Homeless and Letting Life Slip Away - Adam Johnson's Story (Part 2)

In this episode Adam continues his story and shares a time in his life when he became increasingly desperate and hopeless.  He shares about a time when he was homeless for several years and describes how the enemy sneaks up on you in an attempt to steal away your life right from under your nose.  Adam also shares how God brought him to a place in his heart, and to a place here in Columbus Georgia, where everything began to change.

Transcript

Adam: 0:00

a lot of what scares me about being homeless is you got guys that I know that come outta their tent one day and it's been decade, two decades, and they're still just going to get their beer or whatever they do, and it just slips away from you. You become complacent. I've always adapted well and homelessness is a thing that I had I had under control. And that, that scared me. Like I know this could be a problem and I could, my whole life could slip away.

Phil Shuler: 0:29

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.

Adam: 1:42

And I spent three years homeless in the street, wow. And all over I've been homeless in, I, everywhere I would go, I'd end up homeless. It got so bad that the places that I would go, they call'em like shot houses where people sit in there, do their drugs, and they buy'em there and you can sit, it's like a junkie house basically. They wouldn't let me come over there anymore. Like really? I would get so messed up because you're just violent and crazy and not, it's I would just I don't even know what I'd do really.'cause I wouldn't remember any of it. But like I know one house, I, they said I, I hit whatever I was doing and then I went out and blocked the door so people couldn't get in to do the dealings. And that's the strange thing is you come to, and it feels like it's been seconds, but you might've been out or sitting in this bathroom at Waffle House smoking. At that point I was smoking fentanyl. And it's been hours that you've been in there. Wow. And it feels like you just hit it.'cause it's still in your hand when you wake up. Wow. It just, everything just pauses, so in 2023 I had, I said at the beginning of that year, I told my wife she would, like

Phil: 2:51

You were still communicating with her during the time that you were homeless? Yeah, she would sneak me in

Adam: 2:54

every once in a while without her parents knowing and let me sleep and Or have, was

Phil: 2:59

she pretty clean and sober and was she doing well or not? Not at that

Adam: 3:03

point, but she she definitely wasn't to the extent that I was. But it, but even in those that time, she would video me coming out the bathroom and I wouldn't remember it. And I would get mad and it was like I was a zombie I'd, and I don't recall it, so I would get mad because I knew that I was messed up. Like I knew that I had a problem. And so it was like it hurt to watch it. Yeah. So I would get mad at her because you're filming me. But it was really internal stuff. But I promised her that I would go to treatment sometime before the year was over. So that was like the first moment that I was like, maybe I can't do this. Yeah. Maybe I need some help.

Phil: 3:44

What was it like to be homeless? Just did you just sleep wherever you could, but, and sometimes, maybe just literally on the street or in a, in the woods or I had a

Adam: 3:53

car at that point and in the beginning, and a girl that I had met at the gas station, at the bu gambling machines, she stole it after we'd been hanging out for a couple weeks, maybe a month or two, she stole my car.

Phil: 4:08

Wow.

Adam: 4:09

And I was living in it and everything I owned with it, oh, wow. Because I didn't have a lot, but clothes are important. Yeah. Man when that car was out and transportation was gone it was like truly homeless. And so at that point I was still, I had friends. I would wander a lot throughout the night, just walked. And but I still had friends that I could go I would shoplift to get money and I did pretty good. I didn't really go without at that point, and I had enough of whatever it was to like, coerce people into letting me hang out at their house for a week. I keep getting you high. If you'll just let me hang out and, I wouldn't even say I was truly homeless right then. I was pretty homeless, but it got worse, and the worst of it was once I left in 2023, I went to Jacksonville, Florida and was gonna go through Sober Living of America, which is like a halfway house. It's not detox, get clean. It's like you're already cl clean when you're, when you come there. But I wasn't.

Phil: 5:18

Oh, wow.

