Tim had a rough start in life, ended up getting into trouble early on and spent 30 years in prison. But God was working all along and had a greater plan for Tim's life. Tim got out of prison and ended up homeless, sleeping out on the street in the cold when the Lord then led him to SafeHouse Ministries, where he found shelter, job training, and purposeful employment which allows him to give back and serve others every day.
Tim had a rough start in life, ended up getting into trouble early on and spent 30 years in prison. But God was working all along and had a greater plan for Tim's life. Tim got out of prison and ended up homeless, sleeping out on the street in the cold when the Lord then led him to SafeHouse Ministries, where he found shelter, job training, and purposeful employment which allows him to give back and serve others every day.
that was a dark and bleak time. Sleeping up under the tree and really feeling like I had to hit, the bottom again So you're cold, you're sleeping outside on the concrete. And, it's not a, it's bleak. It's not a good feeling at all. Yeah. But, as I said, I was going to the safe house. And... They got me into the Freedom House. Which is the men's shelter
Phil Shuler:But where you're at now, Yeah, I'm in
Tim:a better place. Yeah, that's good. I can only thank Safe Health Ministries and God for that God first and then Safe Health Ministries.
Phil Shuler:HellO, and welcome to Renew, Restore, Rejoice, the Safe House Ministries podcast, where we share stories of the power of God to change lives through Safe House Ministries. Safe House Ministries is based out of Columbus, Georgia, and we are a ministry that exists to love and serve people who have been affected by addiction, homelessness, and incarceration. I'm your host, Phil Shuler, the Director of Development for Safe House Ministries here in Columbus, Georgia. Safe House serves over 1, 100 people each month as they transition back into our community. Safe House provides an abundance of services including 213 beds for homeless individuals and families, case management for obtaining job skills and long term employment. Over 300 hot meals every day, free clothing, and so much more. One of the most incredible services that Safe House provides is our free 9 12 month intensive outpatient substance abuse program, which is state licensed, CARF accredited, and has no wait list. Almost 100 percent of individuals staying in our shelters who follow our three phase program become fully employed within a few months. And 68 percent of individuals who stay at least one night with us End up finding work and moving into their own home. Thank you for being with us today and listening to our podcast. We hope you enjoy this week's episode. Good morning. This morning, I have Tim Hudson here with me. And Tim is someone that I've gotten to know just a little bit over the last few months. And I appreciate what he does at Safe House. And just getting to know him a little bit. Tim, welcome. Thank you for being here. Thank you for having me. Tim, I want to ask you a quick question here as we kick off. If you had to think about one word that might best describe you, what would it be?
Tim:Motivated.
Phil Shuler:Oh, that's a good word. What makes you say that?
Tim:I used I've learned to focus on something and set goals. And so I'm always striving to try to achieve these goals. And the best word I can describe myself as is motivated. Because I'm motivated to achieve the goals that I set. That's good.
Phil Shuler:It's like a very good quote. A lot of us need more of that internal motivation to, to really get things accomplished and achieve results and hit goals and make goals. So awesome. I got another question for you. Nacho cheese or Cool Ranch? That's tough. And there is a right answer, just so you know.
Tim:Oh, there is? Oh yeah. I have
Phil Shuler:to go with Cool Ranch. Oh, that is not the right answer! Okay we'll accept it though. Cool Ranch, nice! I'm a nacho cheese fan.
Tim:Nacho cheese dipped in Cool Ranch is even awesome.
Phil Shuler:Now that might be the actual best answer I might have ever heard. All right. Good. I may have to try that. So Tim this morning I appreciate you being here just to share your story and I would love to just begin from the beginning. You were sharing a little bit about when you were a kid and I think that you already shared with me a neat story. But just what was life like growing up? What were you like in your family, your home life?
Tim:My home life was sporadic. The reason I say that is My mother and father separated when I was still basically in diapers, probably maybe a year and a half, two years old. mY dad got took custody of me and my mother had just had my baby, my, One of my brothers. I actually have three brothers total. One full brother and two half brothers. But, my dad took me and we moved all over the place through. And, uh, first, first place we, one of the first places that I can actually remember living was in Tulsa, Oklahoma. tHat's why I've attended both kindergarten and first grade. I really had my first drawn to the church, I guess you would say. I had a couple of unique experiences with that.
Phil Shuler:What was that your experiences?
