Episode 38 - Joe Peeler

Joe lived in addiction for over two decades.   An unexpected event happened that stopped the addiction immediately and removed his desire to do drugs again. 

Transcript

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Hello, I'm Becky Dowd, and this is The Journey to Salvation. Join me as we walk alongside real people and hear the unique journeys that led them to faith in Jesus. Today my guest is Joe Peeler. Hey Joe. Hey, how are you doing today? Good. How are you doing today? I'm doing fantastic. We're recording this pretty early in the morning on a Saturday morning. I made you get out of bed early. But anyway, uh so Joe, I got to know you, I think at uh CR on Thursday nights at Union Avenue. Yes. But could you just share a little bit of your upbringing? I had a one of the best uh upbringings that you could uh ask for. Uh I was raised in Memphis, Tennessee. Uh up until about 1978. Uh my parents moved over there and my father worked over there. And so we were and uh he was right out of the military, so he raised, he he bought a house over there in Whitehaven. This is in the 60s and 70s, and uh that's where I was raised up through the years, and uh my father's always been a real religious man, uh a God-fearing man. Uh so he's my hero. My true hero is Jesus Christ, but my earthly father was one that uh I looked up to. And uh uh his mother, his mother was very religious, and and my father was too. And uh the house we had was right adjacent to a uh great big Baptist church in Memphis, Tennessee. And uh, matter of fact, we played in their parking lot, and uh he he raised he took us to church every time the doors was open. He wasn't real strict about it, but you knew Wednesdays, Thursday, uh Sundays you'd go into church. And uh, that's just how I was raised. I rode horses and trained horses and played football and uh had a really fantastic life, you know. And then uh my mother got a job at Walmart. She moved, her first job was Walmart in Park City, assistant manager. So she was driving back and forth. We moved over here in 78. Still, I you know, I hadn't I was I hadn't touched anything. I was, you know, I was, you know, doing playing ball. How old were you in 78 when you moved? Maybe it was like 15, 16, something like that. Um so we moved over here that way she wouldn't have to drive back and forth. And uh So you moved to Wynne? We moved to Wynne, because my grandparents both both said my mama's mom, she lived over here with my aunt, and my grandparents owned land out on the Bay Road. So that I we moved out here to and that way she wouldn't have to drive back towards Memphis. And you know, he was a salesman, so he drove back and forth, and uh I'd worked the summers with him and uh and different odd and end jobs, you know. Uh I've always worked the biggest part. We'll get into that part later on, but yeah, uh yeah, he he he was uh I find my mom was too. She wasn't as church going as he was, but she believed in God, but she wasn't, you know, like he was. He was uh he was about Christian. And uh so we moved over here and she went to work at Far City, and that's when I started in win. 79, I think. That thing was real good. You know, I was still playing ball and uh doing horse thing. Then I started, I uh I was still going back and forth working on the weekends in Memphis, but I had a cousin that I grew up with. He was only a year difference than us. He kind of done things that we shouldn't, shouldn't have done. But I I I didn't I didn't it took a while and I finally picked up uh, you know, started just dabbling a little bit. Was this in drugs or alcohol? Both, both. Uh just uh what do you call it? Recreational thy, you know, we kids, we were teenagers, we were drinking. It started out drinking, then it went to, you know, smoking marijuana. Life was still good. My father was he was still on me about going to church. Well, my mother's mother lived here. And she was the one that uh uh took care of me or took care of us because my mother worked. But she kept my finances for me. She kept me online and in school, and I I I I got uh two other brothers and a sister. I was the only one that graduated high school out of out of all of them. And uh where were you in the lineup of your brothers and sisters? Middle. I had a I had an older brother, he's passed on. I got an older sister, and then I had a younger brother, he's passed on. Uh but she would I would spend the summers over here with her. She would come to Memphis and stay with us tonight. We would ride back and forth, but she was she was uh and then uh she started getting sick. I got married in 1981. I I graduated school in 1981, and I had a child in 1981. Wow. It was a busy year. And uh she was she was still here then, and then uh that's the year when she uh passed away. Things started changing then. They said I was married, and I was supposed to be the responsible one, I was supposed to be the one running, but uh it started going downhill after that. She would she would uh snatch an eye in you real quick. Uh I had a cousin tell me later on in life, if Granny would have still been here, you wouldn't have turned out like you are like you did. And it stuck with me for a long time. Uh you know, my parents are fantastic. Fantastic. And uh so uh like I said, I got married and I started working, and uh I wasn't that bad, just smoking a little weed every now and then, and you know, that seemed to be the thing that everybody here was doing, you know. Started raising my kids, and I did good for a long time, just you know, casual partying and and uh and uh all that. I used to be my my son and and and my cousin's son's baseball coach. My father had quit his job and become a preacher, a pastor here in Wynne. And uh so things were just starting to get a little different. I was, you know, supposed to be a married grown man. I was doing the best I knew how to do. I say in the 90s, uh meth came along. So by then you're what, in your early 30s? Yes, yes. I w I I still work with my father in Memphis, and I, you know, I was he was a salesman and I'd go over and drive the truck, make deliveries for him, and uh I didn't stay over here all the time, but then I went to work at Halstead. And I worked with Halstead from '86 to '96. And around that time is when I was introduced to meth, you know. Which I, you know, I was still smoking weed and and drinking, but it wasn't nothing, but when I was introduced to meth, it went to take in a handbasket. Well, at that time, was that fairly new in the drug scene? Oh yes, yeah. So no one really knew much about it. No one knew anything about it. It wasn't prevalent. I mean truck drivers you know did, but yeah, it hit the scene here and and uh uh I started dabbling in it. And then it just uh got to where it was worse and got worse and worse. And uh I lost my job in in 96 at Halstead because of it. I went to rehab, they sent me to rehab in Far City. That's for all these other rehabs around, it was just a uh secular rehab. I went down there for 30 days and I could go back to work, but uh I was tired of swing shifts. So I thought I wanted to go do something else. Nah, it didn't, it didn't work. You know, it just sparred out, out of control, and that's uh Did you choose to go to rehab or my father told me. Okay, you didn't really volunteer, you just uh no, I didn't really volunteer. Yeah. Oh so it was just a 30-day program. It was just a little 30-day program. It didn't teach you nothing about recovery, none of that, you know. Yeah. Um he told me I was gonna go to rehab because he he didn't really know about it. What he knew something wasn't wrong. Something was wrong. Right. And he told me I was gonna go to rehab or I was gonna hit the streets. So I went to rehab. And when I was at the rehab down there as at uh Far City Hospital down there when it had it, especially they pill me so me so full of different pills. Every morning you take a handful. At the rehab? At the rehab. Vitamins, uh, anxiety, uh, depression. Um, I wasn't taking anything. And uh they just kept pumping me full of them. Man, I got I was worse then than I was when I was on the street. So uh I left that program and got got them back on the streets. When I was doing meth, you know, but it's all kind of different chemicals and stuff in it. It was hard to get, but it's the cooking of methphenamine come around. Making your own stupid idea, you know. If I learned to make my own, I know what's in it. That was and a guy knew it introduced me how to do it. And uh So you started doing it? Yes. I started coming my own, and uh that's when it w spiral out of control. And then I got I got busted, manufacturing. Started going to jail, prisons. It was just a it was just a downward spiral. I lost my job, couldn't keep a job off and on, and uh once she'd been uh labeled as a as a meth cook, then it was every time you turn around, I was going to jail. I've been to prison five times uh over the years. Did you ever want to get help back then or was it just something you wanted to say? Oh I went to I went to uh uh a couple other rehabs. I went to uh Weberdee Mills and Cersei um two different times to get out of uh court dates uh to help with my, you know, I go up there and they would drop some of the sentences, you know, and uh but the rehabs then aren't like what we have now. But it was like uh uh the harbor and steering straight and all these different there's rehabs everywhere for men to men and women to go and and uh seek help and and follow God's way. Uh well it's only by God's grace I'm sitting here today. But I learned to do that, and I ain't proud of it, but that's part of life. So I kept on and we kept on, and I go in and out of jobs, in and out of rehab, you know, prisons, jails. Me and my wife were both into it. I ain't gonna give God too much glory. I mean, I give God all the glory. I ain't gonna give the devil too much, but I don't want to give him any glory. Like I said, I couldn't keep a job. I was always going to jail, or my kids were always staying with my mom and my dad. My dad raised most most my kids, you know, after I got into it. He's they were always there with him because we'd always be doing me and my wife got into a situation where she was tired of it, you know. We didn't have anywhere to live. Uh I was in, I was in jail, and uh my parents had kicked us out. My wife was, you know, living in our vehicle, and I was in jail. Well, she went to stay with a friend of hers. I got out of jail. I couldn't find her, she was out there with them. But she had gotten tired of it and moved to Harrisburg with her brother and sister-in-law. She wasn't coming back. We had a friend up there that we used to be in the mess together, uh, Jason Taylor. Him and his wife, uh, he had gone to John 316 and come out and was doing great. And uh So what year was this? Uh 2014, 15. She had gone up there and there's the restoration house in Harrisburg had just opened. And my wife called Jason and said that uh, well, he come get her for church. And him and his wife come got her and took care of the church. The restoration house had just started. Well, she went, he got her in there. She stayed there for 18 months. She told me she wasn't coming back until I got I got straight. I got my life together. I was down here by myself doing what, you know, whatever you want to do. Whatever I wanted to do, whenever I wanted to do it, you know. That's a miserable life. Miserable life. You know, I I had a friend of mine that uh got me a job and I was working for him. I was straight. I was on and off, on and off, on and off. And I got it working for him, and I wasn't doing it at that time, but then I started back. And this is a real good friend of mine, a classmate of ours. Uh he got me a job and was working, uh he came and told me he said, uh, I don't need you anymore. He said, I know you're back on that stuff. I said, okay. Yeah, which which is true. Which was true because he changed the whole attitude. So he fired, I mean that that took a blow. But I was going to see my wife, you know, and on Sundays, so I would get, I would stop Saturday, you know what I mean, and and and I did rock bottom. I lived with my brother, no job, no nothing. But I was still getting high off and on. So uh she said, I ain't coming back. Well, I I was in there one afternoon, computer room, and I'd been getting high for like four hours. And I went in there and sat down, this is God now. This is a good part. Not not to get high part, but I went and sat on the bed and she'd been praying that I go get help. I I felt something come over me. And the Lord said, You're ready. And right at that very second, the high left. The desired part left. And I felt something come over me. Nothing but the Holy Spirit come in and wrapped his arms around me and said, You're ready. I looked around and see where the high went. He said, You're ready. You know, some of it's a little hard-headed than others. So he had like slapped me in the back of the head, you put it. Hey. So I called my wife and I said, uh, look, now don't tell nobody. But Jason been telling me that when I got ready, he'd help me. I said, don't tell nobody, but I'm ready. I said, I see you at church tomorrow. Of course, everybody got there, everybody knew it. She done told everybody. So I went and talked to Jason. He said, Well, start going next Sunday. And so we went three or four trips to John 3.16, and uh I finally got in. So what year is this? Uh I went in in October 2015. And it's a six months of one-year program. So I went in, back up just a little bit. Jason Taylor, uh Jason, if you know him like I know, I was like, well. And he was doing fantastic working and got married, and I said, now if this can change him, then it could change me. And it did. I surrendered my life to Christ. I'd been baptized as a child, you know, back when I was going to Memphis. But when the Lord came over to me and said, You're ready. And nobody else could. Like I said, I've been to many secular rehabs and all that. But when the Lord says you're ready, you're ready. So I wasn't done, I went through John 3.16. A wife had come out of, she was a house mom and things, something happened. So she came back, but I was like using an excuse when my brother was sick. Uh I couldn't really go, you know, because uh I had to make sure he's okay. Go to John 3.16. Yeah. So the Lord sent her back home. Because John 3.16 is an inpatient program, right? Yes. Yes. It's a six-month to one-year boot camp for me. That was really like the only one around here at that time. The Lord sent her back home so I could go get what he had for me. I didn't know what it's gonna be. But I knew I was sick and tired of living the life I was living. So he sent me to John 3.16. I went up there and done the program, come out of it, and I did not want to come back to win. I did not want to come back to win. Why is that? Because I knew everything here, everybody here, everything here, the life that I lived was here, that the old life. Was it because of maybe temptations or just because people knew what how you used to be? People knew how I used to be in the temptation because everybody I knew here was still doing. So I tried to stay in Batesville. That didn't work. I said, well, we'll stay in Harrisburg, that didn't work. So he brought me back here to win. And I didn't know why, but I knew he had something for me because of the way things was going. So my intentions was to come back here and help with jail ministry. That fell through because at that time they uh quit allowing people to do the jail ministry. So that you know that didn't fall through. I didn't know what God had for me. But uh which they do do that at times and then it starts back in there. Yeah, it starts back up. So I think they're able to go in the jail right now. Yeah, they're going in there now, but at that time that it's they shut it all down. I'm like, you know, I don't know what why you having me back here. Why you having me back here? But I you know my church supported me. And uh so the friend I was telling you about that that gave me the job that fired me, I was going seeing them. Well, Union Avenue has a uh a men's breakfast. And he said, Why don't you come down here and go down here with me to this men's breakfast? All right. So I went down there to the men's breakfast of Union Avenue, sat through it, had a good time, you know, and uh he said, Won't you uh give your testimony one? I said, I can do that. I was going to go down there, I was going to promote John 3.16, is what I was going down to Union down the next time I went and gave my testimony to promote John 3.16, which I did. But the parent, the pastor there, Pastor Gary, as we was all sitting over, after I gave my testimony, he came over and sat down and he said, uh, I think you're who I'm looking for. I'm like, man, you know, I've heard that before, but I always wind up in jail, you know. So we sat there and talked, and uh he said, I got something that I won't do. And it's celebrate recovery. He said, I don't know