Dumpster Diving for Donuts, Ants Literally in His Pants, and Grateful to Never Go Back to That Life! Kier's Story (Part 3)

Keir wraps up his story and shares how amazing his life is now because of the redemptive love and grace of God!  He also recalls and shares some of the craziest memories he has about living homeless and in the woods.

Episode Transcript

Phil Shuler (00:00):
HellO, and welcome to Renew, Restore, Rejoice, the
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

(00:22):
House Ministries here inColumbus, Georgia.
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.

(00:43):
One of the most incredibleservices that Safe House
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

(01:04):
us End up finding work andmoving into their own home.
Thank you for being with ustoday and listening to our
podcast.
We hope you enjoy this week'sepisode.

Phil (01:12):
Don't be discouraged.
Life's tough.
Life is tough.
It's real.
Yeah.
We make mistakes, but God willput us right back on track.
He'll bless us.
He'll give us grace every timeHe will.
Yeah.
His love is never ending.
It's constant.
The peace that I have.
I, I've had peace before andit's left.

(01:34):
You know, growing up through allthe, you know, my teens, my
twenties, early thirties, uh,I've had, it's never stayed with
me like it has now.
It's not left yet.
Yeah.
You know, the piece that I'vebeen given in everything that I
do.
So, um, I worked for, uh, signsInc.
Here in Columbus.
Yeah.
Um, in sales.

(01:54):
You, I'm, yeah.
I'm his outside sales guy.
Okay.
Going around to just get newclients who need signs that,
that's right.
All right.
And then some of them that areexisting already, you prove, uh,
Richie's a great guy.
Uh, he's on the board over atthe Valley.
Does wonderful work in awesomeColumbus community, the Harris
County area, Hamilton.
He, he's a great guy, a greatfamily to be around.

(02:15):
The people that I affiliatemyself with now are, are the
people that are doing the samething that I'm doing, and that's
praising God, staying clean,staying on the right track, have
a better perspective aboutthings in life on a day-to-day
basis.
And it's working for me.
Awesome.
It's working for God's, workingfor me.
And all of the people that Iaffiliate myself with they're to

(02:35):
lift us up, uh, not bring usdown.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And, and that's what's amazing.
That's good.
Columbus has a heck of acommunity really does that, that
they continually pick people up.
Yeah.
It really does.
It's Columbus is a wonderfulplace.
It is.
Everyone that I've met and thatI affiliate myself with now are
on the same path that I am.
Awesome.
Yeah.
Safe House Ministries couldn'tdo the work that we do, nor

(02:58):
Couldd Valley without the helpof so many other people in the
community.
It's amazing.
Yeah.
It's amazing just to see theoutpour.
Firsthand.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It really is.
From the type of people thatthis community has.
Uh, it's wonderful.
That's good.
There's churches everywhere.
I love it.
You know, there are a lot of ourclients, you know, and, uh,
yeah.
Just because we're a, we'reconnected, so I'm so glad to

(03:19):
hear that things are going wellnow.
And you've got a goodrelationship with your daughters
as well.
Oh, every relationship that I'veever had has been restored.
Oh, praise Lord Co.
Lord.
Awesome.
When God starts a work in you,he completely, he finishes it.
I go to visit, once or twice amonth of Northeast Georgia,
visit my kids.
I'm welcomed at my ex-wife'shouse and stuff like, you know,
sometimes I stay there and, uh,or the kids or wherever, but,

(03:43):
uh, we do different things.
All of the holidays are spent upwith my kids, and, uh, phone
calls, daily text message, notlike it never happened.
It's just in a whole lot betterway.
Yeah.
A healthier way.
Wow.
Wow, God's involved.
Take a minute and pull out someof the key lessons that you feel
like you learned along the waythat you'd like to share with

(04:05):
others.
I'll have to go back to thatmotel room.
Yeah.
In the moment that I sat back inthe, in the back of that car,
patrol car.
Yeah.
And the relief and the weightthat was pulled off of me at
that moment that I was carryingaround, I'd like to say that for
real, anybody who's listening,God is real hands down.
And as I mentioned, if you arein a tough spot of any sort.

