What Happens When You Threaten the Sheriff's Office with an Emailed Photo of All Your Guns? - Matthew Anderson (Part 2)

After a tragic truck accident, doctors thought Matthew would be a vegetable and encouraged his parents to pull the plug, but God had other plans and worked a great miracle of healing!  Then along the difficult journey of physical recovery, he started down a path of meth addiction...and which culminated in emailing a photo of all his guns to the sheriff's office with a threat to kill any of them that trespassed on his property again!

Transcript

Phil Shuler: 0:00

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.

1:12

This whole time they're telling my parents, pull the plug on him. Pull the plug on him. He's gonna, he's not gonna ever be able to think again. He's never gonna be a walk again. He's gonna be a vegetable. A burden on you, a burden on society. Pull the plug on'em. It's not worth it. Meanwhile, time's gone by. I'm So you heard all this? No, no. This is what my mother's telling me later. Okay. Um, nurses and everybody just caring about their day. They come and get me my medicines in my, in my IVs, you know, food in my feeding tube, you know, liquid diet. Um, as I'm in my coma and they're not supposed to touch me. One day this nurse walks by and, uh, she rolls me on onto my side. She still does not, she, she doesn't know why she did it,'cause she wasn't supposed to. But she rolls me on my side this three months later and slaps me on the back. All the fluid comes outta my lungs. Every last bit of flu. This when I turned this, this when I took a turn for the better. And the doctors were hopeful. Hopeful again. Yeah. Um, but the, the, the really strange thing is this, this nurse's name is Angel. Wow. Absolutely. Um, but yeah, so, um, the doctors, uh, when I come outta my coma finally, and I'm a coherent, I give my mother a bunch of names and numbers off the top of my head that are, that were correct. Telling her to go tell, call these friends, you my friends, go tell them that I'm okay. All these numbers come back, be correct. So the neurologist, Dr. Novak up there comes into my room and he's like, Mr. Anderson, you know, we're glad that, uh, we, you're gonna, you're gonna make it, you're gonna be better than we thought. Wow. Um, so, um, you know, as far as my brain goes, they were totally wrong as, but they, he's, they're still not thinking I'm ever gonna walk again. So you, you must have had like a serious head trauma supposedly. Your hip was broken? Yes. Probably all kinds of things, I guess. Yes, yes. I, I had, I had shattered both, both pelvises. There's just no way. Wow. So, and how long were you in, in a coma or out? Three months. Three months. Three months. Wow. And so it was after the three months when you woke up with the biker nurse and putting the tubes, it was that, well, that, that was originally, that was the, that was at the moment in the er. Okay. That was, that was the, my first step. Oh, okay. And then from there you were out for three months. That's it. That's it. So then, uh, so I was in rehabilitation for just a short period of time before the, before they sent me home, um, not expecting me to walk again. You know, I'd go home in a wheelchair. I'm in a wheelchair for a long time. And, um, now at this point, when did you find out about your friend or what had happened to you immediately? That was, that was the first question I asked, um, when you woke up. When I woke. Absolutely. How's Ken? Um, and my mother had told me that he passed, you know, um, so yeah, that was, that was pretty hard to take, but I, I kind of had already known it. Like I said, when we crashed, he, he had the blood coming out his nose and his mouth. I, I already kind of knew it and obviously I had this experience wherever it was that he gave his life for my life as far as I'm concerned.'cause he made a choice. So, um, yeah, I, I had already known it, it had already settled at the end. Um, it's still, it still weighs on me. I, I got a syndrome call does survivor's remorse, um, is what they call it. So it's definitely hard to deal with. Yeah. But, um, it is what it is. So, yeah, still I'm not supposed to walk at this point. Wow. And Dr. Jorge Alonzo comes along to UAB and he looks at my x-ray x-rays and he says, you know, I think I could do something with this. So he ends up taking me into surgery, 13 hour surgery, re breaks my pelvis, takes crumbs to, and puts crumbs back together with, uh, metal plates and screens and pins and rods and screws. And anybody who sees these x-rays, it's just like, what is going on here? Like, like what did he do? He just, frank inside of your hip. Um, so I walked around with a, about a three inch limp, a three inch difference in my legs for I, I don't, I don't know. It was, that was probably about 10 years before I had a hip replacement. And then they were able to do a hip replacement and. Basically you were, you were 18 at the time? I was 19. 