April 8, 2025 • 20 mins
James started down a dark path at a young age, but when Christmas of 1987 came around God gave him a serious wake up call. James woke to find his kids running into the living room where the Christmas tree was only to realize that there were no presents for them under the tree because their dad had spent all his money on drugs instead. This shocked James into the realization that drugs had overtaken his life, and he got clean for good. But as James cleaned up his life from drugs there was another, deeper darkness that began to take up residence in his heart and life instead of drugs, and that darkness led James down a path that ended up with a longer than life sentence in prison, a hopeless end for the rest of his life...unless God stepped in.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Phil Shuler (00:00):
HellO, and welcome to Renew, Restore, Rejoice, the
(00:03):
Safe House Ministries podcast,where we share stories of the
power of God to change livesthrough Safe House Ministries.
Safe House Ministries is basedout of Columbus, Georgia, and we
are a ministry that exists tolove and serve people who have
been affected by addiction,homelessness, and incarceration.
I'm your host, Phil Shuler, theDirector of Development for Safe
House Ministries here inColumbus, Georgia.
(00:24):
Safe House serves over 1, 100people each month as they
transition back into ourcommunity.
Safe House provides an abundanceof services including 213 beds
for homeless individuals andfamilies, case management for
obtaining job skills and longterm employment.
Over 300 hot meals every day,free clothing, and so much more.
One of the most incredibleservices that Safe House
(00:45):
provides is our free 9 12 monthintensive outpatient substance
abuse program, which is statelicensed, CARF accredited, and
has no wait list.
Almost 100 percent ofindividuals staying in our
shelters who follow our threephase program become fully
employed within a few months.
And 68 percent of individualswho stay at least one night with
us End up finding work andmoving into their own home.
(01:07):
Thank you for being with ustoday and listening to our
podcast.
We hope you enjoy this week'sepisode.
welcome to today's podcastepisode.
I have got someone very specialwith me today.
James Sanders and one of myfriends who I work with, Mike
Krug was hesitant at first togive me James's number because
he said, James.
(01:27):
Knows too many stories about methat he could tell.
And I said, that is absolutelythe best reason that we need to
get him on the podcast.
So I'm glad you're here, James.
Um, It's a great day.
The day that the Lord has made.
And I just I, it brings me joyto see you sitting here and the
smile on your face.
And I know God's got greatthings for today.
James (01:50):
Absolutely.
James.
Quick question to kick off.
If you had to pick one word thatmight best describe you, what
would that word be?
Amen.
That is a good word.
And what do you mean when yousay that?
Due to the fact of what I've been through, where I've
been there's no other answer
Phil (02:11):
yeah.
James (02:11):
I wake up every day.
There's no answer.
Amen.
God is good.
Yeah,
absolutely.
That's awesome.
Blessed that
people ask me, they say how are you?
I said, bless me on all measure.
It's true.
It's true.
Sometimes we don't receive thatin our hearts, but that is the
reality.
Know
it.
Yeah.
Know it.
Know that you are.
Amen.
(02:32):
Awesome.
We'll wait for the Mike storiestill later, but for now why
don't you just share where yougrew up and how you grew up and
what your early home life waslike?
I'm actually from Northwest Georgia.
I was born and raised in theAppalachian Mountains.
Wow.
In Bartow County, yeah.
That's awesome.
We actually had outhouses when Iwas growing up.
(02:54):
Wow.
Grew up, really poor.
Yeah.
Really poor.
Strict household, very strict.
Everybody had chores.
You had things you had to do.
Certain things had to be donebefore this time.
And then this had to be donebefore that time.
That's just
Yeah.
Was it a farm or yeah?
Pretty much.
Wow.
Pretty much.
Okay.
How'd you like that?
(03:14):
Or did you not like that?
I look back on it now and I miss it, to be honest with
you, the simplicity of life backthen.
Yeah.
There was not like it is today.
It's just, there's really nocomparison today.
Everybody's so self centered,self, so worried about their
self,
yeah.
Back then, everybody cared about everybody and
everybody looked out foreverybody.
That's fascinating.
(03:35):
And it's interesting that yousay that because.
The other difference that I seethat maybe is related is just
the busyness of our life.
Like we're filling our liveswith so much stuff and it
doesn't give us the bandwidth toreally still care about people
like we should.
Because we're too busy.
I don't need to think aboutthat.
I'm too busy with all this stuffthat, most of the time really
(03:57):
doesn't matter.
You could actually pass your cousin on the street and
never even know it.
Wow.
You ain't been to a familyreunion, you ain't been to a
family gathering in so manyyears.
We've
Phil (04:08):
lost a
lot.
We really have lost a lot.
James (04:10):
We've lost it all.
I wonder sometimes, in the nameof progress and all the busyness
and economic growth and all thepush for better things, are we
really, do we really have abetter life than people used to
have hundreds of years ago orthousands of years ago, when
life was simpler?
My opinion though.
Yeah,
I think you're, I think you'reright in the end.