Adam: 5:19

Yeah, I was smoking fentanyl on the Greyhound. So after about three days, I went into full withdrawals and the lady who ran it knew that I was sick. And she asked me if I wanted to go to detox, and I said, yeah. And I went to a great program. I didn't complete it. I wish I would've it was a gateway out of outta Jacksonville, Florida. It was just like safe for me, i'd been not certain of what I was gonna do for so long. And this was like a nice facility. Then I, so the first time I went, I did the detox, and then I moved on to the intensive inpatient where they got like a little hotel courtyard and the rooms are on that. So you got like a hotel room with a roommate and, it was good, man. And I've been to rehabs before where I get into it a lot, I get involved, but then something changes. And I think it was, I wasn't really contact with my wife and my kids. Nobody. My sister had already, she had rope me off. My uncle had rope me off. Everybody else was dead. So I remember coming into that rehab and they asked me, what's your support system look like? And I was confused. I said, I thought y'all were my support system. I don't have anybody. And so all these things I made a choice one night to leave the rehab. And people there were like, man, you had this you were one of the only ones that were front and center every day. And it's just my thinking. I obsess and then I make rash decision. And it was a mistake'cause I didn't know anybody in Jacksonville. Wow. And I thought that I could convince somebody to pay for a bus ticket back to Columbia, but I did, couldn't. And I was down there for months. And when I tell you it was sleeping on the sidewalk, homeless, i'm glad it happened because it gave me gratitude. To know, like things are a blessing and something as simple as a chair to sit in is a blessing, wow. And God provided then, because I never went without food. I might be hungry, but I would have, that's when my God moments really started in Jacksonville, Florida. I was sober, but I was homeless. And initially I was sober. I could sit outside the Starbucks down there and not even Panhandle. And people would just give me money and food, and I and in turn I had so much, there was mornings I'd have 10 lattes and all this, all these sandwiches and stuff. So I would just eat the little bit that it required for me to get full because I was hungry all the time. And I'd give it away to the guys around me. So in turn they would look out for me while I was sleeping.

Phil: 7:54

Oh, wow.

Adam: 7:55

But at that was the point that I was like, I've got too much, so I need to help these other people that are hungry. Then I had a moment where it was like a shopping center and you had Starbucks, Publix they caught it five points. It was uppity office, part of town. So you could go within that square and they had restaurants, liquor stores, little gas station Publix had wifi. So I sat, I was sitting at outside Publix, this was Christmas time, and I remember the dudes for Salvation Army ringing the bells outside Publix. And the manager, they had some guys with suits on, with Salvation Army. So they were doing some type of thing to promote it. And the manager Publix came out and ran me off and I got mad. I was like, man, how are you running the homeless off when you're collecting money for the Salvation Army outside your store? And I started to leave mad and the car descendant got in front of me and I was about ready to like, fire off on this dude, like I'm Finn to unload on you, everything that I feel. And he said, Hey man, I just want to tell you I'm also an addiction and mental health peer specialist. And I was like, what? And this is the car attendant now. The old black dude that's just pushing the buggies back. That's all he is doing. And he was like, man he's it's gonna get better, man. And I told him, I said, man I'm sober off fentanyl. And he said, I will tell you that. People that can get stop using fentanyl are some of the strongest individuals in the world. And he told me about a woman that had, that lost her child to coming into contact with fentanyl, lost her husband to suicide. Everything's a woman loved. And she had 10 years sober at that point. And it was just like that little, it didn't stop me by no means, but I know that was a moment. Like I told that guy, I said, I can't explain these things that are happening. He said, you're not supposed to. And I was like, okay. Okay. So there was o other times I had guy, one guy that would come and he would just pop up in this old, beat up Honda Corolla, Toyota Corolla. And he didn't he wasn't from there like it was Audis, Mercedes, BMWs, and then just rusted out. And he would come up, he'd say, I don't have any money. I just, God moved me to come tell you, you don't belong here. I'm sitting on the sidewalk. This isn't for you. And wow. He said, I know you got better things in store for you. You just gotta hang on. And I would look for that guy. And it was like, he just, wow. But he came when I needed him to. Wow. Those moments. Then I would move like homeless are real nomadic, and they say that they're the busiest people with nothing to do. You've always got somewhere you gotta, and I think it's just trying to, you just keep moving. But I was in Jacksonville Beach and I had been panhandling for hours, maybe six hours, I think, maybe four bucks. And this guy approached, I said, you know what? I'm going back to my tent. I'm done. And as soon as I gave up, the guy approached me. He said, man, I saw you out there a couple hours ago. Are you hungry? I was like, yeah. And he said his name was Jimmy Johnson. And I, but didn't click at the time, but this is the later I realized I looked him up on the phone, this is the NASCAR Jimmy Johnson.

