really that it made perfect sense and after I leave the bar. One day as a bartender coming home from work.

November 22, 1999 and.this is when model like ships and get a major car accident. I get really rear-ended by an 18 wheeler in my life never the same after that accident.

How did that affect you physically and emotionally responded that so those listening to Kim relate to this and all a lot of people start taking drugs and pharmaceutical drugs because of an accident right we see this all the time. The ministry they they have a shoulder injury or back injury a toothache. I was a 22-year-old boy man, I've never taken drugs before my life. I was an athlete, so I was always working at trying to be healthy, but I was in pain and so those 18 wheeler rear-ended me 65 miles an hour sandwich. My car into the guard rail broke off the hinges. My seatbelt locked in my back towards her Navy created two disc in my neck to disc in my back went to the doctor they sent me home with four things I was 22 years old again never taken drugs for things OxyContin, Valium, soma and Percocet. And you know the story coming within three months on legitimately obtain and so I start taking the drugs every 4 to 6 hours, and within a few months.

I'm addicted to pharmaceutical drugs. Write me nowadays read a statistic recently that said person can have a dependency toxic cotton in seven days seven days you're addicted to the drug OxyContin and so I did have a chance to make it.

I mean I'm addicted to these drugs and within a few within a few weeks.

I'm going through this 30 day prescription in two weeks so I have to find its way to fill this insatiable desire I have to get high. I can't work anymore. I can't train I can't Bartender. I just want to get high and so people always say you noted that you have a tendency as a child that kind of manifested years later, it may well say is as a kid I struggle with ADHD, although I wasn't diagnosed my mom and dad knew I had it in. The doctor said you could put him on Ritalin or you can cope with it through a diet that took a little bit about this in the book I want on the site called the Feingold diet, which is basically no artificial flavors, colors and additives so I tell people I did to bubblegum and so I was like 13 years old, never get to drink soft drinks and my parents were able to manage that as a child and so I had some of the tendencies for addiction is as a child, but it took the accident to come to bring those to light in my life and so I get addicted to pharmaceutical drugs at the age of 22 and for the next three years. It's this downward spiral in my life. In the beginning of the book you talk about one of the low points in your life and that is when your mom calls and let you know that you stolen from them. I'm assuming in order to have money to satisfy the drug deal that it's a bit about that you so after I get on drugs running through medication quickly and so took off from the city comes up to me like a man what are you fooling around pharmaceutical drugs. You can buy street drugs. You could buy heroin and cocaine. You can buy ball Pecan baguette salad and make money. And so what was a blessing for me at 19, 20 and 21 in the network marketing world became a curse for me in the drug world because what happened is I was able to start this illegal enterprise very quickly by working my way up through drug dealers right guys in the drug world to make money.

They just want to get high, but I sure as an opportunity and so within a few months I've nailed trafficking drugs in the city on them selling ecstasy pills and GHB special K marijuana might say this to anyone listening to pressure you are really just want to impress upon you just how far the Lord brought me from times are greatly beginning by the world standards. I mean, we had tons of money on a $50,000 Cadillac CTS black on black rooms pay cash for it and I say that the saved if you would've seen me back then in the midst of this drug world, you would've said at the beginning that you really have it all. My right leg all but the world standards you, you really have arrived in the first season of time. You know I did. I really believe that but even when I would go to bed at night. I did know the Lord. But there was something inside of me that would say you know there has to be more to life than this, and for those in addiction. They know exactly what that is it that there has to be more to life than this. It has to be better than where I am and so I had money in the beginning but like any addiction and you guys know this always takes you further than you ever want to go right tell people it's like sin. Sin takes you further than you want to go. Sin always keeps you there longer than you want to stay in it always charges you more than you ever want to pay them.that's what an addiction.it is a relentless issue in your life that never lets up. So I ran out of money and I didn't know what to do, but my parents were trusting in loving close-knit Italian family and so my dad wasn't looking I took his credit card and memorize the number and my dad had a big collision center and so he would charge thousands of dollars a month on parts for the cars and I figure my mind. He'd never see these little charges right side discharge little bit here and there. What I would do is buy stuff online and I would monitor salad for drug money and over the course of three months I charge $15,000 in my dad's credit card almost bankrupted the family business.

In hindsight, my mom calls me February of that year.