19. Okay. This, this says 20, but I think they were just doing the math on the years and not the, not the months. So yeah, I was 19 at that time. Wow. So you were able to start walking, but you had that three inch difference in year until they did hip replacement and it's, it's this hip replacement. I've been, I've been just normal, you know. So after therapy, as you're starting to get better where are you at mentally, spiritually? Were you still wanting to get back to the drugs or where were you at in that space? I lost all my friends. Um, my friends that I bought, you know, of course they weren't, they didn't come back around. Yeah.'Cause I didn't have much to offer. Yeah. Um, so yeah, I did dabble back into drugs a little bit. Did that I get, did that send you into depression? Of course. Absolutely.'Cause, uh. Uh, yeah, just not having nobody around really would. It was hard. It was hard. Um, so yes, I started using, I started using cocaine until 2012. I checked myself into rehab. So were you living with your mom, like when you got, when you were in therapy and trying on your path to recovery, did you move back in with your parents? First, first several years I did, you know, but I've, I've, I've always been wanting to be on my own, so I've taken care of myself. So as soon as I get back out, I got back out. Okay. So, so talk about those recovery years as you're, when you're with your living with your parents. You said you started back in with cocaine. Mm-hmm. Just trying to cope, I guess. That's right. With the trauma and the isolation. That's right. Did you start getting back out trying to do the party life or. I was never really into the party life, I guess you could say. Even though I ran a nightclub going out to nightclubs was never really my thing. Yeah. Being at parties, it was always at my house, you know? Um, yeah. Where, where we partied. So that really, I wouldn't say I was, I, I would get I would've even gone back to that party life'cause there was no party life. It was just So you're just using as a way of self-medicating. That's it. Were you selling as well, or no? No. Absolutely not. Okay. How were you getting the money then? Um, social security disability. So you just would get that and then use it for drugs? Yes, sir. And sir, your parents would take care of whatever living expenses you needed? Absolutely. you said that was several years? Yes, sir. did it get worse from there or did something happen that made you wanna get outta that? So I definitely wanted to get out of it. I checked myself into rehab in 2012. I told my, nobody knew I was using cocaine. I was what they call a functioning addict, which doesn't exist, by the way. Yeah. Um, you could think you're fooling everybody, but, um, I'd say for the most part, my family didn't know. Um, really? So like your parents, maybe they suspected, but they didn't ever call you back, call you out on it. I don't even think they suspected. I went to my mother's house at four 30 on It was November 10th, 2012. Um, went to her house at four 30 in the morning and woke her up out of sleep and told her I wanted to go to rehab and she looked at me. So you had moved out at that point? Absolutely. So after. A year or two living with them, then you moved out, or it was, it was probably longer than that. Yeah, it was probably several years, probably five, six years. Okay. And then you moved out, you're still using drugs. That's right. But that's when you went back 2012 you said? Yes, sir. And told her I need to go to rehab. And she was confused. She didn't For what? And so I told her cocaine addiction, um, and she said, okay, well my sister-in-law is a child psychologist here in town. Um, so she says, well, she probably knows this places, so she suggested the Bradley Center. I said, no, you know, I can't be in Columbus if, if, if I'm gonna be in a rehab, I need to get outta Columbus away from where you can get access or the people that you know, or, or where I can run. I can run and I know where I'm at. Yeah. You know, so, um, I went up to anchor rehab in Atlanta, um, for I think it was two, three weeks. And I never went back to the powder of cocaine. Um, but I still, I still continued to smoking marijuana. Um. And eventually, I mean, this is, and this is years later I'm, I was now maybe 40, 41 when I started dabbling with methamphetamine. Now this after you went to anchor, or was this before? After. After. So you you let go of the cocaine mm-hmm. Through the anchor program. Mm-hmm. And then you got out, you came back to Columbus and you started on meth. Well, I, I continued using marijuana for, what, 20 years? Maybe not just, just shy 20 years and started using meth, like I said, about 40, 41 years old. Wow. Um, how now, how far removed from the rehab program were you at this point? 15 years. 