(04:30):
We live and die and we either goto heaven or hell.
Eternity is what really matters.
Back then we had unity, we had family, we had
everything.
It's like they say now, mostpeople don't even know who
they're second cousins are.
Most people don't even know whotheir great uncles are.
It's, and that's sad.
Yeah, that's really sad.
We've lost
a lot of our heritage.
(04:51):
Exactly.
Yeah.
Wow.
So growing up on the farm withthe outhouse and the mountains
tell us, talk to us as you grewup, came into teenage years.
Were you a good kid?
Were you, did you always buckagainst your parents or?
I actually 15 because the, One thing was, we were
poor, and they require you todress out for P.
(05:13):
E.
when I was going to school.
mixed (05:14):
Yeah.
James (05:14):
My daddy would tell them, if you supply me with the shorts
and the tops and all you wanthim to wear, I'll see that he
wears them.
But, I'm not gonna allow him tocut off a pair of his pants to
make a pair of shorts to wear toP.
E., as you call dress out.
Oh, no, we can't do that.
You've got to provide all that,it was all we could do to
provide food to eat.
(05:36):
And I I guess I, you would saystarted bucking against the
system
Phil (05:46):
at school
James (05:47):
at a really young age and was catching so much flack and I
was picked on a lot because wewere poor, I was bullied.
Is that because
of maybe the way you looked anddressed or?
Exactly.
Yeah.
Exactly why.
Because you wear hand me downclothes, you wear hand me down
shoes, and they was wore out bythe time you got them, but I
(06:07):
wound up getting in a lot oftrouble, and I turned 15 years
old, and they was like, don'teven worry about coming back to
school.
Wow.
Wow.
So what grade were you in atthat point?
I had failed the 7th grade three times and 8th grade
twice.
Wow.
Wow.
So you were still at the 8thgrade level there.
Wow.
Okay.
What would you do from there?
(06:29):
Pretty much Mom and Dad got a divorce on their 20th
wedding anniversary.
Is that right around the sametime?
Or was that a couple yearslater?
It was before then.
I had just turned 11, I think,when Mom and Dad got a divorce.
It was Me, my daddy, and mylittle brother.
Daddy had got custody of me andmy little brother.
After him, my mama got adivorce, and he was a single
parent.
(06:49):
That's another reason I fell bythe wayside, as you would say.
But they just finally tolddaddy, he ain't got to come
back.
Wow.
Okay.
What was next?
That's a big hit.
Honestly, shortly after that, I left home.
And got with my two oldest kids,his mother.
My oldest daughter was born onemonth after I turned 17 years
(07:12):
old.
Wow.
And I had got in with her daddoing HVAC work.
So you were living with them?
Pretty much.
We had moved to Tennessee withher dad and her mom and all of
them.
They moved to Tennessee and meand her went up there and was
living with them.
And that didn't last very long.
I was back in Georgia and Istarted smoking marijuana at a
(07:32):
very young age and that just ledto other stuff.
The harder stuff.
I wind up.
Around 17, just starting, yeah.
I fell off really hard.
Oh man, like you just, all kindsof stuff?
I've actually done every drug known to man except heroin.
Wow.
(07:53):
Every one of them.
Abused it.
So those were your later teenageyears, 17, And, I wouldn't work
for nothing but drug money.
That's basically all I did.
So selling or just doingwhatever kind of things that
they needed to be done?
Whatever I could do.
It's basically the life of adrug addict.
(08:14):
Wow.
Wow.
How many years did that go on?
All the way up until 1987.
Christmas morning and night.
Wait,
wow, so you so from 17 till howold were you?
When you that
I'll do the math.
I was born in 65.
1987, how old would that be?
22 maybe?
I was around 22
or 23.
So if you were born in 65, yeah,okay.
So from Starting in 16, 17, justgoing up through there.
(08:37):
So where were you were justliving wherever with your drug
buddies or?
Basically,
yeah.
A lot of criminal activityduring those days?
A
lot, lots of criminal activity.
Wow.
But my tool less kid's mother,she come back to Georgia after
she found out she was pregnantwith Harold's daughter.
And this is the girl, not thegirl that was in Tennessee or
yes, this is the girl that wasin Tennessee.
(08:59):
Okay.
Tennessee.
She moved back to Georgia.
She was up there with herparents.
She moved back to Georgia andshe would work and she was
supporting us and I was spendingwhat money, our bill money,
everything on drugs.
I was, it was really bad.
It was really sad.
I look back on it now and wow,it's.
So you had little kids, she wastrying to keep things afloat.
(09:21):
Exactly.
Exactly.
Trying her best.
Working herself to the bone totry to provide for her daughter
coming up, which like I said,was born one month after I
turned 17.
Wow.
What were some of the darkest,craziest things that happened
during that time?
I When I would be without drugs, at one point in time, I
(09:43):
destroyed everything we owned.
Wow.
If it was breakable, I destroyedit.
Just just in a rage?
Cause you were mad and upset?