(04:29):
Of any sort.
There's nothing that if you askin his son's name that he will
not pull you out of or help youwith.
I've learned that.
Awesome.
First and foremost.
That's at the front of my mindwhen I wake up in the morning,
very first thing.
Yeah.
How old were you when youtrusted Jesus as your savior?
51 man.

(04:50):
51 before.
I knew, and I have prayed beforeI had been in all the places
that we'd went to.
I've known that God is my, um,savior all about Jesus.
But I had never applied it tome.
Yeah.
I had never, you had a headknowledge, but not, it wasn't in
your heart.
You hadn't received Jesus intoyour heart at that point.

(05:10):
Sure.
So.
This vessel that I live in, mysoul lives in.
Yeah, this vessel.
Yeah.
I never looked at it that way.
And then when he came into thisvessel to reside, I knew it
immediately.
That peace came over.
The peace came over me.
The warm feelings that, youknow, the room getting cool.
You know?
I mean, the fire wow.

(05:31):
Unreal.
if you feel defeated, if youfeel there's no way out, if
you're in full blown addiction,and there's ever a moment,
because we all have a moment ofclarity, God will put on us in
our daily routine, maybe nextweek, and it may have happened
last night, someone shakingtheir head at you, you know?
Yeah.
That moment of just ask God atthat moment to help you and be

(05:53):
sincere about it.
He loves you and he wantsnothing more for you to knock on
the door and ask for his help.
He's there, he's everywhere.
He's never left me.
He's always been there.
I'm grateful today.
Gratitude.
Yeah.
That's awesome.
It's unreal.
Yeah.
You know, going from my childrenpassing, me walking down the
street with a bag over myshoulder and shaking their head

(06:15):
at me and not stopping.
Yeah.
To, to now like the excitementin their voice when we talk to
each other daily, my son, Isaid, we've had some trouble.
My oldest daughter was on thephone with him the other night.
First time in a while they hadtalked.
She said, dad put it onspeakerphone.
She said in there talking, shesaid, cross.
I, I just want you to knowyou're 14 years old right now.

(06:39):
You've got the dad that I wantedwhen I was 14, 15, 16.
You've got the dad that Iwanted.
And I, I couldn't believe Wow.
I, wow.
Kinda giving him heads up, youknow?
Yeah.
Yeah.
So, uh, that was real helpful.
So many times it's theperspective that we have that
needs to be fixed.

(07:00):
That's right.
Yeah.
That's right.
Hmm.
Any other key lessons?
Don't give up.
Don't give up.
Yeah.
When you feel hopeless,helpless, busted, disgusted.
God will help you.
I keep going back to thatbecause if it was not for God, I
wouldn't be setting here rightnow.
I, I mean, I know I wouldn't.
Yeah.
Well, the timing of so manythings, it's just too many

(07:22):
things with perfect timing.
It just could not be anythingother than God.
That's right.
That's absolutely right.
His timing.
I don't wear a watch anymore,uh, you know, I, I, I just don't
see any need in it.
Wow.
So this fourth quarter I'm gonnabe the Peter in my story,
awesome.
I'm gonna be awesome.
That's my plans.

(07:43):
Thinking back for a second, isthere any, uh, maybe one of the
craziest things that everhappened, kind of a story that
you could share, just like crazyunexpected situation that you
found yourself in?
Anything come to mind?
Yeah, so I got these donuts outof a dumpster.
I was hungry, cut out throughthe woods, and couldn't find my

(08:04):
tent because I had camouflagedit.
This is the middle of the night,and I was just so tired.
Been up several days, you know?
Yeah.
Hungry.
Wow.
Wanted to sleep.
Couldn't find my tent.
I finally stumbled across it,unzipped it, got in there, fell
asleep.
I passed out.
Basically, I passed out, fallasleep.
When you're doing that, Steve.