Phil: 11:12

Wow. And,

Adam: 11:12

uh, He bought me several Chick-fil-A sandwiches. It was like God provided for me whenever I gave up. And I I wasn't gonna have stakes every night, but just when I thought I can't go on, something would happen, and unfortunately it took another incarceration after 2023 to really get sober. I got, I came back home and, immediately, like the Greyhound picked me up and I was like, I need to go. Or when I got off the Greyhound, I said, I want to go get some dope. And the people who picked me up already had it, and I hadn't done any in so long, you know what I mean? But I was struggling. And I ended up sleeping in a tent up by Flat Rock Park. My kids and wife lived in Leesburg right there. And it's kinda outta the way, for somebody who's got a drug problem. But I would walk from that park to University of Macon Road every day, and it's a hike. You know what I mean? Wow. Yeah. Panhandle for 30 minutes in the morning, make 40 bucks. That would be enough dope to carry me through today. And I did that every day. And a lot of what scares me about being homeless is you got guys that I know that come outta their tent one day and it's been decade, two decades, and they're still just going to get their beer or whatever they do, and it just slips away from you. You become complacent. I've always adapted well and homelessness is a thing that I had I had under control. And that, that scared me. Like I know this could be a problem and I could, my whole life could slip away.

Phil: 12:45

Yeah.

Adam: 12:45

I. But I got picked up walking the street and the lady had said I had a stop sign, FTA, running a stop sign, which I hadn't had a car in years, so I don't even know if that was true. But I had dope on me. So that was all she needed. And I ended up doing it five and a half months and I knew that was what I needed. I needed that reprieve. And I remember sitting in it, it was five months on a 60 days in it, so I was waiting on the judge's signature and, justices really don't work properly. So I was there for way over my time limit that I was supposed to be released, but at some point I thought, I need to stay here a little bit longer. Like the angst of watching the door thinking they're coming to get you. Hey, you bring your stuff, you're getting out. Oh, you didn't get out. It just went away. Yeah. And I was like, not stressing it. I was like, I just, this is where I need to be like right now. And I knew I was going to die if I didn't. It got a lot of hospital visits where they were pull me out of, because you just smoked open bathrooms of businesses.'cause you don't, you're homeless, and never did I overdose. But they thought that I was in overdose, but I was just messed up. Yeah. I never got the Narcan or any of that stuff. But a lot of trips in the ambulance to the hospital.

Phil: 14:03

Wow.

Adam: 14:04

And then they'd release me that night and I'd be probably, Howard already had it on me still, so I knew that something had to happen. And a guy told me about freedom House and in the jail, and at that time it was coming off, they hadn't started the programs back up in the jail because of Covid. They had to stop everything.

Phil: 14:22

Yeah.

Adam: 14:23

Now they have. But I knew a few other programs that I could try in Columbus and in Phoenix City. I didn't know about Freedom House. I knew about Safe House, but I never would walk that extra from university to Safe House because I get what I wanted and I turn around and go back.

Phil: 14:41

Yeah.

Adam: 14:42

But I lived in a camper for a short period with a guy that would walk from that same area to Safe House to eat every day.

Phil: 14:49

Wow.

