October 6, 2024 • 36 mins
What happens when a devout faith is tested by the appeal of nightlife and poor choices? Curtis, our guest on this episode of Ordinary People Extraordinary Things, knows the answer all too well. Growing up in a family deeply rooted in ministry, Curtis carried his strong faith through homeschooling to public high school, proudly wearing the label of "Jesus freak" despite the teasing. Through small decisions, the absence of his accountability partner, and a decision on his 21st birthday that spiraled into a night of chaos, he candidly recounts the hours lost in a haze, only to wake up to missing clothes and an unexpected confrontation with the law resulting in a 2nd degree murder charge.
But Curtis's story is one of redemption and spiritual awakening. Facing the darkness of a jail cell, he discovered forgiveness from God and a renewed purpose. Curtis shares how this pivotal moment transformed his understanding of grace, surrender, and the importance of sharing his journey to inspire others. Curtis's journey serves as a beacon of hope for those struggling with guilt and the fear of unforgiveness. Join us for a powerful testimony of hope, resilience, and the life-altering impact of true faith.
🤝 Connect with Curtis at https://curtisfry.com/
Watch the entire episode 🎥
https://youtu.be/CKLHdSm3ztQ
Curtis’s sister-in-law’s podcast is #50 Special Needs Child with Jayme Kuehl
https://generationstogenerations.com/podcast
ordinarypeoplestories@gmail.com
https://www.facebook.com/ordinarypeoplestory
https://www.instagram.com/ordinarypeopleextraordinary/
X: @storiesextra
Any advice should be confirmed with a qualified professional.
All rights reserved: Ordinary People Extraordinary Things
Stories shared by guests may not always be shared views of OPET.
Being a guest does not mean OPET approves of every decision or action in the guests' life.
We all have a story, all of us, share your story. You don't have to have the perfect answer or the perfect life - share what Jesus is doing in your life. This is an easy, real way to witness & share your testimony.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to Ordinary People.
Extraordinary Things.
I'm here with Curtis.
Curtis, thanks for being on.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Absolutely Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
And Curtis and I.
I actually don't know if we'vemet or maybe met in passing at a
wedding, but our families arevery connected so I'm sure we
have at some time.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Yeah, yeah.
I don't like you.
I don't remember an exact time,but I'm sure we have at some
time, yeah, yeah, I don't likeyou.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
I don't remember an exact time, but I'm sure we have
crossed paths for sure.
Yeah, yeah, and yoursister-in-law's story is on
ordinary people, extraordinarythings, and I'll link that in
the show notes, if you're like.
Well, who is that and what arethey talking about?
I will link that so you canhear that.
But, curtis, if anyone doesn'tknow who you are, can you give
three words or phrases todescribe yourself?
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Three words or phrases.
I would say number one redeemeda child of God, and I hope that
people, when they see me, theycan see that I'm on mission for
Christ at all times.
Yeah, crazy story of how, yeahthat God has done that in my
(01:08):
life, but absolutely.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
Yeah, and I'm excited to talk about that.
Could you briefly share yourchildhood?
We're going to kind of talkabout that.
You said that you're redeemedin a story that changed
everything.
I think it was when you were 21.
Is that right?
Speaker 2 (01:22):
That is correct.
Yeah, I think it was when youwere 21.
Is that right?
That is correct.
Yeah, yeah.
So leading up to my 21st, so Igrew up in the church.
I grew up at church everySunday, at church every
Wednesday.
My parents, actually, at agethree and a half, felt God
calling them into ministry.
When I was three and a half,I'm sorry, felt God calling them
into ministry to work withyouth, and so my whole life has
(01:46):
been in ministry with my family.
I grew up, like I said, in thechurch.
I was homeschooled fromkindergarten through eighth
grade.
I was a kid and then at that Iwent to public school, to Wilton
High School in Iowa.
And I was a kid that I walkedinto school and I was called the
(02:08):
Jesus freak, the Bible beater,the weirdo, so to speak.
But I was OK with that.
My parents did an excellent jobof teaching me that my identity
is not in what other people sayabout me.
It's not in any one event thathappens in my life.
My identity is in Christ and soI actually I took that as a
(02:31):
compliment walking into thepublic school and getting
ridiculed for my relationshipwith Christ.
So I was, yeah, I grew up.
I loved playing sports.
I loved being in ministry withmy parents as far as being able
to be that older brother rolemodel for the guys.
My parents started Miracles CanHappen Boys Ranch and that they
(02:56):
ran that for about 23, 24 yearsand that had just here in 2000
I think.
It was like 2017, 2018 um endedup um dissolving, so they ran
it for quite a while and again,I loved being part of that
(03:16):
ministry.
Um, yeah.
I was a part of a group calledYoung Life.
Uh, growing up through highschool, young Life is a lot like
Fellowship of ChristianAthletes.
It was part of the core group.
We met on Thursday mornings andwould have Bible studies and
then plan that night's events.
And, yeah, I love just beingthat older brother role model
(03:54):
for everyone around me.
I was growing up I was I guessyou could say a good kid, so to
speak Went off to college.
I never partied through highschool.
I went off to college.
I love playing sports.
I got recruited to playfootball at St Ambrose in
Davenport and I loved football,had no idea what I wanted to do
(04:16):
for school.
I've always been a hands-onperson and knew that I would be
in some kind of the constructiontrade, just didn't know exactly
what that was, and I didn't seethe point of spending the money
for college when I wasn'tgetting anything out of school
and all through college I still,again, never drank.
I was on the party floor, in theparty dorm and Thursday through
(04:37):
Saturday, even Sunday night, itwas just a big party and I
would walk around with my glassof kool-aid and be like fry,
what do you got in there?
Like just kool-aid.
So, um, just never reallyinterest me at that point in my
life at all.
I had no desire to to do that.
(04:57):
Um, yeah, so that was kind ofkind of leading up to my, my
21st birthday.
Um, a little bit, and I I canshare a little bit more a little
bit later, directly before my21st, and kind of my thought
process yeah, yeah, why don'tyou?
(05:20):
I started going to parties whenI was, you know, at about 20,
started going to these partiesand at first I had this, this
intention of being thedesignated driver.
A lot of the kids that I grewup with went to these parties.
So I went and and I was justgoing to go there making sure no
one was doing anything stupidor driving home when they
(05:42):
shouldn't have been, and in facta couple of those parties got
busted.
And it just so happens that thechief police of my town was
also the pastor of my churchthat I went to, and so when he
comes down the line and isasking you know, curtis, why he
sees me.
He's like Curtis, what are youdoing here?
Why are you here?
And I told him I haven't drank,I am just here making sure no
(06:05):
one is doing anything theyshouldn't be doing.
And, of course, had to have abreathalyzer and all that kind
of stuff and I hadn't had a job,but I continued to put myself
in that environment over andover again.
And my best friend, jameson hewent off to Moody Bible
Institute to pursue a musicministry degree and I never
(06:29):
replaced him with anyone in mylife.
And I see Jameson, him and I wewere accountability partners
and I think that is somethingthat we need in our life.
We need someone that we can,that will walk beside us, that
will carry us when we're weak,that we can speak into, that we
(06:49):
can carry when they're weak,just someone to do life with, to
help hold us accountable.
One way I like to put it is weneed someone that's willing to
slap us upside the headsometimes when we're making
those choices we shouldn't bemaking.