Tim:The first time I went... I was telling you this story earlier. I one of the church buses from, had come around to the apartment complex that we were living in and I snuck on the bus. How old were you at
Phil Shuler:that time? Five. You were five years old and you snuck out of the house and snuck on a church bus. Snuck on a church bus. Dad
Tim:had a fit. But. That was like the very first time that I'd been to church, uh, that I can remember. Yeah, I just wanted to go. It was like I was being pulled, hey, get on that bus. Wow, so you said your
Phil Shuler:dad had a fit, what did he do?
Tim:He actually had the cops out looking for me, cause he didn't know where I was, couldn't find me. He actually had the police there when the bus pulled up into the parking lot and I got off the bus. They were like... But it was like you asked about one of the experiences while I was there. And I can remember I sat like in the middle, on the end of the pew, but like in the middle of the row, the aisle. And there was... It came time for them to pass the plate around for offering. And I didn't have a penny. Five years old, I didn't even have a penny on me. But there was a man that was sitting next to me with his wife and his kid. And he reached over and handed me a quarter to put in the plate. And, even though I had, I was like, I like this quarter, I can really use this quarter. I still put it in the plate, cause I thought it was at the I knew that was the right thing to do at the time. Even at five years old, I knew, this was the right thing to do. Yeah.
Phil Shuler:So did your dad teach you right and wrong as you were growing up with him? He, yeah,
Tim:he, my dad's a complicated issue. One of the things you gotta understand is I was in and out of the foster system because of my father until I was uh, 11 I think is when I was permanently taken away from my father and put into the foster system. So he
Phil Shuler:had his own demons that he was working with.
Tim:He was both a drug user and an alcoholic. Wow. He was constantly moving us around. I can remember being put in foster care in several different states. Oklahoma, California Washington. Kentucky was the final state that, where I actually ended up in permanent foster care until I turned 18. Wow.
Phil Shuler:Was your dad still a part of your life while you were in the foster system or did it become, did he become, I didn't see my
Tim:dad when I when I was taken away from him permanently. I did not see him again for five years until I was like 16. Your
Phil Shuler:mom was already out of the picture at
Tim:this point? I never really knew my mom very well. When we moved back to Kentucky from Spokane, Washington, I was 10 a year before I was permanently put into the foster care system. I met my mom for the first time during that period. Wow. Also found out I had two brothers at that time. Wow. One was my full brother Michael who is 15 months younger than me. And then a half brother named William. So that was like a, the first time that, that I actually met them is when we met.
Phil Shuler:So growing up in the foster system, was that rough? Did
Tim:that? Actually, some of it, yes. But, the first home that I was placed in, and, which is Going back with the religious thing was a Catholic children's home. Okay. And so I had a lot of the Catholic influence, nun, went to Catholic schooling. There's a couple of different nuns that were a big influence at that point in my life. Yeah. My dorm nun, of course, was, which was Sister Jean Marie she was always pushing me to be a leader. She simply pointed out the fact that my name was Timothy. And Timothy was a teacher and a leader in the Bible. Yeah, good, a good Bible name. And that was she was always trying to push me to be, an example and a leader for the other kids in the home and stuff like that. But I was always the one that was the quiet one. And wanted to be, I was, at that point I was like, I was one of those kids that just wanted to be off by himself more. I was already a loner. Yeah. In fact, one of my favorite things to doing at that time, there was another sister. She was a German nun. I can't remember her name anymore. For some reason it slips, but she was like their garden gardener. And I would go and help her tend garden regularly. She had, and it bothered me that I can't remember her name because she actually had a lot of influence upon me at that time because she was the one, she was one of the few that I could actually talk to about what was going on inside of me. And, needed that at that time.
Phil Shuler:Yeah,
Tim:that's good. But then eventually I outgrew they had an age limit at that home. It was like 12, 13 years old. And when, uh, they moved me out of that into another foster care foster home that was supposed to be temporary until they found a more permanent one. I was at that age that, that wasn't right good point to start moving me around again because I, that's when I started rebellion.
Phil Shuler:Around 12 and that, during that? 12, 13, yeah. So that was a rough transition for
Tim:you. Yeah, that's when I really started rebellion and getting into trouble, getting into drugs, breaking the law. Ended up in uh, what they call, it was supposed to be, it was supposed to be like a treatment center for out of control use. Use that they considered going in the wrong, wrong, wrong
Phil Shuler:way. Was this a government run place or was it a non profit? It was,
Tim:A non profit place. Yeah. They were also doing, had like government backing because they were doing like the scared straight. Most of the ones there were like from like 13 to 16. Okay. I eventually ended up leaving there and going to another Christian based home. This one
Phil Shuler:Methodist. Okay. These are all group homes.