15. Wow. So probably at least. So you got clean. No. Okay. And then, so let's say, and then you were still onto marijuana. That That's right. And then 15 years later, let, let's say, what made you wanna start, let's say 10 years? I've, you know, I, I don't know. I can't tell, I can't tell you what was going on in your life at the time, or it was a friend that introduced, introduced it to me, and I always looked down on people that used meth. I thought it was a dirty drug, and it is. But, uh, I don't, I don't know. I don't know what made me try it, I guess peer pressure. Um, were you pretty stable otherwise? Like you were working? Yeah, I was doing Living on your own was doing really well. I was running my own small landscaping company. I was doing really well monetarily. I had everything I wanted, everything I needed, just hanging out with maybe friends that you shouldn't have been hanging out with and Absolutely. So yeah. And so I don't even, I'm 43 now. I ne I, I've done a day or two in jail twice I first time, in fact, the first time I did a couple hours in jail, was bonded out. Next time I did a weekend and was bonded out. And then I didn't, I, I went to jail at 42 years old. Um, and spent 16 months in Muskogee County jail for a terrorist threat on the sheriff, like an idiot, because just high hyped up on meth. Yeah. And just, just making the wrong, wrong moves and Wow. So 40, about 41 you started on meth. That's right. And then it sounds like it just went downhill quickly. Oh yeah. Oh yeah.'cause I was, I was, I was actually, after my buddy introduced it to me I was getting it from a supplier who I had been friends for with, for a long time, and I was getting it for free. I wanna pay him for it. Now how does that work? He just, I'd give him rides, uh, to where he needed to go. Okay. And, uh, he'd, he'd give me lots of it, I mean, lots of it. So I'd never paid for it. So it was simple to get Wow. Didn't spend my money on it. Yeah. Wow. And you were just living on your own through this whole time? Absolutely. Never. Did you ever have any stable relationships with females at all? Oh, yeah. Well before I, but after I went to, uh. Rehab in Atlanta for the cocaine addiction? Probably several months later. I, I found a female and I've always had a girlfriend at, at most of the time, but she was terribly abusive, physically. Um, and not that she was beating me up. She, she burned me with an iron at one part point. Wow. Um, she was mentally abusive. She broke me down like I was in the military or in prison. She cut my hair off, changed the way I dressed mentally and emotionally Abusive ab Absolutely. So why, what made you stay with a person like that? Um, I don't know. I couldn't tell you. Probably'cause she probably'cause she stayed around. Yeah. Um, was she using drugs at that time? No, she hated it. She hated it. Really? She hated it. Not even marijuana. No. no, she was not even really a drinker. Um, she did, she couldn't stand the fact that I was using drugs. So why did, why did she wanna stay with you? I was, uh, monetarily supportive of her. Okay. Okay. So she, it was room and board and you would give her whatever she needed or wanted? Basically. Um, and she had her own money too, but it is, uh, yeah, she, she took me for everything I had. Really. Wow. Wow. And that was several years that you guys were together? We were together for seven years. Do you have any kids at all? No. No? Okay. No. All right. No. Never married no kids. I get, I do got, I got, I got four dogs. Hey, I'm definitely, I'm a, I'm a dog lover, which is crazy'cause. 2021. I got my first real dog that was, and I've had a couple dogs growing up, um, but actually got a dog that I fell in love with. And before her, I would've never even seen myself with dog. I'm not a, I would consider myself not a animal person, but, so I had somebody pawn off a dog on me one day, which I didn't want. I told her, we can go get your dog, but I'm not taking her home. Um, which I knew was gonna happen anyway. And now I'm a dog lover. I've, I've collected 5 cents. I had my first one, the one I'm speaking of. She died three weeks ago. Oh. And that was, that was incredibly hard. But yeah, I'm definitely, I'm a, I'm a dog lover, so, um, yeah. That's the only friends I really need. Yeah. Okay. So let's start back up again. When you were, you started on the meth, okay. What did that do to your mind and your body and what kind of decisions did you start making like. Talk us through that time period. You know, I can't, I don't like, I've, I don't really know. Like it is. I've, I was just I feel I was only utilizing it to work, you know, I was working Valley Hospitality down at the Marriott. I worked banquets, I worked at Hula hands. Everything that the Marriott I do, if they needed me down at the Bibb City Mill, they'd call me out there. I really, uh, was go one of the go-to guys for Valley Hospitality and, um, you know, it kept me going. It kept me going. Um, I was able to go home and still complete my personal projects. I