And so I never replaced himwith anyone when he went off to
college.
And so I continued.
I was doing this on my own power, own willpower, without having
(07:14):
that person alongside me in this, and pretty soon that led to
well, we're going to go toso-and-so's house and we're
going to have their plant, we'replaying Xbox all night and
they're they're having somedrinks.
So you know, it's just a smallgroup of friends.
I can have a drink, it's notgoing to hurt anything.
Uh, mind you, at this point Iam still under age, so it was
(07:36):
against the law.
I shouldn't, shouldn't havebeen doing it, but I just
continued to.
I'm going to say give Satanjust a little bit more of a
foothold in my life, just alittle more going against what I
know God desires me to do.
And that led up to the night ofmy 21st birthday, where I
(07:58):
decided you know what?
I've been this good kid mywhole life.
I deserve one night to just goand and let it out and see what
the world has to offer.
And so my, the ultimate choiceI made that night was was God,
you can, you can stay here.
I'm going to go and see what'sout there.
(08:20):
I'll come back and get you, butI just I deserve a night to
just go and experience the world.
That was kind of the thoughtprocess that I had.
Um, so I had it planned out.
I'm, like I said, I'm fromWilton, iowa, so Iowa City
University of Iowa is aboutthree minutes from there, yeah,
(08:42):
and it is one of the biggestparty schools in the nation.
You will go downtown and thereis two or three blocks of
nothing but nightclubs and barsand a lot of those bars you go
into and if you show them yourID on your 21st birthday, you
get specials.
Things like 21 pitchers of beerfor twenty one dollars, like
(09:03):
they encourage that celebrationof your 21st birthday.
So I had it all planned out.
I was with.
I had five friends at theUniversity of Iowa.
They had a house.
It was within walking distanceto all the nightclubs downtown
so I'd put up my keys for thenight.
We started drinking at like 7.30that night at the house, left
(09:28):
the house at about 1030, went tothe first bar in downtown Iowa
City called the Vine, had somewings, had some more drinks.
Then my buddy and my buddiesand brother lined up five shots
in front of me and I took fiveshots and two girls in the booth
next to us.
They overheard that it was my21st birthday.
(09:49):
They wanted to help mecelebrate.
So they each bought a shot andtook a shot with me.
So in about a 10, 15 minuteperiod, after drinking for three
hours, I had seven shots.
From there I remember going tothe first nightclub in downtown
Iowa City called Brothers, and Iremember walking in and
(10:12):
sticking my wrist out to thedoorman saying hey, it's only a
half hour to my 21st birthday,just give me the 21 year old
band and let me celebrate.
He said OK, here you go.
He put the band in my wrist.
I walked in 20 foot inside thedoor.
I have the perfect picture ofthe inside of this nightclub,
but from that 20 foot inside thedoor I don't remember going
(10:33):
anywhere.
I don't remember talking toanyone.
From that 20 foot inside thedoor there was.
There was just nothing.
Until that next morning when Iwoke up.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
You kind of, is that called blacking out or Until?
Speaker 2 (10:45):
that next morning, when I woke up, you kind of is
that called blacking out or yeah, just in a complete blackout,
and the way that I had thatexplained to me was, basically,
you can, you can functionnormally, but there is no like.
There's one, there's no memoryof it, but two, there's just all
of your motor skills work, butthe, the thought process going
(11:06):
into them, there's just nothing.
And so, yeah, that next morningI wake up and I'm I'm exactly
where I was supposed to be.
One of my friends was home forthe rest of the week and had
given me permission to stay inhis room.
So I wake up, I'm in room, butI start looking around and my
clothes aren't in there.
(11:26):
I have on my underwear and atank top.
My button up shirt that I worewasn't there my jeans, my socks,
my coat none of that was in theroom.
So I opened up the door to theliving room and one of my
buddies was heading to class andI was like, hey, do you know?
Do you know where my clothesare?
Did you guys do something withmy clothes?
And he just kind of looked atme and smiled he's like you
(11:50):
don't remember, like, and I'mlike remember what?
And he's like dude, we lost youfor an hour and a half last
night and when we found you youwere walking down the middle of
the street with those two coatson it points to two coats that
are laying on the floor rightinside the front door.
And he said, yeah, we lost youfor an hour and a half.
(12:10):
We couldn't find you, andthat's how we found you after,
after that time, and so I sitdown with my, my brother and
buddies and they kind of take methrough what happened.
I told him I remember walkinginto that first nightclub and
they said we ended up going tolike five different nightclubs
that night.
(12:31):
We ended up back at thatoriginal Brothers at the end of
the night.
And then from there there'spictures of me, my brother under
one arm, a friend under theother, and they're basically
carrying me home walking downthe sidewalk Kind of that
picture where I think a lot ofus have probably seen people
where their eyes are open, butthere's just no one home,
(12:53):
there's just no response.
That's what these pictures looklike.
And so they said after thatwe're walking home.
And they said all of a sudden Ithrew him off me and I took off
running.
My brother chased me down anddid the nice brotherly thing
like any older brother would do.
He stopped me, he pushed me ina snowdrift and I got back up
(13:18):
and took off running again.
At that point and he said atthat point I was on, I was a
half a block away from the house, that we were going to running
straight down the sidewalktowards the house.
So he went back and met up witheveryone else and went the
original way that they weregoing to go back to the house,
figuring that I would be therewhen they got there.
(13:39):
And obviously they got there, Iwasn't there.
So they started calling me.
They would maybe get one wordeach time that they understood
that they that they couldcomprehend coming out of my
mouth.
Through the through about 30calls, they figured out that I
was in somewhere.
They convinced me to come outof wherever I was so they had a
(13:59):
better chance of finding me andthen, through me, handed my
phone to people on the street.
They gave those peopledirections where to send me.
That's when they finally findme walking down the middle of
the street.
So they tell me all this and I'mjust kind of like, wow, it's a
crazy story.
I'm okay, I lost my clothes, Ilost my wallet.
(14:21):
That stuff can be replaced.
That's not, you know, that'snot the end of the world, I
guess.
I guess that's a 21st birthday.
I guess that's just a normalway to celebrate.
It was kind of my thoughtprocess.
So I go.
This was that happened.
That was on Wednesday nightwhen I went out this is Thursday
now.
Thursday I just kind of wentthrough a normal day of
(14:45):
shoveling sidewalks at myapartment complex, went over to
my sister's and hung out withher and my nieces and nephews
had a birthday meal.
She cooked a meal for me, wentback to my apartment.
My brother and I stayed upuntil about one o'clock.
We watched a couple movies,went to bed.
(15:06):
Then, friday morning, um, I wakeup to a knock at my door and
this knock was um, it wasn'tjust a kind of hey, is anyone
there?
It's knocked, with someonepound on the door.
And finally, the third timethat they knocked, I realized
that I wasn't just dreaming.
I need to wake up and answerthe door.
(15:26):
And finally, the third timethat they knocked, I realized
that I wasn't just dreaming.
I need to wake up and answerthe door.
And so I went and answered itand here's this six foot eight
guy standing at the door and heasked are you Curtis Fry?
I said, yes, sir, I am.
He said, well, were you?
And I was sitting here a fewnights ago?
I said yeah, I was therecelebrating my 21st birthday.