(08:24):
Yeah.
You're passing out and comingtoo, I guess.
I rolled around in them donuts,and the ants were all over'em.
Oh, wow.
Yeah.
And they tore me up.
Wow.
So you woke up.
I'm in the middle of the, I'm inthe middle of the woods.
I, and once that happened, I, Ihad, I got outta the tent and I
didn't even know which directionto run, wow.
They were just crawling andbiting you No water.
Yeah.

(08:44):
Right.
Just, oh, that's horrible.
Way to wake up in the middle ofthe night.
Yeah.
That's crazy.
Yeah.
If you asked for a crazy story,wow.
You know, so you're, there areother crazy stories, but that
one, you know, I, I look back onit now and I'm like, oh my God.
Screaming, running through thewoods, just like, I guess trying
to everywhere brush everythingoff and everywhere.
And they, you finally, Ifinally, I, I, I ran the correct
direction.

(09:05):
I made it out to the sidewalk.
There was a girl up at the, uh,gas station spraying off the
parking lot, and I grabbed herhose and went around back and,
sprayed yourself down.
That's right.
Yeah.
It was terrible.
It was terrible.
Yeah.
Wow.
That's, that was maybe a monthor two before that motel room.
I'm sure you had the floor some,yeah.
Some pretty bad pain with allthe bites.
Sure.
From that too.
That was, that was no fun atall.

(09:27):
You had, he asked about a crack.
Wow.
That is a crazy story.
There.
There are.
And, and, and you got anotherone that comes to mind.
I was in a laundromat.
The both of these stories, thatstory, and then this one, and
I'm doing laundry and I'msitting up on the, uh, there's a
table where you fold yourclothes.
I'm sitting there, I'm the onlyone there.
And, uh, I don't think I've toldthis to anybody.
The front door opens.

(09:48):
A guy didn't walk in, he justheld the door open, and I'm
trying to remember verbatim,exactly what his words were.
He said, your kids will forgiveyou, your kid.
And pointed at me.
I said, excuse me.
And he walked out and he left.
It was dark outside.
Yeah.
You know, probably they closedat 11, so this was probably 10
o'clock.
No, I was the only one there.
No cars out front, nothing.
It's in a shopping strip.
I walked out and looked andthere wasn't nobody walking down

(10:09):
either way across the street.
No bushes.
Clear.
Yeah.
Kids will forgive you.
Wow.
That's your kid.
Your kids will forgive you.
That's pretty amazing.
Just.
A glimmer of hope that the Lordwanted to give you in that
moment.
Yeah.
I thought about this maybe amonth ago.
Wow.
And I, I hadn't told nobodyabout that.
I, I had never, I've never toldanybody.
Wow.
Not kidding you.

(10:30):
That's pretty amazing.
It just, just an indicator ofGod's love and mercy.
And one more, real quick.
Yeah.
I met the Hamilton endtreatment.
I had gotten a letter from theoldest peer, my sister.
Okay.
She has eight children.
One more Wow.
One more than you.
All of them have already went ontheir missions and stuff, you
know?
Yeah.
All successful.
She wrote me a letter and shewas the only one that sent

(10:50):
anything to me while I was goingthrough all of this and got a
letter from her, and I walkedout the back door, a wind hit my
hands, took my letter, and wenttumbling over my letter.
Yeah.
And I'm, I'm walking after it.
It literally goes around thecorner of the building down
there.
And when I went down to pick itup, there was, there's the big
cross right in.

(11:10):
It's always been there.
Yeah.
I've just never noticed it.
Never paid attention to it.
Yeah.
And the sun was on the otherside of it, and it was almost
blinding to my eyes, but it wasperfectly clear right there.
I, I'd never seen a letter go,it's almost comic, it was almost
like movies only.
Yeah.
Like something you'd see in amovie theater or something.
Yeah.
And you're chasing, chasing aletter down there, flipping head

(11:31):
overhead.
It maybe about 15 feet this way.
And then just about a foot thisway.
Just enough to get I can getaround that corner.
Yeah.
And see that big wooden crosswith the sun behind it that
morning.
Yeah.
That was really weird.
That was really weird.
But I, I'm safe.
I don't I don't.
I don't have any pay, I don'thave to pay Georgia no more of
my money.
I, I don't have to go to court.