don't know, I don't know if it is. I guess it kept me all up all night and I, I made some bad decisions, you know, I threatened the police and, uh, that's, uh, like I said, and how'd that come to pass? Well, they come to serve me with someones one day and I built this big, beautiful, nice fence around my property. And they. Trespassing my property. There's no other way to say it. They broke my fence to get in. Um, and I had it on video and I've sent the sheriff a video back saying, if you ever trespassing my property again, I'll kill everybody. Um, did they have a warrant or what was the reason for coming? It, it was a summons. They didn't have a warrant, which Hey, I, I'm, I'm not a summons. So they had to an official purpose to deliver the summons. They didn't have a date. Yes. See, I see. I hate, I, I don't like talking about this. And I'll tell you why, because, um, back then I was a guy who didn't like the police. Yeah. Um, now, nowadays, I, they're fine with me. I'm okay with them. But the way I saw it then, I think legally with a summons, they couldn't they didn't have a right to trespass on my property. They couldn't go past that gate line. That made you angry? Were you at home at the time? Absolutely. Absolutely. So you just, you knew that they're there. You didn't wanna go up? I'm watching on video. I got the whole thing on video. Did you open the door or no? No. I called the sheriff's department and told'em, look, I know y'all trying, trying to talk to me, trying to make contact. Let's set the appointment up for tomorrow. Um, so I guess, yeah, this, this is where probably the meth came into came into play is I'm up all night thinking about this and it's going through my head renting space in my head and I'm thinking, but like, you didn't have a right to do this. Um, and whether they did or not, it's not important. It's like my, you're just not thinking clear. 100%. 100%. So, uh, yes. So you called the sheriff office back and I sent, I sent him email with some pictures of my guns and, um Wow. Oh yeah. Oh, man. Yeah. That's pretty serious. Yeah, pretty serious. Um, so then they came back, uh, um, they came, arrested me at work. Um, in, in fact, the day before I got arrested, I had a co I, I had a court appointment for the summons. I do. That's what they were trying to serve me with, to go to court. Um, so I go to court. Was this, the summons was a drug related thing, or No, it, it was related to an old friend. Um, she, well, it's, uh, she. She dated, started dating a new guy. Um, I don't think he wanted me in the picture, so he had her take out a protection order to just keep me away. Um, so I don't know, I don't know all the circumstances with that. This protection order is still in place. So me and her haven't even been able to discuss that, so I don't know the true true reason why she had it put in place. Yeah, I know. I, I'm not, I'm not that guy, so I don't know why I'm, I'm assuming this would've happened. But so I, I didn't know I was supposed to be, I thought it was a Friday when I was supposed to be in court. Uh, the court called me Thursday morning and said, Mr. Anderson, you come to court. I said. Court. I thought that was tomorrow. My truck had been broke down. Uh, I had a coworker, uh, taking me to work at that moment. I said, well, I'm, I'd love to come to court. I don't wanna have a bench warrant. If you could send a, a sheriff to come pick me up I, I'll come to court. I don't have a problem. And so she said, lemme talk to the judge. See what he says. I've heard that sheriff do this before. So a couple hours go bye bye. At court. The sheriff shows up. Deputy shows up puts me in handcuffs at work. Um, and So you think they're coming to pick you up for the protective order summons? Well, they, and they are. They are. They, they're coming to pick me up for court. This is what's happening. Um, so I go to court, um, and everything's good at court When I'm walking outta court, um, one of the other deputies says, Hey, Ms. Anderson, will you sit at the table real quick? And so I think to myself like, no, this ain't right. There, there's some, something's going on. I I, even though I'm not, this was after you had sent that email with the pictures of your guns and threatening to kill everybody. Right. If they come into your property again. Right. And though I'm not a cre career criminal, I, I, I know, I know something's wrong and I'm not down for it. I said, can I go outside and smoke a cigarette? And he's like, no, just come over. Just sit here and sit, sit at the table for a minute. And I know my rights also. So I said, I'm under arrest. He said, no. I said, well, I'm an adult. I'm gonna go smoke a cigarette. So as soon as I get outside, I'm not waiting for the sheriff. If they to take me back to work, I'm run back to work. Um, and I tell'em, tell my coworker, look, you gotta take me home. You gotta get me a battery, uh, from my truck and take me home. And