And he pulls back his coat andshows me the badge on his hip
(15:49):
and he said well, I'm so-and-sowith the state police.
Would you be willing to go tothe police station and answer a
few questions?
I said, yeah, I can do that,but what's going on?
What's this all about?
He said, well, they know alittle bit more there, let's
just wait until we get there.
So I went and got dressed forthe day, I got in my truck and I
(16:10):
followed these two policeofficers.
I followed them a half hour toIowa City to the police station,
the whole time just trying tofigure out why I needed to go in
(16:31):
and answer questions.
And so we get to the policestation, we walk in and they
take me in this room and thenthey walk out and just kind
start asking me to take.
Take them through everythingthat happened from Wednesday
leaving Wilton to sitting hereright now.
(16:51):
Take us, step by step,everything that happened, and
the whole time I'm asking what'sgoing on, what is this all
about?
Why am I here and they justkind of ignore me and keep
asking questions and finally, um, after about an hour and a half
, they they had left the roomand they come back in and they
said well, we found your clothesand we found your wallet, um,
(17:14):
in the bedroom of this apartment, and there's a man in the
bathroom.
And I said what do you mean?
What do you mean?
There's a man in the bathroom.
And I said what do you mean?
What do you mean?
There's a man in the bathroom.
And they said there was a mandead in the bathroom of this
apartment and it was.
It was literally like a bombwent off beside me.
(17:35):
At that point I know I justlike took a huge breath.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
I'm like, oh my god, like I'm just listening to this
story and I, I can't, I can'teven imagine.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
Yeah, yeah, it was.
It was a feeling that I havenever experienced.
When you hear the word chaoslike that, that was that for me.
Like I didn't know what to whatto say, I didn't know how to
react, I couldn't say anything,like it was just my body started
(18:07):
shaking uncontrollably, Istarted bawling, but that was
the point where I turned to, Iturned and started praying, like
immediately, even though Ihadn't had a sincere
relationship with him in this,in this, in that time, um, I
(18:32):
knew that he would still bethere, yeah, so I just started
praying and it was.
It was just God.
God told me what happened so Ican tell them the truth.
God, show me, show me what Idid that night.
Show me what happened so I cantell them the truth.
God, show me, show me what Idid that night.
Show me what happened so we canget this all figured out.
God, forgive me for whatever Idid.
Forgive me for what happened.
God, you know my heart.
(18:53):
You know this isn't somethingthat I would ever intend.
Like they're saying that I beatthis man to death in his
bathroom, and God, you knowthat's not me.
And so I was just at that point,just at a complete, a complete
loss for what to do, what to say.
(19:17):
You know, I didn't know muchabout the law besides what I've
seen in movies.
I've never, never even up tothat point, had never even I'd
been pulled over for speedingbut had never actually gotten a
ticket for speeding.
So I had like no idea at allabout the law At that point.
(19:37):
I asked for an attorney andabout a half hour later the
attorney showed up.
Police officers come back inthe door.
They stand me up, turn mearound, put handcuffs on me and
say Curtis Fry, we're chargingyou, point.
I was just at a complete loss,like it, it wasn't it wasn't me,
(20:11):
whatever.
whatever happened, I didn't knowhow, how to respond to that.
Um, besides just relying on onGod to to get me through.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
So what did you ever get your memory back of it Did?
Did God ever show you that, oryeah, no.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
So I, I prayed and prayed and prayed, Um, I mean,
there's still times that I willstill to this day this happened,
um man, what is this?
What is this?
This happened 16 years ago.
And there's still times that Iwill ask God, God, if it's your
(20:48):
will, would you show me whathappened that night?
And I still, to this day, don'thave any memory from that time
of walking into that firstnightclub till that next morning
.
And I think I think a couple ofthings.
(21:09):
Just, I think that if I, if I,was able to remember that and
see what took place that night,I don't know how I could live
with that you know, and I thinkso.
Maybe it is just a God is isprotecting me from that, from
(21:31):
that memory, Um, whatever didtake place that night, the best
explanation that I have um ofwhat happened is the judge.
So it went through trial.
I spent 15 months in countyjail.
It went to trial.
We did a bench trial, whichmeans there was no jury.
It was just the judge that gotto decide the verdict.
(21:54):
And the judge, after getting inall the evidence, he wrote a
story of what he thinks happened, just based on the evidence
that was presented, and hebelieves that my buddy's house
was 513 Bowery.
The apartment that I went intowas 513 Van Buren, which was
(22:17):
about a half a block away.
My apartment in Wilton was 503,apartment number one, which was
in the front door, downhalf-light of stairs, first
apartment on the right.
This was 513, apartment numberone, in the front door, down a
half-light of stairs, firstapartment on the right.
Okay, I went there thinking itwas my own place.
I didn't have my keys.
(22:38):
I broke open the door.
I didn't have my keys.
I broke open the door Inside.
My wallet was laying on thedresser right next to the bed.
My jeans were taken off at thefoot of the bed.
(22:59):
Like youwen, for whatever reason, was out and about at this 1.30
, 2 o'clock in the morning.
He had on a winter coat andrubber boots over his shoes.
And he thinks that Mr McEwencame in, tried to wake me up, to
let me know I was in the wrongplace, Me thinking I was being
intruded on, grabbed him,punched him multiple times and
(23:21):
then the judge thinks, justbased on other evidence within
the apartment, that I left atthat point and Mr McEwen then
followed me out, shut the doorand went back to the bathroom
where he was trying to take careof himself like a bloody nose.
However, when he and he wasusing the toilet, when he got
(23:44):
back up from the toilet he endedup falling between the toilet
and shower and couldn't get backup from that point and never,
never got back up.
Speaker 1 (23:55):
So that is how old he was.
Was he an older man?
Speaker 2 (23:59):
It was.
Mr McEwen was 75 years old.
And so and he had.
He had different aides thatwould come throughout the week
and check on him, and they saidthat he would fall occasionally
and struggled getting up even innormal circumstances.
(24:19):
So the best way that I haveunderstood this dealt with it in
forgiveness, and I can talkabout this a little bit later.
But had I not made thatdecision to say, god, I don't
need you tonight, I'm going togo and drink, to become drunk,
(24:44):
even though it is very clear inscripture do not drink, become
drunk, do not be a drunkard.
Because I made that choice andI ended up in Mr McEwen's space.
No matter how it happened, heended up dying that night
because of my original choice.
Had I not been in his space, mrMcEwen would not have died that
(25:05):
night.
So after it was about threemonths in jail that I finally
was able to one understand thatand ask for God's forgiveness,
which I had been asking for justabout every night.
(25:25):
God forgive me, god forgive me,god forgive me.
And it wasn't until threemonths that it was finally.
God was like Curtis I forgaveyou the first time you asked,
and I've been standing here withmy arms open saying give your
whole life to me.
And it was at that point thatmy prayer changed from God
forgive me to okay God, I messedup, I sinned and I know that
(25:51):
I'm still going to haveconsequences for that sin, but
I'm in a place that a lot ofpeople can't be.
I'm in a place where I canstill have an impact for you.
So from that point forward, myprayer changed to okay God, here
I am, I'm your servant, send mewhere you want me.
(26:11):
And I would say at that pointwas a point where where my whole
relationship with God, with God, completely changed.