Tim:Yeah. Okay. I ended up leaving there, went to another group home. Got back into the church. Was doing fantastic with that. Loved the church. Was doing really good there for about a year and a half, and then I really... One, one of the people that I really loved got killed and it impacted all my life, like really hard at that time. And I went, it sent me straight back into the rebellion stage, going to find, trying to get away from the hurt and all that turning the drugs um, one thing led to another and I eventually ended up in prison because of it. How old were you at that point? I just turned 19 when I left the, when I hit the drugs I was 16 when I started it. I was on pretty hard for three years and ended up in prison.
Phil Shuler:how did you end up in prison? Were you pretty deep with a gang or when you just.
Tim:No, it was more that I got mixed in with the wrong crowd and was doing, like I said, I was doing the drugs, stuff like that. Ended up doing some things that I'm, to this day, I'm not proud of. It cost me 30 years.
Phil Shuler:Wow. So this must have been pretty serious things.
Tim:Yeah. Eventually. I got out like a little bit over four years ago.
Phil Shuler:So from
Tim:1989 to 2019. Wow. Got out, like I said, a little bit over four years ago. wEnt up to Missouri for up to Branson, Missouri. Had a friend up there who had, Had a job he was a subcontractor in Drywall and Construction. Yeah. And he promised me if I came up there that he could put me up for a month so I could save up a little bit and that he had some contracts lined up that were, he'd be able to put me to work and pay me and stuff like that. Got up there. Most of his contracts had found out that most of his contracts fell through. Ended up having to go to work in a charcoal factory. For a little while, didn't last but a few months, wasn't one of the jobs that I would recommend to a lot of people. Oh, wow. It was a rough job. Yeah, it's rough, it's and dirty. Wow. You go.
Phil Shuler:Let's just take a step back a second. That 30 years in prison, Did that change you? how did that impact you?
Tim:Actually, you hear all kinds of stories about prison. People being killed, people being raped, stabbed, robbed, whatever. That is, prison is how, should we say, it's what you make of it, how you do your time. Me, I decided early on that I was going to make prison work for me. I took several different trades while I was in. Carpentry, computer trade for microcomputers, small engine repair, HVAC I have total of nine different trades. Wow. So
Phil Shuler:You really. Dove in and said this I'm gonna turn things around and make something positive of this and you got a lot of schooling and just
Tim:Trade skills also to college degrees. I got an associates in business from busy Massey business and I got a BA in psychology from University of Georgia
Phil Shuler:Wow So wow, that's that is awesome That's very awesome. And that was, were there others that you hung around with at prison who had made that same choice?
Tim:You're not always in classes. If, if you choose to do the trades and stuff like that, you're not always in classes. In fact, in the late afternoon you would be in your dorms and stuff like that, or rooms, whatever. Depending, some, some of the some of them have open dorms, some of them have like cell houses and stuff like that, where it's still like a dorm, but you have rooms. I usually try to surround me, surround myself while I was in, with those that were more on, in the trades, yeah, in the trades, but also, I was trying to just do right. Yeah. Staying away from, the uh, gang activity, the the drugs, I actually In 93, I decided that drugs were not going to be a part of my life no more, and I quit cold turkey, all of them. That's awesome. But, like I said, I eventually, like I said, I decided while I was in I was going to make the system work for me. Yeah. Yeah, I got my education. Since I've been out, I've been actually trying to put it to use. in Fact, that is how I ended up working for Safe House Ministries.
Phil Shuler:Wow, okay. In Wisconsin, you were at the charcoal factory, right? Missouri. Missouri, okay, Missouri. And then,
Tim:what happened from there? I lost a job and I came back to Georgia. Because I was going to be homeless up there, and... What
Phil Shuler:brought you to Georgia? Do you have family here? Friends. Okay.