Adam: 14:49

And he was an old guy, but so I knew of it. And when I got outta jail that time immediately reported to probation I was trying to do you know what I mean? And I I've got a friend, mark Shell Knight has taken very good care of me. My whole, throughout all of this. Just, I don't know, favor of my dad or, he's defended me a lot of times. And then he's got Pam Brown who worked for my dad years ago. and I went up there super homeless. I'd been out a few days, but I didn't have any, like, when the jail released me, I had to, somebody gave me some sandals or something, like I was in bad shape. And I told her that I wanted help, but I didn't know where to go. And she reached out and found out about Freedom House. And Neil Richardson he was the chaplain for my dad in the jail for years. We had contact down there, and when she said that, I knew who he was. And they waited on me down there, and it took me, being homeless is a lot about logistics and it's a nightmare, like trying to get places, especially if you're on this side of town and you got to go to Yeah. Plus I have blisters on my feet every, wow. Size of quarters or half dollars. And anyways, finally it took me days to get up there, but I made it up there to the Freedom House. To Safe House to Safe. Okay. So to the Day Center Safe House. Yes.

Phil: 16:12

You didn't know that Freedom House was actually connected to Safe House Industries at the time? No, I

Adam: 16:15

didn't at that point. And I walked in and they had Like they want proof of homelessness and stuff like that, but that's hard to give when you're sleeping on the porch at Jersey, Mike Homemaker Expressway, they don't know I'm sleeping on their porch at night. And I started to give up and I went to walk out the back door and Chaplain walked in and I introduced myself and he told the van driver, he said, take this dude to Freedom House and don't let him go. Wow. He said, don't let him go. And Stephanie told me that she'd been looking at the different homeless places and, they were looking for me, you know what I mean? And Pam had told them he's coming in, but it was like 10 days and I was I was trying to get there, but that meant a lot fresh out, fresh in there, that these people were like trying to go outta their way to help me. And, I got to freedom House and the guy that was running the kitchen at the time, he still works there. I think you've, I think you've talked to him. I'm not gonna put his business out there, but he came up to me and he was like, you're safe in the front lobby. And he said, if you're hungry, when you get done with your intake, come to the kitchen, I'll feed you.

Phil: 17:22

Wow.

Adam: 17:23

And it was good, man. It, but it was, after being homeless I'm, I know that things are, I'm so grateful for things. And plus I left Muskogee County Jail, so the food, to me, the food was great there, but, people fuss about it and I'm like, man, we were eating out of the trash. This is not bad. It, even though I didn't do tomorrow's hope treatment program, I was still on the treatment side of the hallway. You were in,

Phil: 17:48

were you in another treatment program?

Adam: 17:49

No. I did like I said, Jamie Lee had me do 90 meetings in 90 days, get a sponsor work, the 12 step, which I've been in and out of the programs since I was 16. I just haven't, basically what I did this time was everything that I didn't do any other time.

Phil: 18:05

Yeah.

Adam: 18:06

And I, you actually followed the program? Followed the program and worked with another person. But spirituality was the thing that I was missing for 30 years. I even, maybe my whole life, but I've searched for it. Even in, in my addiction, I tried to figure out what it was. Yeah. So how so that, that was big. You know what I mean? I knew that. How did

Phil: 18:26

you get introduced to Jesus then? Like how did God bring that right in front of you and how did you come to the place where you just received that?