Instead of just believing inGod and trying to do the right
things, trying to live a goodlife, that point became a full
(26:32):
surrender to me, which is, Ithink.
I think a lot of us struggle toget to a point where we fully
surrender every aspect of ourlife to God, like it's not our
own.
We were bought with a price.
That price was Jesus' blood onthe cross and that that point in
(26:57):
my life was a very pivotalpoint for me.
I like to say I wish I couldtake back the night of my 21st
birthday and what happened to MrMcEwen being in prison, that
(27:19):
hardest time that I went through, that darkest dungeon, so to
speak.
I would never give that timeback, because it is through that
that God was able to form meand change me to be a man that
he desired me to be, not a manthat I desired to be, not a man
(27:46):
that I desired to be.
If you're at a point where youdon't feel that you can be
forgiven, I want to challengeyou to just go and read
scripture over and over again.
David, a man after God's ownheart.
How many times did he fall?
He fell into sin with Bathsheba.
Then not only did he do that,but then he had her husband
murdered and the front lines,and yet god still was like you
(28:10):
are a man after my own heart,david, a man after my own heart,
uh, the apostle paul, like.
There are so many examples ofscrewed up people, people in
scripture, and I know that ifGod is willing to call them out
(28:30):
of their sin, god, if you're ata point where you're like, yeah,
but God couldn't, he's not, ifyou're wrestling with that at
all, god is calling you out ofthat.
And so I just want to encourageyou don't think that you have
done anything worse than anyperson in the Bible.
Myself, obviously, I know thatGod has redeemed me and given me
(28:53):
a second chance.
Speaker 1 (28:55):
Is that why you're not afraid to tell your story?
Speaker 2 (28:58):
Absolutely, I think, and actually I don't even call
it my story, it is God's story.
Through my life and even whileI was in, while I was in jail, I
was like okay, God, I do notwant this to be wasted.
Speaker 1 (29:15):
This time.
Speaker 2 (29:16):
I'm spending.
Not a single second of it iswasted time.
So whatever opportunity yougive me to speak your name, I'm
going to walk through that door,I'm going to share, whether
it's one person or 500 people.
And God has continued to openthe door.
And I think that we are called,we are called as believers, to
(29:42):
give an answer for the hope thatwe have in Christ.
I forget exactly that scripturereference.
But what is that hope that wehave?
And that hope is the fact thatwe have been redeemed by Jesus'
blood and we have that hope ofeternal life, being able to
spend with him for eternity.
And so that is, I think, thatGod is very clear about.
(30:04):
Like your life is not your own,and you need to be ready to
give a reason for the hope thatyou have.
Speaker 1 (30:15):
That's good.
How long were you in jail andprison?
Or I'm just going to lump itinto one how long?
Speaker 2 (30:23):
Yeah, so 15 months in county jail and then two and a
half years in prison.
So you kind of ask about likeconsequences.
What were the consequences,possibly?
And so the second degree murder.
It actually carries a 50 yearsentence with a 35 year
mandatory, and that is what Iwas facing walking in and the
(30:52):
judge ended up dropping it downto a 10-year manslaughter charge
, which doesn't have a mandatory.
So in Iowa prisons areoverpopulated.
It got cut in half and so I hada five-year sentence.
So I spent basically four and ahalf years of that in jail,
prison and in a halfway house.
Speaker 1 (31:08):
And did you?
I'm sure that's a story initself.
I don't think we can get tothat today, but maybe another
time.
But can you briefly say like,were you able to use that time
and talk to people that most ofus will never talk to?
Speaker 2 (31:35):
one story.
There's a guy that I got alongwith really good.
I met.
We came into Fort Dodge prisonat about the same time and we
seemed to hit it off.
We played sports together inprison.
You can play sports so we liftedweights, played sports together
, and I would go to the churchservice on Monday nights and say
, hey, you want to, you want tocome along?
No, come on, fry, you know me.
You know I don't do that Godthing and I just go about my
(31:57):
normal routine.
And then about once a month Iwould ask him hey, you want to
come with I'm going.
No, come on, man, you know me.
Well, I got transferred toRockwell City.
About three weeks later he gottransferred to Rockwell City and
he walked in that first timeand he saw me standing out there
(32:20):
when he came in and kind of thenormal thing to do was walk
around the whole facility on theone path that goes around the
whole thing and just kind ofcatch up if someone, one of your
buddies, comes, comes.
And we didn't even get a quarterof the way around and he said,
curtis, I bet this is my, thisis my third time in prison and
(32:46):
something needs to change and Iknow that I need what you have
and I know what that is andthat's God he said.
So I want you to start helpingme understand what this whole
God thing is and I want you, Iwant to go to church and I want
(33:07):
to learn about this, and so wedid.
We talked about it.
I was able to.
We were able to have littleBible studies.
We had a church that came infrom the outside it just so
happened that it was from hishometown that he grew up in came
in to put on a worship service,and that night Adam gave his
(33:29):
life to Christ, that night inthe worship service, and so it
was just a good example of beingable to just walk out and just
live who Christ was.
Even if people don't want tohear, at some point you have an
impact on them, whether theywant to hear it or not.
And Adam didn't want to hear itfor the longest time, but, um,
(33:53):
eventually God got his heart.
So oh, that's so beautiful, yeahthere's quite a lot of stories,
of different stories like that,um and not only not only for me
, but um a couple of the otherguys in there that was able to
to witness too.
Speaker 1 (34:10):
So I love We'll have to have you back on.
I see you have a choicest-shirt on.
Is that?
What is that?
Yes?
Speaker 2 (34:18):
choices.
So actually before I, while Iwas still in jail, even youth
pastors had asked my dad if hewould come and speak at at youth
, at their youth group, and justtalk about the choice that I
made that night, and so my momactually came up with this
(34:39):
acronym, so CHOICES stands forChoosing Him Over.
I Changes Every Situation andit is just a constant reminder.
When I go and speak, I hand outbracelets that have choices on
them, and it's just thatconstant reminder that every
choice we make can have a hugeimpact, either negative or
positive, and so the choicesyou're making are they having a
(35:02):
positive impact, or do you maybeneed to think about changing
some of those choices you'remaking?
Speaker 1 (35:08):
Right.
Oh, my goodness, my goodness,curtis, this has been truly
amazing.
I've written down so many notesof things that really just
touched my heart, and a coupleof things were just small
decisions, like you said.
Like a small decision and thenyou kind of, and then all of a
sudden you're somewhere.
You don't want to be or neverthought you would be or intended
to be, and I think that'sreally, that's really powerful.
Speaker 2 (35:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (35:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (35:33):
It is a.
It's a constant um.
It's a constant likesurrendering, like my life is
not my own Um.
So what I am doing today is itglorifying God, and I think it's
just having that constant viewof who we're living for.
And if you don't have thatconstant view, that constant
(35:56):
reminder, you can easily getsidetracked and start choosing
some things that are againstwhat God would desire you to do.
Speaker 1 (36:05):
Yeah, well, we have just like a minute and a half
left.
I like to end my mind with acouple questions, but I think
I'm just going to pick one foryou.
What are you grateful for?
Speaker 2 (36:17):
What am I grateful for?
Well, first of all, I amgrateful for the sacrifice of
Jesus on the cross, because ifthat did not take place, I
wouldn't be able to sit here infront of you today and be the
man that I am.