It's the week before Mardi Gras and I just remember the phone call and she says Robbie we found out about what you did your fathers furious and I'm disappointed in you. Don't you ever come to this house again and I said you know mom and you know in my arrogance and pride. I thought you know mom I don't need you guys. I never needed you before I deftly don't need you now hung the phone up and I took the little bit of money I had left and I spent it on drugs party through Mardi Gras and for the next 2 1/2 months and I, document this in the book I I lived living hell on earth for me. I really did. It was the worst season of my life.

We live with our gas in the house for 2 1/2 months. In the end of winter know how they are no hot water we master the art of the cold shower where we get into freezing cold water, get out, Lazaro Barrett again and get out and I did that I did that. Now, in hindsight, but I do that for almost 3 months because I was more interested in getting high.

I was paying the bills. They turn the phone off after a month we live without water for a month no electricity and eventually they kicked us out of the home, and I decided after losing everything. I was back to my parents and asked my unbelieving parents at the time to welcome me back in and wash away and forget that the data taken from them and here's what's cool about about this is that this encounter, I really try to capture this God uses my two unbelieving parents demonstrate to me the grace of God in a way of never seen millimeters backup for those listening because this was the turning point in my life when my mom cut me off.

My mom calls me on the phone and says to me delivers talk to me again. Those 2 1/2 months dock. I would say, or would save my life and and you know this me you guys talk to people and counsel people a perpetual addiction is always the result of an enabler and if you're listening today could be you and in my case it wasn't my mom most cases it's the mom for me it was my dad but only if the mom and it's not that you're trying to hurt your children got for big you want to help them like you. You want to get the money you want to provide for, but in a sense, when you keep perpetuating their addiction.

You're actually leading them to one of three avenues to talk about this, but here's the thing, drug addiction leads to one of three outs.

Jail institutions or death it's only three, and obviously rehabbing recovery obviously but Jail institution or death and by my mom cutting me off in a sentence that your father and I are done with you. Don't come to this house again. They save my life now since the year 1999 till today I have lost 15 friends and in that period of time so 20 years I've lost 15 friends to drug and alcohol related – six went to prison and I'm convinced that the reason that that it happened is because mom cut me off and here's what I came up with and I want to share this with you because I think this is helpful for people who are in this if your neighbor listen to them enabler. Listen if you keep being their Savior.

Jesus never can be.

And what I mean is if you keep bailing them out.

Why would they return to God right like if you if you keep intervening interest in intervening in an and coming into their life and having an intervention then why would I ever turn to Jesus because they have you. And so there has to be a point in life when you have to trust the Lord and really turn them over to him and that's what my parents did to me, which ultimately led to my salvation, sharing that my mind reflected on three months ago when I had the funeral for 19-year-old who basically follow the pattern that you just talked about his two since it said it's tragic to see so many young lives that are lost by walking this road. Well, obviously God brought you out of that you worked at the point now. You went back to your parents and I were gonna see how they responded.

How did that go.

So I go back home and I basically get on my knees and am broken at this point, you know the Lord sometimes allows us to get so low in life where we have to turn to him and I tell people God's choice instrument for bringing us back to him and getting our attention is suffering.

Suffering is William nobody ever comes of the Lord when things are created in life you know normally it's when weights are broken and suffering and so there I was, I was broken went to my parents ask them to take me back in and they did by God's grace. They welcome me back and took me out of the home. I was in within within a week I was at my first rehab treatment I went to two but the first one in of all places, Tijuana, Mexico.

You may or I come back from treatment and I do good for the next eight or nine months I move cities that talk about how you know one of the ways you can ensure sobriety or really increase your chances of sobriety is to relocate your life because of people, places and things in the same city that cause you to fall actually relocated to a different city I live with my sister in Alabama and things were great, but I hurt my back again. I was trouble rehabilitated. I heard it again.

I decide in my mind I thought you know what I have a great idea. I'll go back to the same doctor that gave me the dramatist, knocking to take many of them just keep him and maybe sell a few of them and just have him just in case you know what happened them in the parking lot fill the prescription and the cycle repeats itself to get you something about addiction. The reason so many people relapse and die. And this is something for people to consider the reason people who have a season of sobriety and then they go back to the drug to my God this is why, because when you relapse and go back on drugs, you never start over. You pick up where you left off and the body has readjusted itself at a lower level and is not able to compensate for the high amount of drugs that you're putting into your system and so the body season