Tim:Georgia's where I did my time. I came back. Alright. Because I knew people that I could go to that would help me and stuff like that. And... When I first came actually, after I quit the charcoal factory, I went for, I went to work for a hotel doing maintenance work. That was how I was able to keep my room, put myself up for a little while. But in Branson, literally almost all the hotels, everything shuts down for the winter. It's three months that there's nothing. Going on because of the snow and everything. And the hotel that I was, that I had been working at, was closing down. I was going to be homeless. I came, I called, I got in touch with a friend of mine here in Georgia. I said, look, I'll go back to work. I said, even if I have to go to work for a temp service, I'll go back to work. Can you put me up until, so I can go ahead and get back on my feet? He said, no problem. Come on back. I Came back down. I came back down. Went to work for temp service. Started staying over at the Edgewood Motel on Macon Road, or off of Macon Road. Tent service ended up not, I started, I wasn't making enough to pay both the rent and eat. And that ended up, I was, I ended up homeless down in, back when they still had Tent City. I ended up in Tent City for a couple months, cause during the time while I was at the hotel, I had met a female friend, lady friend. And we were... Becoming really close. So I ended up moving in with her and her family stayed with her for a couple years and then for'cause of health reasons, she ended up having a couple mini strokes and had to go into the hospital to get fluid removed from her lungs while she was in the hospital, she ended up falling. and breaking both legs. Oh, wow. They put her into a rehab up there at I can't think of the, Rivertown. Yeah. Rehabilitation Center. Okay. She was supposed to only been there for a few months just so she could walk again. She's still there today. Oh. Ended up, uh, Oh, wow. While I was with her though, I ended up going to work for Advantage Lawn Care because she was the person who runs Advantage Lawn Care, owns it and everything. It's a pasture and it was, she knew him quite well. Yeah. And went to work for them for, went to work for him, uh, while I was still living with her and for all the, for her accidents and everything. Still real close with her and her son. Yeah.
Phil Shuler:So when all of that happened, were you still staying at her place or did that I
Tim:was until but after a while, her mom decided that, she was going to sell the house. Because it didn't look like Patsy was going to get out of the hospital or rehabilitation or nursing home. Yeah. And she wanted to put herself into assisted living because she was 82. And she's still there today. Still kicking strong. Wow. She's 83, 84 now. So it's been like a couple years. Ended up staying with a friend for a few months. After that I ended up sleeping in my truck at the time that I had. I had a truck that I was, I ended up sleeping in. wAsn't making enough to afford to get a place or anything like that. Got into a little trouble last August, and it landed in jail for a couple months. Got out, ended up sleeping on the corner. Cause while I was in I lost my truck. Cause I couldn't make payments and stuff. And, while I was, I ended up sleeping on the corner right across the street from Safe House. Okay. And going in, talking to them they ended up getting me into Freedom House. Wow. And from that point on it was, I, that was a dark and bleak time. Sleeping up under the tree and really feeling like I had to hit, the bottom again. Yeah. And, but, it was like, Even though I was still praying and trying not to lose that hope, when you're sleeping outside I don't know if you remember like last October, it, there were nights when it got down to 30 degrees. So you're cold, you're sleeping outside on the concrete. And, it's not a, it's bleak. It's not a good feeling at all. Yeah. But, as I said, I was going to the safe house. And... They got me into the Freedom House. Which is the men's shelter. And, that's when, I was going through, I went through the Goodwill. That's part of their program for, for all of them even their tomorrow's hope once they are eligible to go to work for to go, reach a stage where they can actually go and get a job and stuff. Yeah. One of, that's, they have, one of the requirements of the shelter is that they take goodwill it's eight little classes for, it's teaching how to do resumes and stuff of that nature. And then all our resumes are sent to Kathy, which is the job coordinator for Safe House Ministries. And she got a hold of my resume and she seen on there that I had HVAC experience. So she approached me and asked if I would be willing to volunteer. To teach an HVAC workshop. And I told her yes. I, I actually enjoyed it. I was actually, while I was doing time, I actually had become a teacher's aide in HVAC. And basically our teacher sat in the class, and we taught the class. Nice. I became one of the people that knew the trade very well. I used to go around fixing the AC units in the prison system and stuff like that. Awesome. So I actually, was well uh, off in the trade. I got to know it really well. So she asked if I would be willing to teach a, a workshop. And I said, sure. I said she said, she told me just whatever material she would help me get everywhere that I, needed, that she would help me get. And so I started going online, digging up all the material that I could find to put a, a book, a con, a condensed books.'cause we only had, there was, it's only like a two week program. It was only gonna be like a two week program. So I needed. to be able to get much information across on the key stuff of HVAC and in that short period of time. So I had to really go and dig around on the internet and find the materials to book, to actually print out a small workbook. Yeah. And then go over it. Oh. While at the end, at the towards the end of the class, while I was up at the safe house because that's where we held the classes. Yeah. Dexter one of the guys who was working for the safe house at the time, says, Look, we really need somebody to come to work. He said, You really should talk to Pastor Eric. And Pastor Eric actually was coming down the hall at that time and heard him. Ha.
Phil Shuler:Wow, the providence of God.