So that, first of all, is firstand foremost and two, just
(36:42):
going through what I wentthrough it made me really
appreciate the things that arein my life, because everything
got taken away for a while.
I didn't have those my familybeside me, I didn't have my
friends to do life with.
So I really going through thatallowed me to not to understand
(37:03):
that friendships, family, arenot something to just take for
granted.
So I'm very thankful that Godwas able to teach me that as
well.
Speaker 1 (37:15):
Oh, thank you, Curtis .
Curtis, thanks for everybodyfor listening and remember that
your story is his glory, kind ofjust like you said, curtis amen
, amen absolutely.
Welcome to Ordinary People.
Extraordinary Things.
I'm here with Curtis.
Curtis, thanks for being on.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Absolutely Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
And Curtis and I.
I actually don't know if we'vemet or maybe met in passing at a
wedding, but our families arevery connected so I'm sure we
have at some time.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Yeah, yeah.
I don't like you.
I don't remember an exact time,but I'm sure we have at some
time, yeah, yeah, I don't likeyou.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
I don't remember an exact time, but I'm sure we have
crossed paths for sure.
Yeah, yeah, and yoursister-in-law's story is on
ordinary people, extraordinarythings, and I'll link that in
the show notes, if you're like.
Well, who is that and what arethey talking about?
I will link that so you canhear that.
But, curtis, if anyone doesn'tknow who you are, can you give
three words or phrases todescribe yourself?
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Three words or phrases.
I would say number one redeemeda child of God, and I hope that
people, when they see me, theycan see that I'm on mission for
Christ at all times.
Yeah, crazy story of how, yeahthat God has done that in my
(01:08):
life, but absolutely.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
Yeah, and I'm excited to talk about that.
Could you briefly share yourchildhood?
We're going to kind of talkabout that.
You said that you're redeemedin a story that changed
everything.
I think it was when you were 21.
Is that right?
Speaker 2 (01:22):
That is correct.
Yeah, I think it was when youwere 21.
Is that right?
That is correct.
Yeah, yeah.
So leading up to my 21st, so Igrew up in the church.
I grew up at church everySunday, at church every
Wednesday.
My parents, actually, at agethree and a half, felt God
calling them into ministry.
When I was three and a half,I'm sorry, felt God calling them
into ministry to work withyouth, and so my whole life has
(01:46):
been in ministry with my family.
I grew up, like I said, in thechurch.
I was homeschooled fromkindergarten through eighth
grade.
I was a kid and then at that Iwent to public school, to Wilton
High School in Iowa.
And I was a kid that I walkedinto school and I was called the
(02:08):
Jesus freak, the Bible beater,the weirdo, so to speak.
But I was OK with that.
My parents did an excellent jobof teaching me that my identity
is not in what other people sayabout me.
It's not in any one event thathappens in my life.
My identity is in Christ and soI actually I took that as a
(02:31):
compliment walking into thepublic school and getting
ridiculed for my relationshipwith Christ.
So I was, yeah, I grew up.
I loved playing sports.
I loved being in ministry withmy parents as far as being able
to be that older brother rolemodel for the guys.
My parents started Miracles CanHappen Boys Ranch and that they
(02:56):
ran that for about 23, 24 yearsand that had just here in 2000
I think.
It was like 2017, 2018 um endedup um dissolving, so they ran
it for quite a while and again,I loved being part of that
(03:16):
ministry.
Um, yeah.
I was a part of a group calledYoung Life.
Uh, growing up through highschool, young Life is a lot like
Fellowship of ChristianAthletes.
It was part of the core group.
We met on Thursday mornings andwould have Bible studies and
then plan that night's events.
And, yeah, I love just beingthat older brother role model
(03:54):
for everyone around me.
I was growing up I was I guessyou could say a good kid, so to
speak Went off to college.
I never partied through highschool.
I went off to college.
I love playing sports.
I got recruited to playfootball at St Ambrose in
Davenport and I loved football,had no idea what I wanted to do
(04:16):
for school.
I've always been a hands-onperson and knew that I would be
in some kind of the constructiontrade, just didn't know exactly
what that was, and I didn't seethe point of spending the money
for college when I wasn'tgetting anything out of school
and all through college I still,again, never drank.
I was on the party floor, in theparty dorm and Thursday through
(04:37):
Saturday, even Sunday night, itwas just a big party and I
would walk around with my glassof kool-aid and be like fry,
what do you got in there?
Like just kool-aid.
So, um, just never reallyinterest me at that point in my
life at all.
I had no desire to to do that.
(04:57):
Um, yeah, so that was kind ofkind of leading up to my, my
21st birthday.
Um, a little bit, and I I canshare a little bit more a little
bit later, directly before my21st, and kind of my thought
process yeah, yeah, why don'tyou?
(05:20):
I started going to parties whenI was, you know, at about 20,
started going to these partiesand at first I had this, this
intention of being thedesignated driver.
A lot of the kids that I grewup with went to these parties.
So I went and and I was justgoing to go there making sure no
one was doing anything stupidor driving home when they
(05:42):
shouldn't have been, and in facta couple of those parties got
busted.
And it just so happens that thechief police of my town was
also the pastor of my churchthat I went to, and so when he
comes down the line and isasking you know, curtis, why he
sees me.
He's like Curtis, what are youdoing here?
Why are you here?
And I told him I haven't drank,I am just here making sure no
(06:05):
one is doing anything theyshouldn't be doing.
And, of course, had to have abreathalyzer and all that kind
of stuff and I hadn't had a job,but I continued to put myself
in that environment over andover again.
And my best friend, jameson hewent off to Moody Bible
Institute to pursue a musicministry degree and I never
(06:29):
replaced him with anyone in mylife.
And I see Jameson, him and I wewere accountability partners
and I think that is somethingthat we need in our life.
We need someone that we can,that will walk beside us, that
will carry us when we're weak,that we can speak into, that we
(06:49):
can carry when they're weak,just someone to do life with, to
help hold us accountable.
One way I like to put it is weneed someone that's willing to
slap us upside the headsometimes when we're making
those choices we shouldn't bemaking.
And so I never replaced himwith anyone when he went off to
college.
And so I continued.
I was doing this on my own power, own willpower, without having
(07:14):
that person alongside me in this, and pretty soon that led to
well, we're going to go toso-and-so's house and we're
going to have their plant, we'replaying Xbox all night and
they're they're having somedrinks.
So you know, it's just a smallgroup of friends.
I can have a drink, it's notgoing to hurt anything.
Uh, mind you, at this point Iam still under age, so it was
(07:36):
against the law.
I shouldn't, shouldn't havebeen doing it, but I just
continued to.
I'm going to say give Satanjust a little bit more of a
foothold in my life, just alittle more going against what I
know God desires me to do.
And that led up to the night ofmy 21st birthday, where I
(07:58):
decided you know what?
I've been this good kid mywhole life.
I deserve one night to just goand and let it out and see what
the world has to offer.
And so my, the ultimate choiceI made that night was was God,
you can, you can stay here.
I'm going to go and see what'sout there.
(08:20):
I'll come back and get you, butI just I deserve a night to
just go and experience the world.
That was kind of the thoughtprocess that I had.
Um, so I had it planned out.