(11:52):
I go to sleep at night on nicesoft pillow and I have a really
nice place.
Yeah.
I wake up in the morning, go towork.
It's the first time I've everhad a Monday through Friday, 40
hour a week job in my life.
I've been there a little over ayear.
That's okay.
Where you're at now?
Yeah.
Salary and commission.
Wow.
God provides everything I need.
E everything that I need, he'sprovided for me and my son.

(12:15):
Everything I need.
That's awesome.
I, I don't need anything.
Yeah.
Some of my brothers, sometimes Iget, I really don't, you know,
we've got food, we've got a niceplace, we've got a roof over our
head.
Transportation, job, food, love.
I don't need anything else ofthis world.
I, I don't, uh, it's kind oflike, look at the birds, they do

(12:37):
nothing.
God takes Keir of them.
You know?
They do not, yeah.
They don't put up, or they don'tstore up nothing, but, but
they're taken Keir of, if if onefalls, he knows it, you know?
any funniest thing that everhappened?
Funny.
Oh wow.
Funniest thing that everhappened.
Uh, this was pretty funny.
I met the valley when Igraduated.

(12:57):
I come back to the valley overhere.
Yeah.
I got an Uber and went to the, Iwent and got some socks and some
stuff, you know, I got it.
An Uber, I hadn't taken an Uber,up in northeast Georgia where
I'm from, there wasn't no Ubersup there when I came down here.
There's Ubers, what I can get apay for a ride.
So I get all the way back to thevalley and uh, I've got a
picture of this on my phone, butI, and no kidding, a lot of

(13:18):
people probably wouldn't believethis.
I, I realized that I left mywallet in the backseat of the
Uber after he'd gotten out,right?
I went inside, went all the wayback to the third phase where I
was staying in the room and mybuddy Chu was back there and I'm
then realized it

none (13:32):
chu

Phil (13:32):
I got in a scurry and I ran outside and the guy was gone
and I tried to call that it wasgone.
I come back in and.
Ketchum and I prayed real quickand I said, I said Ketchum, I, I
gotta have, you know, I've justgotten my license, I guess.
Got, you know what I mean?
All this stuff.
Yeah.
You know, um, ID not licenseyet, but Id card, my debit card,

(13:53):
my, you know, yeah.
Everything that I had gatheredback, social security card, we
prayed, me and Ketchum did that.
If anyone found my license thatthey would kindly mail it back
to me or just drop it off hereor that I would get it back.
Four days went by, Ketchum saysmail.
I've got the envelope where ithas written on there.

(14:14):
If you get this, let me know.
On social media, no name,nothing.
Wow.
So I went on social media andsaid I got my license back, or I
got my wallet back.
It was mailed back to me at fouror five days.
That's pretty amazing.
With that letter on the back ofit.
Yeah.
I thought that was kind offunny, but I, there are a lot of
funny things, you know, we dolaugh now and have a good time.
Yeah.
I don't have to look over myshoulder anymore, look in the

(14:35):
rear view mirror.
Wow.
Yeah, that happened.
I've got a picture of thatenvelope with my wallet hanging,
hanging out of it.
That's I wanted to make sure tokeep That's awesome.
With that handwritten Yeah.
That person, whoever, whatever,let me know that you got it back
with no money in it.
But yeah, it's like 27 bucks inthere to be no big deal.
But I got all my stuff back, youknow, that was kind I, I don't

(14:58):
know.
I it's humorous in a way that,that it's also really touching.
You know, things like that are,I find, find just amazing.
Yeah.
You know, today I agree.
Stuff like that happens all thetime.
It's just unreal.
Praise the Lord.
Amen.
Uh, any other last comment youwanna make?
When you'd called, I, I didn't,uh, I wasn't sure what was going

(15:18):
on there.
I was, come on now.
Really, you know, I would liketo, uh, just give all thanks to
God.
Amen.
All of this that I do now andanything that I'm involved in is
to his glory, every bit of it.
Safe House Ministries I knowthat they've recently closed
that location.
The Day center.
Yeah, the day, the day center.
Right, right.