Exactly.
Exactly.
Like a withdrawal kind of time?
Just trying to find
Exactly.
I'm just lashing out.
Wow.
Lashing out due to the fact thatI had failed at everything.
Was she in the midst of drugs onher own as well, or was she?
(10:05):
No,
This girl was a saint.
Wow.
A saint.
Wow.
I almost destroyed a saint.
Oh.
I was mean to her physically,mentally, emotionally.
Abuse it physically, mentally,emotionally.
She stayed with you And she
tried.
She really tried.
She really tried.
What, when did she have enough?
Was there a point when she justhad enough?
(10:26):
And what happened with that?
After a while, she had an affair with my brother because I
would leave Friday afternoon,when I did go to work, in that
little span of time, I wouldleave on Friday and wouldn't
come back till Sunday eveningsometimes.
I would spend all the money Ihad that I had made for nothing.
(10:47):
And in that process, I blame iton myself, the simple fact of
what happened between her and mybrother because if I'd have been
there, none of that would haveever happened.
Never happened.
But um, the the good and thebright side of it is, I had her,
me and her split up, and I wouldget my kids through the
summertime and she would getthem through the wintertime, but
Christmas morning in 1987, Iwoke up and I had to look at my
(11:10):
kids because I had spent theirChristmas money on that one.
On drugs.
Wow and Christmas morning 1987,I never touched him again.
Wow.
That was the, That was the timethat like, I like to, I like to
think of it as like the prodigalson moment, like where the Bible
talks about he's sitting therein a pig trough eating out of
the slop.
Exactly.
And all of a sudden, I think theway it says it is, he finally
(11:32):
came to himself.
Exactly.
He's what am I doing?
You had that,
wait a minute, what's up mama?
What am I doing?
Wow.
How old were your kids thatmorning?
Oh, that's hard to say.
I can't exactly remember to behonest with you.
They're young though, and youwere maybe around
22, 23.
22,
23, somewhere
in there.
And so that was your wake upcall.
(11:52):
Exactly.
And I told my kids, I said Ididn't have nothing to give
nobody for Christmas.
So I told my kids, I give youyour daddy back for Christmas.
Wow.
Were they old enough?
Did that mean much to them orwere they so young they didn't?
Now it does because they think back on it.
And I told my daddy, I said, Igive you your son back.
(12:13):
Wow.
And sisters, I said, I give youyour brother back.
Wow.
That's powerful, man.
So was it all great and uphillfrom there or I'm imagining
maybe it wasn't or was it?
Pretty much.
I mean everything for a whilewas good.
Me and her wound up, we nevergot back together.
I apologized to her.
(12:33):
Acknowledged the damage that Ihad done.
To, not only to her, but to myfamily, to my kids.
Yeah.
That's something you gotta do.
You've got to admit.
Phil (12:43):
You've
James (12:43):
got to confess that you know, because you can't repent,
you've got to repent oneverything.
Not just to God, but to peoplehere on earth, you've got to be
remorseful for it.
You've got to repent even to theflesh and blood man.
You've got to be sorry for it
mixed (12:59):
and
James (12:59):
you can't go back and do it again.
If you truly repent, you're notgoing to repeat yourself.
So
Were you a Christian at thatpoint, or like when did you come
to know Christ?
Was that later in your life?
I knew there was
God in heaven and fire in hell.
Okay.
But you hadn't had a personalrelationship with Jesus at that
point, okay.
No.
He ain't showed me His power andHis might.
He had, but I hadn't had it.
(13:21):
You didn't
see it.
Exactly.
Okay.
He
had showed me because He said, I take you back.
Yeah.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Things are going pretty well.
So what did you start, what didyou do as you started to try to
put your life back together?
Like I said, I tried to make amends for the wrong that I
had done, the people I had hurtthen.
And we always backslide, wealways do it.
But believe it or not, never waswith drugs.
(13:43):
Never was with drugs, but withthe old me coming back, I People
used to call me Jim.
I don't let nobody call me Jimno more.
Because that reminds you of theold
That's the old, that's the old person.
That person don't exist no more.
Not no more.
I can't let that Jim back out.
Amen.
But everything got good.
I started working full time,trying to get my life together,
(14:05):
trying to get my act together.
And, I was a womanizer.
Ah,
so you were the, it wasn't thedrugs, but it was.
The behavior with women, thedarkness of immorality in that
way.
Exactly.
You may think you're doing goodand you give up one thing, but
you've got to be real carefulnot to replace it with something
else.
Yeah.
That reminds me of when Jesustaught the lesson of the one who
(14:29):
had demons, one demon insidehim, and they cast out the demon
by what Jesus talks about,sweeping it out, keeping it
clean.
And then.
Because there was nothing elsegood that came in seven more
demons came in and just
it will
that's a truth That's a truthman.
That's that you That emptinesssomething will fill it.
You ain't careful.
Yeah, you don't keep your eye onthe prize So what
(14:53):
started happening?
What was that?
Like what?