I'm, like I said, I'm fromWilton, iowa, so Iowa City
University of Iowa is aboutthree minutes from there, yeah,
(08:42):
and it is one of the biggestparty schools in the nation.
You will go downtown and thereis two or three blocks of
nothing but nightclubs and barsand a lot of those bars you go
into and if you show them yourID on your 21st birthday, you
get specials.
Things like 21 pitchers of beerfor twenty one dollars, like
(09:03):
they encourage that celebrationof your 21st birthday.
So I had it all planned out.
I was with.
I had five friends at theUniversity of Iowa.
They had a house.
It was within walking distanceto all the nightclubs downtown
so I'd put up my keys for thenight.
We started drinking at like 7.30that night at the house, left
(09:28):
the house at about 1030, went tothe first bar in downtown Iowa
City called the Vine, had somewings, had some more drinks.
Then my buddy and my buddiesand brother lined up five shots
in front of me and I took fiveshots and two girls in the booth
next to us.
They overheard that it was my21st birthday.
(09:49):
They wanted to help mecelebrate.
So they each bought a shot andtook a shot with me.
So in about a 10, 15 minuteperiod, after drinking for three
hours, I had seven shots.
From there I remember going tothe first nightclub in downtown
Iowa City called Brothers, and Iremember walking in and
(10:12):
sticking my wrist out to thedoorman saying hey, it's only a
half hour to my 21st birthday,just give me the 21 year old
band and let me celebrate.
He said OK, here you go.
He put the band in my wrist.
I walked in 20 foot inside thedoor.
I have the perfect picture ofthe inside of this nightclub,
but from that 20 foot inside thedoor I don't remember going
(10:33):
anywhere.
I don't remember talking toanyone.
From that 20 foot inside thedoor there was.
There was just nothing.
Until that next morning when Iwoke up.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
You kind of, is that called blacking out or Until?
Speaker 2 (10:45):
that next morning, when I woke up, you kind of is
that called blacking out or yeah, just in a complete blackout,
and the way that I had thatexplained to me was, basically,
you can, you can functionnormally, but there is no like.
There's one, there's no memoryof it, but two, there's just all
of your motor skills work, butthe, the thought process going
(11:06):
into them, there's just nothing.
And so, yeah, that next morningI wake up and I'm I'm exactly
where I was supposed to be.
One of my friends was home forthe rest of the week and had
given me permission to stay inhis room.
So I wake up, I'm in room, butI start looking around and my
clothes aren't in there.
(11:26):
I have on my underwear and atank top.
My button up shirt that I worewasn't there my jeans, my socks,
my coat none of that was in theroom.
So I opened up the door to theliving room and one of my
buddies was heading to class andI was like, hey, do you know?
Do you know where my clothesare?
Did you guys do something withmy clothes?
And he just kind of looked atme and smiled he's like you
(11:50):
don't remember, like, and I'mlike remember what?
And he's like dude, we lost youfor an hour and a half last
night and when we found you youwere walking down the middle of
the street with those two coatson it points to two coats that
are laying on the floor rightinside the front door.
And he said, yeah, we lost youfor an hour and a half.
(12:10):
We couldn't find you, andthat's how we found you after,
after that time, and so I sitdown with my, my brother and
buddies and they kind of take methrough what happened.
I told him I remember walkinginto that first nightclub and
they said we ended up going tolike five different nightclubs
that night.
(12:31):
We ended up back at thatoriginal Brothers at the end of
the night.
And then from there there'spictures of me, my brother under
one arm, a friend under theother, and they're basically
carrying me home walking downthe sidewalk Kind of that
picture where I think a lot ofus have probably seen people
where their eyes are open, butthere's just no one home,
(12:53):
there's just no response.
That's what these pictures looklike.
And so they said after thatwe're walking home.
And they said all of a sudden Ithrew him off me and I took off
running.
My brother chased me down anddid the nice brotherly thing
like any older brother would do.
He stopped me, he pushed me ina snowdrift and I got back up
(13:18):
and took off running again.
At that point and he said atthat point I was on, I was a
half a block away from the house, that we were going to running
straight down the sidewalktowards the house.
So he went back and met up witheveryone else and went the
original way that they weregoing to go back to the house,
figuring that I would be therewhen they got there.
(13:39):
And obviously they got there, Iwasn't there.
So they started calling me.
They would maybe get one wordeach time that they understood
that they that they couldcomprehend coming out of my
mouth.
Through the through about 30calls, they figured out that I
was in somewhere.
They convinced me to come outof wherever I was so they had a
(13:59):
better chance of finding me andthen, through me, handed my
phone to people on the street.
They gave those peopledirections where to send me.
That's when they finally findme walking down the middle of
the street.
So they tell me all this and I'mjust kind of like, wow, it's a
crazy story.
I'm okay, I lost my clothes, Ilost my wallet.
(14:21):
That stuff can be replaced.
That's not, you know, that'snot the end of the world, I
guess.
I guess that's a 21st birthday.
I guess that's just a normalway to celebrate.
It was kind of my thoughtprocess.
So I go.
This was that happened.
That was on Wednesday nightwhen I went out this is Thursday
now.
Thursday I just kind of wentthrough a normal day of
(14:45):
shoveling sidewalks at myapartment complex, went over to
my sister's and hung out withher and my nieces and nephews
had a birthday meal.
She cooked a meal for me, wentback to my apartment.
My brother and I stayed upuntil about one o'clock.
We watched a couple movies,went to bed.
(15:06):
Then, friday morning, um, I wakeup to a knock at my door and
this knock was um, it wasn'tjust a kind of hey, is anyone
there?
It's knocked, with someonepound on the door.
And finally, the third timethat they knocked, I realized
that I wasn't just dreaming.
I need to wake up and answerthe door.
(15:26):
And finally, the third timethat they knocked, I realized
that I wasn't just dreaming.
I need to wake up and answerthe door.
And so I went and answered itand here's this six foot eight
guy standing at the door and heasked are you Curtis Fry?
I said, yes, sir, I am.
He said, well, were you?
And I was sitting here a fewnights ago?
I said yeah, I was therecelebrating my 21st birthday.
And he pulls back his coat andshows me the badge on his hip
(15:49):
and he said well, I'm so-and-sowith the state police.
Would you be willing to go tothe police station and answer a
few questions?
I said, yeah, I can do that,but what's going on?
What's this all about?
He said, well, they know alittle bit more there, let's
just wait until we get there.
So I went and got dressed forthe day, I got in my truck and I
(16:10):
followed these two policeofficers.
I followed them a half hour toIowa City to the police station,
the whole time just trying tofigure out why I needed to go in
(16:31):
and answer questions.
And so we get to the policestation, we walk in and they
take me in this room and thenthey walk out and just kind
start asking me to take.
Take them through everythingthat happened from Wednesday
leaving Wilton to sitting hereright now.
(16:51):
Take us, step by step,everything that happened, and
the whole time I'm asking what'sgoing on, what is this all
about?
Why am I here and they justkind of ignore me and keep
asking questions and finally, um, after about an hour and a half
, they they had left the roomand they come back in and they
said well, we found your clothesand we found your wallet, um,
(17:14):
in the bedroom of this apartment, and there's a man in the
bathroom.
And I said what do you mean?
What do you mean?
There's a man in the bathroom.
And I said what do you mean?