so you're trying to run, you feel like they're coming to get you and you're trying to run. Oh, I know what's going on. I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm not foolish. So. That whole night goes by. And she comes pick me up again for work, takes me to work, and I'm at work. And now we got, now I got two deputies coming to my house or coming to my work and arrest me at work for the terrorist threat. Um, this is what's in the landscaping business? No, this is, I was working at Amber's Waxer riches at this time. Okay. Uh, as a dog groomer. Um, and so two, two deputies arrest me, take me to South side precinct where we got 40 deputies a around. Um, they got a tank. Looks like it. This one of the thing that drive through tornado. And we have a, we take a motorcade up to my house and they're all out there where the ar surrounding my house. And, uh Wow. Yeah. And they kicked my door in. They're looking for my weapons, um, which I had hidden the night before.'cause I know it's about to go down. And uh, they took your words very seriously. Oh, very seriously. As they should have. Wow. It was, it was a stupid move. All, all due to meth. Wow. Yes. So did they find the guns then? No. No. I've, I've, I'm not gonna tell you where I ran them because, uh, but, uh, I, I, the night before when my coworker took me home, I said, stop by AutoZone. Let me get it better from my truck. And I took'em and hit'em. I knew what was gonna happen. Um, and they're gone. So I, I, I, I don't even want possession of or more, or wherever I took'em. That guy's gonna keep'em and he could have them. Wow. That's right. So they arrest you, take you to jail. Take me to jail. Charge me with, so, so, so then I get to the holding cell and I call my friend who just got a protection order on me just to apologize. I didn't know what happened, just girlfriend, that it wasn't a girlfriend who, she was just a friend. Okay. But she's the one that took out a protection order on me. I just wanted apologize to her for having to take me to court for whatever reason. I kind of wanted to find out why, you know, so I called her, she didn't answer, but, um, they come and slapped me with a, uh, aggravated stalking charge. Just for calling her. Didn't even make contact with her. So you're the protective order said you shouldn't, you were not supposed to do anything like that. Apparently I didn't. I never even got a chance to read it, you know, because it was all, this happened over a night and I figured once I got, wow. They probably explained all that in court, but it probably wasn't. No, no, absolutely not. What she explained to me in court is that if I saw her, if I, I can't be within 100 feet of her if I see her out and about it's my duty to leave immediately. And that's why I didn't really understand what the protect, what, what all was in the protection order. So I set it on my dresser and figured it's weekends coming up. When I got time over the weekend, I'll read it and see what, what all, what all the details. Um, so I never had the opportunity. If I did, I wouldn't have, I wouldn't have been that stupid, um, at all. Yeah. Um, so, and they caught me with five and a half grams of, of weed at my house. So I also ca caught it aggravated or possession with a intent charge, which really isn't possession with intent because. Five and a half grams of weed. You carry 28 grams around here. Now I get a ticket. But because of my charges with the sheriff, he wanted to make sure he got me with everything rightfully so. Wow. So what was the charge related to the threats that you had made? T of threat on the sheriff. Wow. All right. So you're in jail, you're waiting for court at this point? That's right. Um, people are telling me Go, go rapid resolution. Go rapid relu resolution. Go what now? Rapid resolution. It's basically, if you got felonies, um, you can plead guilty real quick and they'll give you, they'll give you a sentence right away. Um, I guess that's So you don't have to wait in court for court? No, no.'cause typically down here in Muskogee County, they're backed up. It takes most of the time, four years for an indictment. Um, so you're sitting in jail before you even get your really official day of in court, like, oh yeah, that's why, that's why they're pushing rapid resolution. Oh yeah.'cause I mean, you'll get a, you get a bond hearing after 90 days. So you get an opportunity to make bond if you can make bond. But if you can't, you're stuck being the severity of my crime. My, my, my, my bonds were over a hundred thousand dollars, which after 40, 40, 40,000, I think they want a property hold. So you gotta give'em twice what your bond is, plus the bond money, plus the 12% of whatever your bond is. And Wow. I don't know. Nobody that owns$200,000 worth of property. Wow. So, yeah, they had me stuck. I had my So you're stuck. Yeah. And they're trying to convince you to do the rapid resolution because