CHENNAI: When you start smoking at the age of nine and develop an affinity for drugs a few years before puberty, chances are things will tend to drift downhill – albeit one drag too early. It was difficult living with no drugs because of a cash shortage sometimes. So when I did get them, I wanted to finish life. I've tried to overdose on drugs and alcohol to commit suicide more often than I care to remember. Every time there was a failure, it was a cause for depression and that meant that maybe I would try five gms of heroine instead of one gm. It's times like these when having too much money to spend can be a bad idea. But the turning point for me arrived when my four-year-old son started getting high with the same glass of alcohol I would sip from, at the table. And I would be too far gone to even realise it until I returned for a refill. That's when I decided to change things, and started listening to the word of God. Shortly after, my son developed a stone in his bladder that ruptured from the inside. Even the doctors couldn't help. But we prayed for him to get better and little by little, the bleeding stopped. I’ve been clean now for over 20 years, and a pastor for 13, reaching out to alcoholics and drug addicts. I once held a man who was just about to jump off a building in my arms. And each time, it reminds me of that dark period not so long ago.
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