What do you mean?
There's a man in the bathroom.
And they said there was a mandead in the bathroom of this
apartment and it was.
It was literally like a bombwent off beside me.
(17:35):
At that point I know I justlike took a huge breath.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
I'm like, oh my god, like I'm just listening to this
story and I, I can't, I can'teven imagine.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
Yeah, yeah, it was.
It was a feeling that I havenever experienced.
When you hear the word chaoslike that, that was that for me.
Like I didn't know what to whatto say, I didn't know how to
react, I couldn't say anything,like it was just my body started
(18:07):
shaking uncontrollably, Istarted bawling, but that was
the point where I turned to, Iturned and started praying, like
immediately, even though Ihadn't had a sincere
relationship with him in this,in this, in that time, um, I
(18:32):
knew that he would still bethere, yeah, so I just started
praying and it was.
It was just God.
God told me what happened so Ican tell them the truth.
God, show me, show me what Idid that night.
Show me what happened so I cantell them the truth.
God, show me, show me what Idid that night.
Show me what happened so we canget this all figured out.
God, forgive me for whatever Idid.
Forgive me for what happened.
God, you know my heart.
(18:53):
You know this isn't somethingthat I would ever intend.
Like they're saying that I beatthis man to death in his
bathroom, and God, you knowthat's not me.
And so I was just at that point,just at a complete, a complete
loss for what to do, what to say.
(19:17):
You know, I didn't know muchabout the law besides what I've
seen in movies.
I've never, never even up tothat point, had never even I'd
been pulled over for speedingbut had never actually gotten a
ticket for speeding.
So I had like no idea at allabout the law At that point.
(19:37):
I asked for an attorney andabout a half hour later the
attorney showed up.
Police officers come back inthe door.
They stand me up, turn mearound, put handcuffs on me and
say Curtis Fry, we're chargingyou, point.
I was just at a complete loss,like it, it wasn't it wasn't me,
(20:11):
whatever.
whatever happened, I didn't knowhow, how to respond to that.
Um, besides just relying on onGod to to get me through.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
So what did you ever get your memory back of it Did?
Did God ever show you that, oryeah, no.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
So I, I prayed and prayed and prayed, Um, I mean,
there's still times that I willstill to this day this happened,
um man, what is this?
What is this?
This happened 16 years ago.
And there's still times that Iwill ask God, God, if it's your
(20:48):
will, would you show me whathappened that night?
And I still, to this day, don'thave any memory from that time
of walking into that firstnightclub till that next morning
.
And I think I think a couple ofthings.
(21:09):
Just, I think that if I, if I,was able to remember that and
see what took place that night,I don't know how I could live
with that you know, and I thinkso.
Maybe it is just a God is isprotecting me from that, from
(21:31):
that memory, Um, whatever didtake place that night, the best
explanation that I have um ofwhat happened is the judge.
So it went through trial.
I spent 15 months in countyjail.
It went to trial.
We did a bench trial, whichmeans there was no jury.
It was just the judge that gotto decide the verdict.
(21:54):
And the judge, after getting inall the evidence, he wrote a
story of what he thinks happened, just based on the evidence
that was presented, and hebelieves that my buddy's house
was 513 Bowery.
The apartment that I went intowas 513 Van Buren, which was
(22:17):
about a half a block away.
My apartment in Wilton was 503,apartment number one, which was
in the front door, downhalf-light of stairs, first
apartment on the right.
This was 513, apartment numberone, in the front door, down a
half-light of stairs, firstapartment on the right.
Okay, I went there thinking itwas my own place.
I didn't have my keys.
(22:38):
I broke open the door.
I didn't have my keys.
I broke open the door Inside.
My wallet was laying on thedresser right next to the bed.
My jeans were taken off at thefoot of the bed.
(22:59):
Like youwen, for whatever reason, was out and about at this 1.30
, 2 o'clock in the morning.
He had on a winter coat andrubber boots over his shoes.
And he thinks that Mr McEwencame in, tried to wake me up, to
let me know I was in the wrongplace, Me thinking I was being
intruded on, grabbed him,punched him multiple times and
(23:21):
then the judge thinks, justbased on other evidence within
the apartment, that I left atthat point and Mr McEwen then
followed me out, shut the doorand went back to the bathroom
where he was trying to take careof himself like a bloody nose.
However, when he and he wasusing the toilet, when he got
(23:44):
back up from the toilet he endedup falling between the toilet
and shower and couldn't get backup from that point and never,
never got back up.
Speaker 1 (23:55):
So that is how old he was.
Was he an older man?
Speaker 2 (23:59):
It was.
Mr McEwen was 75 years old.
And so and he had.
He had different aides thatwould come throughout the week
and check on him, and they saidthat he would fall occasionally
and struggled getting up even innormal circumstances.
(24:19):
So the best way that I haveunderstood this dealt with it in
forgiveness, and I can talkabout this a little bit later.
But had I not made thatdecision to say, god, I don't
need you tonight, I'm going togo and drink, to become drunk,
(24:44):
even though it is very clear inscripture do not drink, become
drunk, do not be a drunkard.
Because I made that choice andI ended up in Mr McEwen's space.
No matter how it happened, heended up dying that night
because of my original choice.
Had I not been in his space, mrMcEwen would not have died that
(25:05):
night.
So after it was about threemonths in jail that I finally
was able to one understand thatand ask for God's forgiveness,
which I had been asking for justabout every night.
(25:25):
God forgive me, god forgive me,god forgive me.
And it wasn't until threemonths that it was finally.
God was like Curtis I forgaveyou the first time you asked,
and I've been standing here withmy arms open saying give your
whole life to me.
And it was at that point thatmy prayer changed from God
forgive me to okay God, I messedup, I sinned and I know that
(25:51):
I'm still going to haveconsequences for that sin, but
I'm in a place that a lot ofpeople can't be.
I'm in a place where I canstill have an impact for you.
So from that point forward, myprayer changed to okay God, here
I am, I'm your servant, send mewhere you want me.
(26:11):
And I would say at that pointwas a point where where my whole
relationship with God, with God, completely changed.
Instead of just believing inGod and trying to do the right
things, trying to live a goodlife, that point became a full
(26:32):
surrender to me, which is, Ithink.
I think a lot of us struggle toget to a point where we fully
surrender every aspect of ourlife to God, like it's not our
own.
We were bought with a price.
That price was Jesus' blood onthe cross and that that point in
(26:57):
my life was a very pivotalpoint for me.
I like to say I wish I couldtake back the night of my 21st
birthday and what happened to MrMcEwen being in prison, that
(27:19):
hardest time that I went through, that darkest dungeon, so to
speak.
I would never give that timeback, because it is through that
that God was able to form meand change me to be a man that
he desired me to be, not a manthat I desired to be, not a man
(27:46):
that I desired to be.
If you're at a point where youdon't feel that you can be
forgiven, I want to challengeyou to just go and read
scripture over and over again.
David, a man after God's ownheart.
How many times did he fall?
He fell into sin with Bathsheba.
Then not only did he do that,but then he had her husband
murdered and the front lines,and yet god still was like you
(28:10):
are a man after my own heart,david, a man after my own heart,
uh, the apostle paul, like.