Adam: 18:35

Initially, so rewind to Jacksonville, Florida, there was a guy that came into that treatment program, and he was a theologian. And I talked to him because at that point I was really struggling trying to figure out what I was, what spiritual, what that was. And I told him, I said, man, the Bible is hard for me to believe wholeheartedly the way it's written. And he said, look, man, forget that right now. And I said but I don't have a religion. I don't have a sec or a denomination that I follow. And he was like, religion's the worst thing to happen to spirituality. And that might not be true, but that was all I needed to hear. To stop. Trying to, it was like he was telling me, stop thinking about it. Just stop trying to, and I just needed that little bit, even if it's not true, the statement, that's what I needed to hear. Like the Bible was written by men and God's God's word, but it's, you don't have to, that doesn't have to make sense to you right now. You know what I mean? And that's what I needed at that point. Like it was too much and I was trying to over intellectualize it. So fast forward I got to freedom House, and I knew this was key to me staying sober. Like I had to find this, but I just, I went to a few churches and I didn't feel the way that other people felt. I, and not that I didn't want to, it was like I didn't feel moved by the Holy Spirit at that point. And I would watch these people and I would, not necessarily that I wanted what they had, but I was like, man, like I don't feel that so in my room one day I said to myself, if this is working for everybody else, you might as well just give it a shot. And it, if it's not real or it's not true. Then what do you stand to lose if it's getting people sober and changing their lives? What are you here for? If that's not that, and I talk a lot about this now that it was not an overnight thing. I had to, first of all, I had to get out of the way of it. And I had to identify those God moments we were talking about. This is not, he's been there the whole time. And and then I had these epiphanies and these like grand moments where for the first time in my life, I knew I was gonna die. If I didn't change something and I wasn't able to do at other treatment programs or jails and institutions, I would think, oh, I can just start with a little bit, build my tolerance up and I'll be back at it again. Before I know it. I didn't feel that anymore. I don't, to this day I feel like the next hit I'm gonna die. You know what I mean? And I, and especially now that I've worked so hard, I know that would be the time that I would die. You know what I mean? Like, when I was in the throws of it, it wasn't like I didn't have anything to lose. But even early on, before I had the blessings in my life again. I knew that it was, I knew it was a death sentence, man. I got friends that are dying daily that are active junkies and it's killing them with one hit. Wow. And they do it every day, so I know that I don't stand a chance. And that's a good thing for me to think, that's important. And so therefore I know I can't drink a beer because if I drink a beer, I'm gonna go get what I like. I can't smoke pot'cause I'm going to immediately wanna alter that to the other way. And it's not enough. And so therefore I can follow all the fellowships. So I remember sitting in a meeting and saying I didn't know how to pray. I didn't know what that looked like. I knew the concept, but how to like truly pray. And my sponsor is a devout Catholic unwavering faith, and he gave me so much grace. Like he would say, just talk to him. Or I'd say, man I don't know if I'm gonna be Catholic or go back. I grew up Presbyterian, first Pres downtown if I'm gonna be Presbyterian Baptist. He was like, Hey, you're right where you need to be. And that's all he'd say to me. And, he would share on his faith. But it was never, you need to, or you've got to. He was, oh, he just, you're right where you need to be.

22:39

And that's the end of part two of Adam Johnson's story. And something he said, several things he said really hit me hard and just made me think. But there was one thing in particular when he was talking about how he realized that he could have become comfortable with being homeless, and he talked about the idea of years going by and decades even for some people. And he said if he knew that in his heart, if he didn't change something. His whole life could be gone And that really made me think, and I hope there were some things in this episode that the Lord used to speak to you as well. I wanna give you a couple of statistics in light of Father's Day that we just had. I sure hope that all of you had a wonderful Father's Day recently, this past weekend, and I wanna give you a couple of statistics related to drug addiction, substance abuse, and homelessness. I. In children who grow up without a present and loving father, there is nearly a three times higher risk of homelessness for those kids when they get older. And if you were to assess the individuals in all of these substance abuse treatment programs across our country. You would find that 75%, three out of every four individuals who are trying to break free from a drug addiction or a substance addiction who are in one of the treatment programs around the country, three outta four of those individuals grew up without. A present father in their lives. Fathers are needed. Fathers are crucial, and so very important. And so in light of the recent Father's Day, we just had, I hope everyone again had a wonderful Father's Day. And I wanna encourage you, if you are a father, be present, be involved, love your kids. Train your kids, teach your kids, help your kids, guide your kids. Be there for your kids. Be present and loving in their lives, and it will make a huge, huge difference. God bless you, and don't miss next week because we will hear the conclusion and you'll hear how things really turned around for Adam. the next thing you'll hear in his story is. A supernatural experience that he had because he had his heart opened up and surrendered to receive a message from God. He was ready to listen. He was ready to receive, and God saw that and God met with him and he will tell you about that next week. God bless you, and we'll be back then.

Phil Shuler: 25:16

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: 25:54

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.