Well, that's, that's what the guys, the, the, but the inmates are trying to, the inmates. So I, I write a letter to Rochelle Hunter, who is the rapper resolution, uh, da or whatever she is, and she tells me I gotta plead guilty to all the charges in order to accept it. And I'm thinking, I'm not guilty of all these charges. Like, I'm definitely not gonna plead guilty to aggravated stalking.'cause didn't happen. The possession with tent was five and a half grams a weed. Come on. And she was like, okay, well that, that's off the table. And she didn't, she never talked to me again. So, um, so no rapid resolution, none. So I wait, I hire an attorney to get me into the bind hearing. And how did you hire an attorney? Well, I, through my parents, I had to my, my mother. Okay. So they helped you out with that? Well, not really. Um, I paid for it, um, but they had, they had access to my accounts so that way they could put money on my books and everything else. Um, so I was like, go ahead and hire me an attorney. I. I know I'm not gonna give the guy's name'cause but he was not a very good attorney. Oh. Um, he was, he did, he told me, oh, we just gotta sit and wait on that indictment. Gotta sit there and wait on indictment when indict the indictment comes. Well, like I said, that could, that could be four years. Um, legally they, they, they, they can give you up to four years till they get, till they indict you. And based on the way our system is, that's the way it was gonna work out. That just, I mean, I've heard that before, but yeah, it's. It. That doesn't make any sense to me. It seems unjust. Well, they claim they're backed up because of COVID. I'm not so sure how much that is true anymore. Even still it's not, yeah, it's not fair. It's not an excuse. No, it's not at all. I mean, it's not at all. But once again, if I didn't run my mouth, if I didn't do what I did, I wouldn't be in that situation. You're, you're stuck'cause of your bad actions. 100%. I mean, you were guilty of bad choices actions. Absolutely. I'll take accountability for what I did. There's, I'm not gonna put it on anybody else ever, you know, that's not fair. Yeah. Um, but, but there might be, a small percentage of individuals that are there because of maybe misunderstandings. Well, I mean, probably. And they still have to wait years. Yes. Yes. It it is, it is sad. It's really sad. Yeah. So, lemme tell you what I did next. I hired a new attorney. I got rid of the first guy I hired. Jennifer Curry, younger player, named all over the place. This woman, this woman, had me out in three months, said, look, we can get you into, uh, drug court, mental health court. Wow. And within three months, this woman worked so hard. I'm telling you, she was still fighting. She was still fighting my case while we're in court signing papers to get me into the drug court, um, still getting them to drop the probation fees. And this woman was a beast. Like, if, if anybody ever needs an attorney, Jennifer Curry is the way to go. Wow, man. That's, it Sounds like the Lord blessed you with finding that 100%. You know, the good I, I still see. My jail time as a blessing maybe. Uh, and maybe So how long you said was it? 16? 16 months. Well, so this was when you were waiting just to get your day in court. That's right. And then as you're getting close to that end of that you've let go of this deadbeat lawyer. That's right. And then you hired Jennifer Curry. That's right. And she's the one that got you out after 16 months finally. Yes, yes. But you know, the whole time I'm, I'm in jail. I'm reading the Bible. We had to, I, I was one of the instrumental people in getting Bibles back into jail. There was no bibles when I got there. None. So me and everybody in my dorm started writing grievances or grievances. Grievances every day till they got brought the Bibles back. Wow. There was, there's a couple bibles floating through jail at this time, even still that have not been confiscated. And I'd put scripture on the kiosk every day and I could see that it was doing a lot of good for a lot of people, um, people that I would never expect that would stand there at the kiosk reading all of it. And I was just like, wow. Yeah, it was pretty amazing. She was hand some bible verses. It's funny'cause um, now all my time with this accident, I suffered a stroke. 