Like I said, I started womanizing was I Got with my
what I'm gonna call my secondsignificant other and She was on
drugs and what I feel like wasthe good point in that is I got
her off the drugs.
I told her, you got to quitthat.
(15:13):
You got to stop that.
You can't, I can't be that.
I can't go back to that.
I'm, I done beat that battle.
Now I'm trying to beat thisother battle.
But me and her wind up splittingup.
It didn't last long between meand her.
Then I started seeing my seconddaughter's mother.
And, uh, the old Jim startedcoming back out.
I started verbally abusing,emotionally abuse.
(15:38):
Me and her had a daughtertogether, which is my youngest
daughter.
She turns uh, 32, May the 10th,I think 32, I'm not sure.
Wow.
She was born in 93, but the samecycle started to try to repeat
itself.
mixed (15:53):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
The root problem, not the drugs,but the root problems that were
in your heart were still there.
James (15:59):
Exactly.
I didn't cleanse my soul.
I should have cleansedeverything out, but I didn't,
you got to be real careful withthe devil.
You got to be real carefulbecause he will trick you.
He talked angels out of heaven.
So don't think he ain't gotpower.
Yeah.
He's an angel of light.
He's a deceiver and a crafty.
(16:20):
Yeah.
That
he is,
but I had got with my youngest daughter's mother and I
was making very good moneybecause me and my brother had
went into business together andwe was building houses and I was
making good money.
I had went in from work and shedrank and she smoked marijuana,
but I didn't, to me that wasn'tthat bad.
At least it's not a chemicaldrug, at least they're not.
(16:43):
Puttin it in the needle andputtin it in your arm.
mixed (16:45):
Yeah.
James (16:45):
But that's what I was doin back when I was doin drugs.
But I went in from work one day,and our youngest daughter, which
was Jamie, three years old atthe time, was gone.
I went through the house.
She's nowhere to be found.
About 45 minutes or an hourlater, I found her at the
neighbor's house.
And I asked the neighbor, Howlong has she been there?
And they said she's been thereabout an hour.
(17:05):
Her mother never had a clue shehad ever left the house.
Me and her had a situation aboutthat.
And that kind of blew over.
And not, two weeks later, I wentin to work.
Went, got home from work again.
Same thing.
My daughter is nowhere in thehouse neighbor called me over,
he said She's been here about 45minutes.
Said ain't nobody look for her,ain't nothing.
(17:28):
I went to the house and I toldMy youngest daughter's mother, I
said she had two kids, I said, Imay not can do nothing about
those two.
She was little at the time?
She was three.
Okay.
My youngest daughter was three.
Wow.
Excuse me.
I said, I may not can do nothingabout them two, but, it's over
between me and you.
And I'm gonna fight you toothand nail for that one right
there because you know whatyou've done, you ain't paying no
(17:49):
attention to her, you're lettingthat weed and that beer and all
that.
Take precedence over youwatching out for your kids.
She wouldn't clean the house.
She wouldn't cook.
She wouldn't do nothing.
But um Wednesday after that, mylife ended as I knew it.
Oh, wow long story short, April2nd, they arrested me for a sex
offense.
(18:09):
Something that was from back
No, something that she alleged happened.
Between me and her.
Okay.
And, when I went to trial, Iwound up getting a hundred and
forty years.
Wow.
That's what the judge sentencedme to serve.
A hundred and forty years.
Wow.
To serve.
And that is the end of part oneof James's story.
(18:31):
And in this story, there are somany lessons to learn it's
amazing the wake up call thatGod gave him that morning.
He said, I think it was 1987when he got up to be with his
kids on Christmas morning and.
They didn't have any presencebecause he had spent all the
money on drugs.
(18:52):
How great that that shook him tothe core so that he dumped the
habit of drugs and he got cleanfrom his addiction.
unfortunately that didn't solveall his problems because there
was still A root of darkness andsin in his heart that led to so
many other issues, which is howhe ended up in prison.
(19:15):
And next week, on the secondpart of this story, you'll hear
just how life changing that, 22years of prison was for James.
And you'll hear the miracle ofwhat God did to somehow.
Allow James to not have to servethe 140 years that he was
(19:38):
sentenced.
It's an amazing story and you'regonna love the next part, but I
encourage you to take some timeto, to think back on and reflect
on some of the things that Jamessaid, the ideas and the lessons,
and just the truths that are soevident in his story.
Thanks for listening with us,and we look forward to being
(19:58):
back with you again next week.
God bless you.
Phil Shuler (20:01):
We look forward to being with you again next week
as we share another testimonyabout the power and the goodness
of God to change lives throughSafe House Ministries.
if you are someone listening tothis podcast that loves to hear
these stories of the greatthings that God is doing in
changing people's lives for thebetter, and if you would like to
be a part of that work, pleasereach out to us You can reach us
(20:24):
at 2101 Hamilton Road, Columbus,Georgia, 31,904.
You can call us at seven oh sixthree two two.