There are so many examples ofscrewed up people, people in
scripture, and I know that ifGod is willing to call them out
(28:30):
of their sin, god, if you're ata point where you're like, yeah,
but God couldn't, he's not, ifyou're wrestling with that at
all, god is calling you out ofthat.
And so I just want to encourageyou don't think that you have
done anything worse than anyperson in the Bible.
Myself, obviously, I know thatGod has redeemed me and given me
(28:53):
a second chance.
Speaker 1 (28:55):
Is that why you're not afraid to tell your story?
Speaker 2 (28:58):
Absolutely, I think, and actually I don't even call
it my story, it is God's story.
Through my life and even whileI was in, while I was in jail, I
was like okay, God, I do notwant this to be wasted.
Speaker 1 (29:15):
This time.
Speaker 2 (29:16):
I'm spending.
Not a single second of it iswasted time.
So whatever opportunity yougive me to speak your name, I'm
going to walk through that door,I'm going to share, whether
it's one person or 500 people.
And God has continued to openthe door.
And I think that we are called,we are called as believers, to
(29:42):
give an answer for the hope thatwe have in Christ.
I forget exactly that scripturereference.
But what is that hope that wehave?
And that hope is the fact thatwe have been redeemed by Jesus'
blood and we have that hope ofeternal life, being able to
spend with him for eternity.
And so that is, I think, thatGod is very clear about.
(30:04):
Like your life is not your own,and you need to be ready to
give a reason for the hope thatyou have.
Speaker 1 (30:15):
That's good.
How long were you in jail andprison?
Or I'm just going to lump itinto one how long?
Speaker 2 (30:23):
Yeah, so 15 months in county jail and then two and a
half years in prison.
So you kind of ask about likeconsequences.
What were the consequences,possibly?
And so the second degree murder.
It actually carries a 50 yearsentence with a 35 year
mandatory, and that is what Iwas facing walking in and the
(30:52):
judge ended up dropping it downto a 10-year manslaughter charge
, which doesn't have a mandatory.
So in Iowa prisons areoverpopulated.
It got cut in half and so I hada five-year sentence.
So I spent basically four and ahalf years of that in jail,
prison and in a halfway house.
Speaker 1 (31:08):
And did you?
I'm sure that's a story initself.
I don't think we can get tothat today, but maybe another
time.
But can you briefly say like,were you able to use that time
and talk to people that most ofus will never talk to?
Speaker 2 (31:35):
one story.
There's a guy that I got alongwith really good.
I met.
We came into Fort Dodge prisonat about the same time and we
seemed to hit it off.
We played sports together inprison.
You can play sports so we liftedweights, played sports together
, and I would go to the churchservice on Monday nights and say
, hey, you want to, you want tocome along?
No, come on, fry, you know me.
You know I don't do that Godthing and I just go about my
(31:57):
normal routine.
And then about once a month Iwould ask him hey, you want to
come with I'm going.
No, come on, man, you know me.
Well, I got transferred toRockwell City.
About three weeks later he gottransferred to Rockwell City and
he walked in that first timeand he saw me standing out there
(32:20):
when he came in and kind of thenormal thing to do was walk
around the whole facility on theone path that goes around the
whole thing and just kind ofcatch up if someone, one of your
buddies, comes, comes.
And we didn't even get a quarterof the way around and he said,
curtis, I bet this is my, thisis my third time in prison and
(32:46):
something needs to change and Iknow that I need what you have
and I know what that is andthat's God he said.
So I want you to start helpingme understand what this whole
God thing is and I want you, Iwant to go to church and I want
(33:07):
to learn about this, and so wedid.
We talked about it.
I was able to.
We were able to have littleBible studies.
We had a church that came infrom the outside it just so
happened that it was from hishometown that he grew up in came
in to put on a worship service,and that night Adam gave his
(33:29):
life to Christ, that night inthe worship service, and so it
was just a good example of beingable to just walk out and just
live who Christ was.
Even if people don't want tohear, at some point you have an
impact on them, whether theywant to hear it or not.
And Adam didn't want to hear itfor the longest time, but, um,
(33:53):
eventually God got his heart.
So oh, that's so beautiful, yeahthere's quite a lot of stories,
of different stories like that,um and not only not only for me
, but um a couple of the otherguys in there that was able to
to witness too.
Speaker 1 (34:10):
So I love We'll have to have you back on.
I see you have a choicest-shirt on.
Is that?
What is that?
Yes?
Speaker 2 (34:18):
choices.
So actually before I, while Iwas still in jail, even youth
pastors had asked my dad if hewould come and speak at at youth
, at their youth group, and justtalk about the choice that I
made that night, and so my momactually came up with this
(34:39):
acronym, so CHOICES stands forChoosing Him Over.
I Changes Every Situation andit is just a constant reminder.
When I go and speak, I hand outbracelets that have choices on
them, and it's just thatconstant reminder that every
choice we make can have a hugeimpact, either negative or
positive, and so the choicesyou're making are they having a
(35:02):
positive impact, or do you maybeneed to think about changing
some of those choices you'remaking?
Speaker 1 (35:08):
Right.
Oh, my goodness, my goodness,curtis, this has been truly
amazing.
I've written down so many notesof things that really just
touched my heart, and a coupleof things were just small
decisions, like you said.
Like a small decision and thenyou kind of, and then all of a
sudden you're somewhere.
You don't want to be or neverthought you would be or intended
to be, and I think that'sreally, that's really powerful.
Speaker 2 (35:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (35:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (35:33):
It is a.
It's a constant um.
It's a constant likesurrendering, like my life is
not my own Um.
So what I am doing today is itglorifying God, and I think it's
just having that constant viewof who we're living for.
And if you don't have thatconstant view, that constant
(35:56):
reminder, you can easily getsidetracked and start choosing
some things that are againstwhat God would desire you to do.
Speaker 1 (36:05):
Yeah, well, we have just like a minute and a half
left.
I like to end my mind with acouple questions, but I think
I'm just going to pick one foryou.
What are you grateful for?
Speaker 2 (36:17):
What am I grateful for?
Well, first of all, I amgrateful for the sacrifice of
Jesus on the cross, because ifthat did not take place, I
wouldn't be able to sit here infront of you today and be the
man that I am.
So that, first of all, is firstand foremost and two, just
(36:42):
going through what I wentthrough it made me really
appreciate the things that arein my life, because everything
got taken away for a while.
I didn't have those my familybeside me, I didn't have my
friends to do life with.
So I really going through thatallowed me to not to understand
(37:03):
that friendships, family, arenot something to just take for
granted.
So I'm very thankful that Godwas able to teach me that as
well.
Speaker 1 (37:15):
Oh, thank you, Curtis .
Curtis, thanks for everybodyfor listening and remember that
your story is his glory, kind ofjust like you said, curtis amen
, amen absolutely.
Popular Podcasts
Monster: BTK
'Monster: BTK', the newest installment in the 'Monster' franchise, reveals the true story of the Wichita, Kansas serial killer who murdered at least 10 people between 1974 and 1991. Known by the moniker, BTK – Bind Torture Kill, his notoriety was bolstered by the taunting letters he sent to police, and the chilling phone calls he made to media outlets. BTK's identity was finally revealed in 2005 to the shock of his family, his community, and the world. He was the serial killer next door. From Tenderfoot TV & iHeartPodcasts, this is 'Monster: BTK'.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations.