As a young man, Steve says life was good. Growing up on a Pacific island with family, he played sports and enjoyed the tropical paradise. But as he grew older, Steve began to gravitate toward the wrong crowd and their destructive ideas. In his confusion, Steve came to believe that if he wanted anything good in life, he had to take it. And that, he now realizes, has cost him dearly. Steve’s life got so far off track that he eventually lost respect for anything or anyone. Most of all, himself. He gave up on everything. What followed were not just years but decades of aimless wandering. Always moving and never staying in one place long enough to build something meaningful, Steve went nowhere. And nowhere meant addiction, crime, prison, and chronic homelessness. “The streets might have different names,” he says, “but they all led down a dark path. Period. I wasted a lot of my years.”
Steve knows what it means to be desperate. While living in the open he found it hard to get help. His only option was to hunker down and tune out. “There were days where I knew I wasn’t going to have any food,” he says. “But I knew that if I got some drugs in me, then I wouldn’t have to worry about eating for the next two or three days.” The days of aimlessness became weeks, months, and then years. Steve made little, if any, headway and always ended up addicted, hungry, and homeless.
Then, one day in a rare conversation with his daughter, he sounded so distraught that his daughter, in Steve’s words, came and “kidnapped me.” She brought him to San Jose. “She said she had never heard her father sound ‘like you just gave up on everything, Dad.’” Using a connection made through his daughter-in-law, a CityTeam graduate herself, Steve heard what we offer. She told him, “Dad, if you want to, you can go in now.” Steve says, “I made a promise to God on the way down: ‘If you open doors, I’ll walk through them — I’ll run.’”
Today, Steve is working hard to get his life back on track. Thanks to the programs you make possible, Steve is14 months sober, working on growing his faith, and preparing for gainful employment when the time comes for him to graduate and move on. “CityTeam has taught me how to stand up and be accountable. And to be responsible and honest,” he says. “If I’m going to be a servant of Christ, that’s got to be number one. The truth must flow from these lips.” Steve acknowledges, “I’ve been blessed to be able to change my life. The biggest thing for me, though, has been quiet time with God. Spending time in His Word and spiritual mentoring are big at CityTeam.” Steve can’t say enough about how you, through your prayers and financial partnership, have helped him grow. “I was seriously lacking in every area of my life,” he comments. “But God has totally turned my life around. I believe that one day I will definitely be the man He knows me to be.”