3 7, 7 3, or you can email us atinfo@safehouse-ministries.com.
Microphone (Samson Q2U Mi (20:39):
Thank you so much for being with us
this week for the renew restoreand rejoice podcast of safe
house ministries, we pray thatGod will bless you this week.
And we look forward to havingyou back with us again next week
for a new episode.
HellO, and welcome to Renew, Restore, Rejoice, the
(00:03):
Safe House Ministries podcast,where we share stories of the
power of God to change livesthrough Safe House Ministries.
Safe House Ministries is basedout of Columbus, Georgia, and we
are a ministry that exists tolove and serve people who have
been affected by addiction,homelessness, and incarceration.
I'm your host, Phil Shuler, theDirector of Development for Safe
House Ministries here inColumbus, Georgia.
(00:24):
Safe House serves over 1, 100people each month as they
transition back into ourcommunity.
Safe House provides an abundanceof services including 213 beds
for homeless individuals andfamilies, case management for
obtaining job skills and longterm employment.
Over 300 hot meals every day,free clothing, and so much more.
One of the most incredibleservices that Safe House
(00:45):
provides is our free 9 12 monthintensive outpatient substance
abuse program, which is statelicensed, CARF accredited, and
has no wait list.
Almost 100 percent ofindividuals staying in our
shelters who follow our threephase program become fully
employed within a few months.
And 68 percent of individualswho stay at least one night with
us End up finding work andmoving into their own home.
(01:07):
Thank you for being with ustoday and listening to our
podcast.
We hope you enjoy this week'sepisode.
welcome to today's podcastepisode.
I have got someone very specialwith me today.
James Sanders and one of myfriends who I work with, Mike
Krug was hesitant at first togive me James's number because
he said, James.
(01:27):
Knows too many stories about methat he could tell.
And I said, that is absolutelythe best reason that we need to
get him on the podcast.
So I'm glad you're here, James.
Um, It's a great day.
The day that the Lord has made.
And I just I, it brings me joyto see you sitting here and the
smile on your face.
And I know God's got greatthings for today.
James (01:50):
Absolutely.
James.
Quick question to kick off.
If you had to pick one word thatmight best describe you, what
would that word be?
Amen.
That is a good word.
And what do you mean when yousay that?
Due to the fact of what I've been through, where I've
been there's no other answer
Phil (02:11):
yeah.
James (02:11):
I wake up every day.
There's no answer.
Amen.
God is good.
Yeah,
absolutely.
That's awesome.
Blessed that
people ask me, they say how are you?
I said, bless me on all measure.
It's true.
It's true.
Sometimes we don't receive thatin our hearts, but that is the
reality.
Know
it.
Yeah.
Know it.
Know that you are.
Amen.
(02:32):
Awesome.
We'll wait for the Mike storiestill later, but for now why
don't you just share where yougrew up and how you grew up and
what your early home life waslike?
I'm actually from Northwest Georgia.
I was born and raised in theAppalachian Mountains.
Wow.
In Bartow County, yeah.
That's awesome.
We actually had outhouses when Iwas growing up.
(02:54):
Wow.
Grew up, really poor.
Yeah.
Really poor.
Strict household, very strict.
Everybody had chores.
You had things you had to do.
Certain things had to be donebefore this time.
And then this had to be donebefore that time.
That's just
Yeah.
Was it a farm or yeah?
Pretty much.
Wow.
Pretty much.
Okay.
How'd you like that?
(03:14):
Or did you not like that?
I look back on it now and I miss it, to be honest with
you, the simplicity of life backthen.
Yeah.
There was not like it is today.
It's just, there's really nocomparison today.
Everybody's so self centered,self, so worried about their
self,
yeah.
Back then, everybody cared about everybody and
everybody looked out foreverybody.
That's fascinating.
(03:35):
And it's interesting that yousay that because.
The other difference that I seethat maybe is related is just
the busyness of our life.
Like we're filling our liveswith so much stuff and it
doesn't give us the bandwidth toreally still care about people
like we should.
Because we're too busy.
I don't need to think aboutthat.
I'm too busy with all this stuffthat, most of the time really
(03:57):
doesn't matter.
You could actually pass your cousin on the street and
never even know it.
Wow.
You ain't been to a familyreunion, you ain't been to a
family gathering in so manyyears.
We've
Phil (04:08):
lost a
lot.
We really have lost a lot.
James (04:10):
We've lost it all.
I wonder sometimes, in the nameof progress and all the busyness
and economic growth and all thepush for better things, are we
really, do we really have abetter life than people used to
have hundreds of years ago orthousands of years ago, when
life was simpler?
My opinion though.
Yeah,
I think you're, I think you'reright in the end.
(04:30):
We live and die and we either goto heaven or hell.
Eternity is what really matters.
Back then we had unity, we had family, we had
everything.
It's like they say now, mostpeople don't even know who
they're second cousins are.
Most people don't even know whotheir great uncles are.
It's, and that's sad.
Yeah, that's really sad.
