Hard Work
By Tim Sells
It has been five plus years now since I began my journey with the Impact family. During this time God has blessed me to work with the Life House ministry. I have been with Nate, Harvey, and David Beegle as we have together sought God’s direction for the recovery program and the men in the Life House.
We have thrown many ideas against the wall and have often been in disagreement as to how to proceed. We have made mistakes and have taken false steps only to have to reverse course and proceed in an alternate direction. We have put into place rules only to change them because they were misaligned with where God was leading the program. We have made impassioned requests of each other and have often moved in directions that were not among the first choses of all involved. However, what has never wavered is our mutual commitments to the Kingdom of God and the men in the recovery program. Because of these two commitments God has used this ministry to change the lives of men and set them on the righteous paths of sobriety and godliness.
Please do not be mistaken, not every man that comes through the doors of the Life House ends his time among us in graduation, celebration, restoration, and vocation. The hard fact is that roughly 20% of the men that enter the Life House graduate and find permanent sobriety. So, this means that nearly 80% of the men we encounter in the recovery program continue to struggle with addiction after their time here with us has ended. Some might ask why the number of graduates is so low? Well, our numbers are actually better than the national average. The national average is roughly 10% of all addicts who undertake recovery find any lasting success. The fact is that the process of recovery is very difficult work and the men and women who undertake this task should be commended.
I am thankful to God for leading us in this noble work and for his hand of guidance and spiritual insight in this ministry. I am thankful to all our partners who volunteer their time, knowledge, and energy to make sure the program is successful. I am thankful to the men of the Life House who have worked tirelessly for their very lives and the lives of their families by dedicating themselves to the task of sober living. I counsel “my guys” (Nate’s term) and my church family in the words of the preacher of Ecclesiastes, “Whatever your hands find to do, do it with all your might….” (Ecc. 9:10)