10 15, I've probably 20 13, 20 12, I suffered two heart attacks, but the strokes really, my handwriting is not good. You can't read my handwriting. But through writing the scriptures, all of that related to the accident or to the drugs or maybe to all of the above. Probably all of the above. But, um, writing the scriptures, I knew I had to take my time and make legible. Now my handwriting is pretty well, I mean, it's pretty good. You, it's, uh, wow. So this, this improved. But yeah. So while you were in jail, the Lord was working in your heart and you knew. You needed to make some changes? Oh yeah. This was my rehab. This was my rehab. A hundred percent. Like I, I, I didn't fight it. There's drugs floating through jails, um, especially in Musco County. But you, you had made the decision. I knew you were, I knew why I was there. You kind of repented and turned from that way, and you didn't, you just wanted to stay away from the drugs. You wanted to, to make a better life. Yes, yes, definitely. So the Bible thing. I have heard that the reason they, they didn't have bibles, and I don't know if they do currently, was because I guess inmates would roll up the pages and use them as like shanks maybe, or No, no. They people or smoke them. People were bringing books in, you were several years ago. I don't know when they stopped allowing books, period. But they'd start lacing the pages with, uh, uh, spice, um, liquid that would get you high. They'd, they'd put in a cigarette.'cause you could make, they, we make our own cigarette cigar paper in jail and, um, figure a way to make fire and people smoking there. So they were doing that with the books and the bibles and That's right. Maybe that's why they weren't allowing it. Well, they, they banned all books period. Um, and confiscated everything they could find. Um, so yeah, that, that was the reason. But, uh, yeah, we fought, there's Bibles down there now. I got both bibles that they gave me while I was in there. Wow. Um, yeah. Wow. Okay. So you were influencing others in a positive way by writing the Bible verses up on the kiosks And that's right. Before we could, before we had anything,'cause there were, like I said, still a couple bibles floating through. Yeah. And I always make sure I've had my hands on one of'em. Wow. Okay. So keep going through the end of that time in jail and then as you got out. So I get out and I go back to stay with my mother'cause uh, I had to have a place to stay. Um, you got out released to go into drug court? Absolutely. Okay. That's right. So you're living with your mother and you're about to start drug court. No, I'm I you start court the day you get outta jail, you leave jail and you start court, start start drug court. Okay. Um, which, if people don't know what drug court is, is not actually court. It's a program where they get, you gotta go to meetings, uh, aa NA meetings, you gotta go to drug rehab classes. Um, you gotta take urinalysis up to seven times a week. Random. Just a lot of things that it do to help you. Beat what you've been going through all the time. Yeah. To help you get sober. Stay sober. That's right. And just build a foundation for a better life. That's it. That's it. So, uh, I get released to my mother's house. I was there for maybe a week before she put me out because I'm not gonna get into that, all that either. But she kind of is older and going through her own mental issues. So I get put up. Was your dad, was your dad still around at that point? He, he, he, he's still there. He does what my mother says. Happy wife, happy life. I don't, I don't agree with it so much.'cause I know he is not that happy by following everything she wants, but Okay. Yes. So to him, I had to have somewhere to go so I could put it over at the Freedom House. Um, so that's how you got connected to Safe House Ministries? Exactly. Exactly. So after a week, you kicked outta your parents' house, you had nowhere to go. Now how did you get into Freedom House? Did you reach out through United Way or did you call my mother? My mother called my probation officer instead. He needs to go, uh, I don't know exactly what she said, but I get to court the next day and my probation officer takes me outside and she says, look, here's an address. You need to be moved outta your parents' house by night. I said, okay. All right. So I get over. So get over the Freedom House. So your probation officer had reached out to Safe House and made arrangements. That's right. Okay. E Either her or my caseworker, one or the other. Okay. Um, so then I get to the Freedom House. And that is the end of part two of Matthew's story. and what a, an amazing story of miracles. That it was with God just doing the amazing healing his mind and his body after that truck accident. And then with God just opening up the doors and giving him a way to get into Freedom House, uh, helping him on that path after so many years of drug addiction. Next week, you're gonna hear the amazing conclusion of the path that Matthew took as he got into Freedom House. As he got the help he needed, he got on his feet. He got so many things in order, and everything just got so much better. He will tell you next week. That Jesus is the main reason for the entire turnaround of his life, the miracles, the restoration, the celebration of where he is now, so you will not wanna miss it. We look forward to being back with you again next week.

Phil Shuler: 30:36

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: 31:14

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.