nothing about drugs, alcohol. I I I couldn't tell you anything about it. I don't know how to speak it, I don't know how nothing about it. I said, Well, I got you covered on that part. I said, I know all about it, and I got you covered. He said, Yo, he he he he had already bought the books. There was no There's no CRs around here at that time. No word, no Jonesburg was only one. Went home, prayed about it. The Lord kept pointing it towards me. So uh and I kept putting it off, you know. I got my job, I got now. Good job. Cause you were just what, less than a year out of your addiction? Yes. Yeah, I I was it it wasn't even it wasn't even a year, you know. I talked to one of my spiritual mentors, it's uh uh Miss Ruby, and uh I didn't know nothing about no CR. I didn't know anything about it, I heard about them. So we got together and went to Jonesburg to that one to see how it was. When we come back, I talked to Pastor Gary, I said, I'll do it. But I kept procrastinating because I didn't know what, I didn't know what to do. I didn't know how to do it. So Mary told me, she said, uh, pick a date and stick with it. I said, okay. So I picked the date. We started uh Chainbreaker's Ministry at Union Avenue. And that's been over 10 years ago. That's what God has called me to do. I want to do something in ministry, and that's that's what he's calling me to do. You know. But uh he supported me. He bought our books for us and got us in there and gave us a place to do it. I said, I wonder what God's calling was, and it was to help other other men and women in recovery through Christ. Yes. Celebrate with Crub is a faith-based centered. And uh, because I know if he did it for me, he can do it for other people. So we started it, and uh now these other CRs have come off of it. That's why God brought me back to win to help outreach people in addiction that uh like I have. And I've seen a lot, a lot of my friends, old friends, that have changed their ways too. You know, a lot of passed on. Uh, because you know, you know, on up in age. Yeah. Yeah, and I've seen I've been to your CR several times, and I and I do see that, you know, whenever we do have uh especially have new people come in that they're that for there for the first time. Yes, you really seem to reach out to them and try to get them connected. Yes. Um and I think some of that you do on Facebook, but you're just really trying to stay connected to those people, following up with them, making sure that somebody's that they have somebody there that they can reach out to. Because I know that first time being there is probably a big, big step, and you probably want to m make sure that they are there the next week too. Yes. Well, uh go back to the church that way, uh I started going to this church, Christian Fellowship, because my daughter met Miss Ruby in the jail ministry. And she said, Dad, why don't you go to this church? Well, I was still doing I started going to this church and they showed me the love of Jesus. They didn't know really know, but they knew sometimes I wouldn't shut up. You know, sometimes I would but they loved me like Jesus. They didn't judge me. They loved me like Jesus. So that's why I try to do these men and women now, is show them the love of Jesus and to let them know that someone does love them. And there's a way out. And there is a way out because I've lived it and I'm living it now, the way out. You know, now I have a fantastic job. Uh I have the keys to the church. Uh I have the keys to everything the company has. I have their credit cards. You know. Uh you probably never thought that would happen in your life. In my life. You know, I I drive all their vehicles, I'm on all their insurances. Uh, you know, I opened the building, I I closed the building, they asked me for things. You know, back in the day, he wouldn't let me lean against your car. But that's all what Christ can do for you. Yeah. You know, there's no other way but Jesus Christ. You know. I just want to show them the love of Christ and the love on them like Christian people loved on me. I didn't even love my, I didn't even love myself. I didn't love nobody or no or myself. But the whole time Jesus was walking right there with me, I walked away from him. He was always there. I walked away. My father instilled a Christ in me, I knew. But it got so bad that I didn't know how to get back to it. I knew this was a better life. I've lived it before. And I've lived it again through Christ. You can try anything you want, but Jesus Christ is the only way. He reached out, I got a filthy wretch like me, clean me up. It's all about Christ. So, Joe, do you have a favorite Bible verse that you really stick to that helps you? Philippians 4.13. I can do all things through Christ through truth. I drive to Jonesboro every day. Like I said, I worked this job. I've been there over 10 years now, still doing CRs. It gets real taxing sometimes. You know, I work 10, 11-hour shift, drive home and go and do CRs. You know, that's why I can't make a lot of these other ones. I wanted to close the door several times. Not because people weren't there, but because I'm tired. I could be doing this, uh I work. But God said, I did not bring you there. And when it whatever God pushed you into, he will fund it. Financially, spiritually, strengthened, you gotta listen to his voice given to the calling. Thank you for joining us today. New episodes release every Wednesday, so be sure to subscribe and get notified when a new episode is available. You can listen on the Journey to Salvation website, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you get your podcast. So, where are you on your journey to salvation?