Tim:Eric was like, do you have a resume? And I... Again, because I had my folder from teaching the class, I also had my resumes from Goodwill in that folder. And so I gave him my resume a week later. He called me and said, Hey, can you come in for an interview? And I was hired on the spot. Wow. I do a little bit of everything. I Help with maintenance. I do lawn care. rIght now I'm acting as a van driver until they can find a new person to actually take that position. you don't do this for the pay. I, so what is your reason? And my, and I always tell them, I said one, I want to be able to give back to the ministry what they gave to me because they took me from a very dark place and shine, gave me that light and that hope and that helped me get that direction going the way I needed to get it going again. Yeah. And so it's all about giving back. And, showing people what God does. It's that blessing, that miracle that God is always moving. He's working through the ministry. He's working through the people that work through the ministry. aNd, yeah, that's... That's awesome.
Phil Shuler:Now, so you said I think you told me you're going to the Fort Church, right?
Tim:Yes. Yeah. I try not, I haven't missed much, many services. I try to go every Sunday, I have, a lot of the people that actually work for worked or have worked for the safe house actually go there. A lot of the people that are in Tomorrow's Hope and taking the classes and stuff like that go there. I'm surrounded by, the ministry itself and the people. It's just a fun place to worship. Yeah. The Pastor is great. The people are awesome. Awesome. I love
Phil Shuler:that. That's good. You're doing well. You're You're working for Safe House, giving back, teaching classes, helping others saving up money.
Tim:Trying to right now, not saving too much I'm actually making car payments, alright. But yeah, I'm it's. But, there again, I would have this, my vehicle paid off come February, which this one I'll be able to keep because I'll be able to make the payments. Good. So I'm going to keep working, that's good. I'm not
Phil Shuler:going to stop working. Yeah. And that's awesome. So you've got a, you're surrounded by good people you're giving back, you're doing well. You have a good story. I know there was some dark times and you went through a lot. But where you're at now, Yeah, I'm in
Tim:a better place. Yeah, that's good. I can only thank Safe Health Ministries and God for that. God first and then Safe Health Ministries. Amen.
Phil Shuler:It's neat when you look and across the path just all the things that you don't know them maybe at the time but how God is working and God is leading.
Tim:He's always moving. Yeah. One of the things that I've heard Jamie Lee, which is one of our coordinators and Pastor Neal himself, always say is God didn't bring us this far to stop now. Yeah. And that is a thing that can be applied not only to the ministry, but to each of our lives. Yeah. You're so right. Because we didn't get here this far for him to just stop or give up on us. He's
Phil Shuler:taking us to a better place. Continuing to grow. He's got a plan.
Tim:And we may not be able to see it, but he's moving.
Phil Shuler:He is moving. We just have to be willing to listen and pay attention and obey, right?
Tim:It's not always easy to do because... I
Phil Shuler:know, you're right. Yeah. Tim, is there anything that I didn't ask you that maybe I should have or anything else that you want to add or share?
Tim:I don't, not that I can think of off the top of my head. I think we pretty much covered everything that has gone on. Okay.
Phil Shuler:Any last, maybe one or two pieces of advice or wisdom that you might offer things that the Lord has taught you along the way that maybe you would share with others? We all
Tim:have our times when we hit dark places, but what we got to remember is to look for that speck of light. Because God is there. Even when we don't think we can do it, He is always there to help us along the way. We just gotta look for that tiny speck and then that speck becomes brighter.
Phil Shuler:Yeah. Awesome. That's good. That's good. Thank you for being here, Tim. Thank you for having me. Do you mind if I close this in a word of prayer? Sure. Father, I love you and I praise you. Thank you for Tim. Thank you for his life. Thank you for... Thank you for what you've taught him and how you're using him. Thank you for the plan that you have for the future of his life and how you want to do bigger and even greater things with him and through him. Encourage his heart. Strengthen his faith. Lord, strengthen him in his relationship with you and just help him to be a light, Lord. To many others that might still be in the darkness, help them to be able to look around and see people like Tim, people like me, that would just be a light of encouragement and hope and love blessed him, bless his path, bless his future, help him as he's just wanting to do right and follow you in Jesus name. I pray. Amen. Thank you, Tim.
Tim:Thank you.
Phil Shuler:We look forward to being with you again next week as we share another testimony about the power and the goodness of God to change lives through Safe House Ministries. if you are someone listening to this podcast that loves to hear these stories of the great things that God is doing in changing people's lives for the better, and if you would like to be a part of that work, please reach out to us You can reach us at 2101 Hamilton Road, Columbus, Georgia, 31,904. You can call us at seven oh six three two two. 3 7, 7 3, or you can email us at info@safehouse-ministries.com.
Microphone (Samson Q2U Microphone)-2:Thank you so much for being with us this week for the renew restore and rejoice podcast of safe house ministries, we pray that God will bless you this week. And we look forward to having you back with us again next week for a new episode.