(15:39):
The ministry continues with theshelters and the case
management.
All of the people there,Stephanie on down, all of them
and Up.
Thank you so much.
From the bottom of my heart whenI received that phone call, it
wasn't 25 steps out of thepastor's office, which said that
I had about nine days, to figureout something to do with for me
and my son.
Yeah.
I was, I sweated that for maybethree seconds, then just a few

(16:03):
more steps.
That phone call told me that Ineeded to come down to the safe
house and fill out somepaperwork.
Wow.
'cause they had a place for me.
That's pretty amazing.
That is that, that there are no,wow, there are no words to
explain that, you know, God.
Yeah.
That's it.
You know.
And there again, just anybodywho, uh, who might hear this or,

(16:23):
uh, just believe that I believe,yeah.
You got any doubts?
That's all you gotta do rightnow.
Just believe that.
I believe that's fantastic.
Yeah.
Wow.
Praise the Lord.
Thank you for sharing yourstory.
Thank you.
Thank you also for that donutstory.
Oh my gosh.
I think it's stories like thathelp others who haven't
experienced homelessness to havea glimpse into what it really

(16:46):
looks like.
I mean, that's.
That's hard.
And, um, I think sometimespeople become, I dunno, maybe
apathetic.
Or calloused or we just, if it'snot directly impacting our life,
then we just, sometimes we justdon't Keir and we just kind of
ignore.
But sure to think of what youwent through even just that one
night, like, I mean, you so manyother things, but even just that

(17:08):
one night, just that one.
Something that maybe can touchsomeone's heart.
And, um, if there's anybodylistening that you don't already
partner with Safe HouseMinistries, either as a
volunteer or as a financialpartner, We invite you to
partner with us Because the workthat we do in helping others to
go from being homeless to beingin their own home now, it makes

(17:32):
a huge difference in theirlives.
And when you partner with us.
That fruit is also on youraccount.
Um, it it is the difference.
Yeah, it is the difference.
Praise the Lord.
Wow.
Thank you.
Keir you mind if I close this ina word of prayer?
Please.
Father, I love you and I thankyou for your grace and your
mercy.
I thank you for the just perfectand sovereign way that you are

(17:58):
so directly involved in ourlives.
Lord, how could we not recognizethat?
Lord, help us to love you.
Help us to walk with you.
Help Keir Lord, just bless himas he's trying to raise his son.
Cross Lord working, cross hisheart Other if he has not
already trusted in Jesus as hissavior.

(18:20):
I pray that you would.
Put your spirit to work in hisheart so deeply that he would
come to that place to make thatdecision.
And if he already has made thatdecision, then let your spirit
work in his life to get him awayfrom many darkness and walking
in the light.
I just pray you'd bless him.
Lord, bless his future.
Thank you for the relationshipsthat you have restored in Keir's

(18:43):
life, in, in just a miraculousand amazing way.
Bless him, help him and use himas he endeavors to to help
others, Lord.
And those that are listening,bless them, father, work in
hearts.
Help us to hear and receive yourwisdom, to make better choices
in our own lives and to workmore, to do things that we can,

(19:07):
that we can do to help others.
I pray.
In Jesus name I pray.
Amen.
Amen.

06-21-23 SAFEHOUSE-CH2 (19:12):
We look forward to being with you again
next week as we share anothertestimony about the power and
the goodness of God to changelives through Safe 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

(19:35):
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 [e-mail].

Microphone (Samson Q2U Mi (19:50):
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.