We've lost
a lot of our heritage.
(04:51):
Exactly.
Yeah.
Wow.
So growing up on the farm withthe outhouse and the mountains
tell us, talk to us as you grewup, came into teenage years.
Were you a good kid?
Were you, did you always buckagainst your parents or?
I actually 15 because the, One thing was, we were
poor, and they require you todress out for P.
(05:13):
E.
when I was going to school.
mixed (05:14):
Yeah.
James (05:14):
My daddy would tell them, if you supply me with the shorts
and the tops and all you wanthim to wear, I'll see that he
wears them.
But, I'm not gonna allow him tocut off a pair of his pants to
make a pair of shorts to wear toP.
E., as you call dress out.
Oh, no, we can't do that.
You've got to provide all that,it was all we could do to
provide food to eat.
(05:36):
And I I guess I, you would saystarted bucking against the
system
Phil (05:46):
at school
James (05:47):
at a really young age and was catching so much flack and I
was picked on a lot because wewere poor, I was bullied.
Is that because
of maybe the way you looked anddressed or?
Exactly.
Yeah.
Exactly why.
Because you wear hand me downclothes, you wear hand me down
shoes, and they was wore out bythe time you got them, but I
(06:07):
wound up getting in a lot oftrouble, and I turned 15 years
old, and they was like, don'teven worry about coming back to
school.
Wow.
Wow.
So what grade were you in atthat point?
I had failed the 7th grade three times and 8th grade
twice.
Wow.
Wow.
So you were still at the 8thgrade level there.
Wow.
Okay.
What would you do from there?
(06:29):
Pretty much Mom and Dad got a divorce on their 20th
wedding anniversary.
Is that right around the sametime?
Or was that a couple yearslater?
It was before then.
I had just turned 11, I think,when Mom and Dad got a divorce.
It was Me, my daddy, and mylittle brother.
Daddy had got custody of me andmy little brother.
After him, my mama got adivorce, and he was a single
parent.
(06:49):
That's another reason I fell bythe wayside, as you would say.
But they just finally tolddaddy, he ain't got to come
back.
Wow.
Okay.
What was next?
That's a big hit.
Honestly, shortly after that, I left home.
And got with my two oldest kids,his mother.
My oldest daughter was born onemonth after I turned 17 years
(07:12):
old.
Wow.
And I had got in with her daddoing HVAC work.
So you were living with them?
Pretty much.
We had moved to Tennessee withher dad and her mom and all of
them.
They moved to Tennessee and meand her went up there and was
living with them.
And that didn't last very long.
I was back in Georgia and Istarted smoking marijuana at a
(07:32):
very young age and that just ledto other stuff.
The harder stuff.
I wind up.
Around 17, just starting, yeah.
I fell off really hard.
Oh man, like you just, all kindsof stuff?
I've actually done every drug known to man except heroin.
Wow.
(07:53):
Every one of them.
Abused it.
So those were your later teenageyears, 17, And, I wouldn't work
for nothing but drug money.
That's basically all I did.
So selling or just doingwhatever kind of things that
they needed to be done?
Whatever I could do.
It's basically the life of adrug addict.
(08:14):
Wow.
Wow.
How many years did that go on?
All the way up until 1987.
Christmas morning and night.
Wait,
wow, so you so from 17 till howold were you?
When you that
I'll do the math.
I was born in 65.
1987, how old would that be?
22 maybe?
I was around 22
or 23.
So if you were born in 65, yeah,okay.
So from Starting in 16, 17, justgoing up through there.
(08:37):
So where were you were justliving wherever with your drug
buddies or?
Basically,
yeah.
A lot of criminal activityduring those days?
A
lot, lots of criminal activity.
Wow.
But my tool less kid's mother,she come back to Georgia after
she found out she was pregnantwith Harold's daughter.
And this is the girl, not thegirl that was in Tennessee or
yes, this is the girl that wasin Tennessee.
(08:59):
Okay.
Tennessee.
She moved back to Georgia.
She was up there with herparents.
She moved back to Georgia andshe would work and she was
supporting us and I was spendingwhat money, our bill money,
everything on drugs.
I was, it was really bad.
It was really sad.
I look back on it now and wow,it's.
So you had little kids, she wastrying to keep things afloat.
(09:21):
Exactly.
Exactly.
Trying her best.
Working herself to the bone totry to provide for her daughter
coming up, which like I said,was born one month after I
turned 17.
Wow.
What were some of the darkest,craziest things that happened
during that time?
I When I would be without drugs, at one point in time, I
(09:43):
destroyed everything we owned.
Wow.
If it was breakable, I destroyedit.
Just just in a rage?
Cause you were mad and upset?
Exactly.
Exactly.
Like a withdrawal kind of time?
Just trying to find
Exactly.
I'm just lashing out.
Wow.
Lashing out due to the fact thatI had failed at everything.
Was she in the midst of drugs onher own as well, or was she?
(10:05):
No,
This girl was a saint.
Wow.
