Alex’s Story

At age 7 my mom brought a step father into our lives, and her new husband.

Our new beginnings that we were so excited about quickly turned into a nightmare of physical, and emotional as well as psychological abuse mostly visited upon me. Because as he said to me one day as he prepared a thick leather strap to whip me until I would look like I was having a seizure on the floor from the agony of the pain.

Then as I laid on the floor, he would stand over me breathing as if he had just sprinted a mile. And he would say to me, “I do this because I love you!”

One morning after a severe beating the night before I woke up with my body covered in whelts. My face hurting from the punches. I got up and started putting on my pants which hurt to do! I grabbed my bookbag and I started towards the door. When I heard my mom, as she stuck her head out of the bedroom and asked, would you like some breakfast? Mom looked almost as beat up as me! I limped down the street and threw the bookbag into a dumpster, I was leaving this hell hole and the demon who ran it like a house of torture!

I started to steal food with a couple of other street kids that I had met were going to beat me up, then one of them who became my buddy put his arm around me and said, you’ll be alright kid, he told the other kids. Don’t you mess with him . Look at him he’s scared and hungry! Let’s feed him. They took me to a grocery store and we went in and grabbed some bread and the other kid grabbed a large soda. We ran out of the store and all the way to a large building entrance where we sat down on the back stairs and stuffed our faces with bread and tried washing it down with pop! The pop fizzed and I was spraying the walls that day the three of us laughed.

But I became what I believed I was supposed to be, on my way up in this wicked game of the streets.  I was now at age 14 a stick up man ready to go live on cue!  And one day in an armed robbery gone terribly wrong I ended up in juvenile prison, being tried as an adult.

While in the juvenile corrections I met a teacher who worked there at the jail.His name was Tobs! Tobs was an older Irish gentleman who was an ex-Jesuit Priest who had left the church because he and a nun who also left the church wanted to and got married. Tobs message to us his students who were from the mean streets of Chicago and all headed to do prison time then on our 21st birthday we would be transferred to adult prison, Tobs would say to us. Don’t let people label you, you are not just gangbangers, or drug addicts, or criminals. You are a creation of God, He created you in His image and you are unique, there will never be another like you, do you know how precious that makes you?

Yes, you may have done things beneath your dignity but you are still worthy to be treated with dignity and respect!  Those are the seeds that my teacher and mentor planted in our young minds! 

There is so much more story that I don’t have room here but if you’re interested I wrote my memoir entitled “On the Edge!” A tragic story full of hope!  You can purchase it below.  And we know that no matter how who you are young or old or how badly you may have messed up The Lord Jesus Christ still loves you and me, and He is on our side and not against us! If you are sincerely sorry about your past, you want to do better and maybe even help others the Lord will give you another chance at life as well as peace in your heart! Because the best part is He became my real father and by His Holy Spirit I invited Him to come and live in my heart and He did, and you can invite Him too! If you have any questions please contact me below.