A saint.
Wow.
I almost destroyed a saint.
Oh.
I was mean to her physically,mentally, emotionally.
Abuse it physically, mentally,emotionally.
She stayed with you And she
tried.
She really tried.
She really tried.
What, when did she have enough?
Was there a point when she justhad enough?
(10:26):
And what happened with that?
After a while, she had an affair with my brother because I
would leave Friday afternoon,when I did go to work, in that
little span of time, I wouldleave on Friday and wouldn't
come back till Sunday eveningsometimes.
I would spend all the money Ihad that I had made for nothing.
(10:47):
And in that process, I blame iton myself, the simple fact of
what happened between her and mybrother because if I'd have been
there, none of that would haveever happened.
Never happened.
But um, the the good and thebright side of it is, I had her,
me and her split up, and I wouldget my kids through the
summertime and she would getthem through the wintertime, but
Christmas morning in 1987, Iwoke up and I had to look at my
(11:10):
kids because I had spent theirChristmas money on that one.
On drugs.
Wow and Christmas morning 1987,I never touched him again.
Wow.
That was the, That was the timethat like, I like to, I like to
think of it as like the prodigalson moment, like where the Bible
talks about he's sitting therein a pig trough eating out of
the slop.
Exactly.
And all of a sudden, I think theway it says it is, he finally
(11:32):
came to himself.
Exactly.
He's what am I doing?
You had that,
wait a minute, what's up mama?
What am I doing?
Wow.
How old were your kids thatmorning?
Oh, that's hard to say.
I can't exactly remember to behonest with you.
They're young though, and youwere maybe around
22, 23.
22,
23, somewhere
in there.
And so that was your wake upcall.
(11:52):
Exactly.
And I told my kids, I said Ididn't have nothing to give
nobody for Christmas.
So I told my kids, I give youyour daddy back for Christmas.
Wow.
Were they old enough?
Did that mean much to them orwere they so young they didn't?
Now it does because they think back on it.
And I told my daddy, I said, Igive you your son back.
(12:13):
Wow.
And sisters, I said, I give youyour brother back.
Wow.
That's powerful, man.
So was it all great and uphillfrom there or I'm imagining
maybe it wasn't or was it?
Pretty much.
I mean everything for a whilewas good.
Me and her wound up, we nevergot back together.
I apologized to her.
(12:33):
Acknowledged the damage that Ihad done.
To, not only to her, but to myfamily, to my kids.
Yeah.
That's something you gotta do.
You've got to admit.
Phil (12:43):
You've
James (12:43):
got to confess that you know, because you can't repent,
you've got to repent oneverything.
Not just to God, but to peoplehere on earth, you've got to be
remorseful for it.
You've got to repent even to theflesh and blood man.
You've got to be sorry for it
mixed (12:59):
and
James (12:59):
you can't go back and do it again.
If you truly repent, you're notgoing to repeat yourself.
So
Were you a Christian at thatpoint, or like when did you come
to know Christ?
Was that later in your life?
I knew there was
God in heaven and fire in hell.
Okay.
But you hadn't had a personalrelationship with Jesus at that
point, okay.
No.
He ain't showed me His power andHis might.
He had, but I hadn't had it.
(13:21):
You didn't
see it.
Exactly.
Okay.
He
had showed me because He said, I take you back.
Yeah.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Things are going pretty well.
So what did you start, what didyou do as you started to try to
put your life back together?
Like I said, I tried to make amends for the wrong that I
had done, the people I had hurtthen.
And we always backslide, wealways do it.
But believe it or not, never waswith drugs.
(13:43):
Never was with drugs, but withthe old me coming back, I People
used to call me Jim.
I don't let nobody call me Jimno more.
Because that reminds you of theold
That's the old, that's the old person.
That person don't exist no more.
Not no more.
I can't let that Jim back out.
Amen.
But everything got good.
I started working full time,trying to get my life together,
(14:05):
trying to get my act together.
And, I was a womanizer.
Ah,
so you were the, it wasn't thedrugs, but it was.
The behavior with women, thedarkness of immorality in that
way.
Exactly.
You may think you're doing goodand you give up one thing, but
you've got to be real carefulnot to replace it with something
else.
Yeah.
That reminds me of when Jesustaught the lesson of the one who
(14:29):
had demons, one demon insidehim, and they cast out the demon
by what Jesus talks about,sweeping it out, keeping it
clean.
And then.
Because there was nothing elsegood that came in seven more
demons came in and just
it will
that's a truth That's a truthman.
That's that you That emptinesssomething will fill it.
You ain't careful.
Yeah, you don't keep your eye onthe prize So what
(14:53):
started happening?
What was that?
Like what?
Like I said, I started womanizing was I Got with my
what I'm gonna call my secondsignificant other and She was on
drugs and what I feel like wasthe good point in that is I got
her off the drugs.
I told her, you got to quitthat.
(15:13):
You got to stop that.
You can't, I can't be that.
I can't go back to that.
I'm, I done beat that battle.
Now I'm trying to beat thisother battle.
But me and her wind up splittingup.
It didn't last long between meand her.
Then I started seeing my seconddaughter's mother.
And, uh, the old Jim startedcoming back out.
I started verbally abusing,emotionally abuse.
(15:38):
Me and her had a daughtertogether, which is my youngest
daughter.
She turns uh, 32, May the 10th,I think 32, I'm not sure.
Wow.
She was born in 93, but the samecycle started to try to repeat
itself.
mixed (15:53):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
The root problem, not the drugs,but the root problems that were
in your heart were still there.
James (15:59):
Exactly.
I didn't cleanse my soul.
I should have cleansedeverything out, but I didn't,
you got to be real careful withthe devil.
You got to be real carefulbecause he will trick you.
He talked angels out of heaven.
So don't think he ain't gotpower.
Yeah.
He's an angel of light.
He's a deceiver and a crafty.
(16:20):
Yeah.
That
he is,
but I had got with my youngest daughter's mother and I
was making very good moneybecause me and my brother had
went into business together andwe was building houses and I was
making good money.
I had went in from work and shedrank and she smoked marijuana,
but I didn't, to me that wasn'tthat bad.
At least it's not a chemicaldrug, at least they're not.
(16:43):
Puttin it in the needle andputtin it in your arm.
mixed (16:45):
Yeah.
James (16:45):
But that's what I was doin back when I was doin drugs.
But I went in from work one day,and our youngest daughter, which
was Jamie, three years old atthe time, was gone.
I went through the house.
She's nowhere to be found.
About 45 minutes or an hourlater, I found her at the
neighbor's house.
And I asked the neighbor, Howlong has she been there?
And they said she's been thereabout an hour.
(17:05):
Her mother never had a clue shehad ever left the house.
Me and her had a situation aboutthat.
And that kind of blew over.
And not, two weeks later, I wentin to work.
Went, got home from work again.
Same thing.
My daughter is nowhere in thehouse neighbor called me over,
he said She's been here about 45minutes.
Said ain't nobody look for her,ain't nothing.
(17:28):
I went to the house and I toldMy youngest daughter's mother, I
said she had two kids, I said, Imay not can do nothing about
those two.
She was little at the time?
She was three.
Okay.
My youngest daughter was three.
Wow.
Excuse me.
I said, I may not can do nothingabout them two, but, it's over
between me and you.
And I'm gonna fight you toothand nail for that one right
there because you know whatyou've done, you ain't paying no
(17:49):
attention to her, you're lettingthat weed and that beer and all
that.
Take precedence over youwatching out for your kids.
She wouldn't clean the house.
She wouldn't cook.
She wouldn't do nothing.
But um Wednesday after that, mylife ended as I knew it.
Oh, wow long story short, April2nd, they arrested me for a sex
offense.
(18:09):
Something that was from back
No, something that she alleged happened.
Between me and her.
Okay.
And, when I went to trial, Iwound up getting a hundred and
forty years.
Wow.
That's what the judge sentencedme to serve.
A hundred and forty years.
Wow.
To serve.
And that is the end of part oneof James's story.
(18:31):
And in this story, there are somany lessons to learn it's
amazing the wake up call thatGod gave him that morning.
He said, I think it was 1987when he got up to be with his
kids on Christmas morning and.
They didn't have any presencebecause he had spent all the
money on drugs.
(18:52):
How great that that shook him tothe core so that he dumped the
habit of drugs and he got cleanfrom his addiction.
unfortunately that didn't solveall his problems because there
was still A root of darkness andsin in his heart that led to so
many other issues, which is howhe ended up in prison.
(19:15):
And next week, on the secondpart of this story, you'll hear
just how life changing that, 22years of prison was for James.
And you'll hear the miracle ofwhat God did to somehow.
Allow James to not have to servethe 140 years that he was
(19:38):
sentenced.
It's an amazing story and you'regonna love the next part, but I
encourage you to take some timeto, to think back on and reflect
on some of the things that Jamessaid, the ideas and the lessons,
and just the truths that are soevident in his story.
Thanks for listening with us,and we look forward to being
(19:58):
back with you again next week.
God bless you.
Phil Shuler (20:01):
We look forward to being with you again next week
as we share another testimonyabout the power and the goodness
of God to change lives throughSafe House Ministries.
if you are someone listening tothis podcast that loves to hear
these stories of the greatthings that God is doing in
changing people's lives for thebetter, and if you would like to
be a part of that work, pleasereach out to us You can reach us
(20:24):
at 2101 Hamilton Road, Columbus,Georgia, 31,904.
You can call us at seven oh sixthree two two.
3 7, 7 3, or you can email us atinfo@safehouse-ministries.com.
Microphone (Samson Q2U Mi (20:39):
Thank you so much for being with us
this week for the renew restoreand rejoice podcast of safe
house ministries, we pray thatGod will bless you this week.
And we look forward to havingyou back with us again next week
for a new episode.
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