Testimony of Lloyd Lewis

Christ Is the Answer

My very earliest childhood memories are of growing up in a liquor house. By age seven, I was actually selling liquor by the drink to those coming to our house in search of the liquid demon. Before my tenth birthday I started drinking alcohol; that would continue for over 30 years before I found victory in Christ.

My Dad only had a second grade education. He had picked up mechanic skills and worked hard to make a living for our family. In his effort to provide for us, he became a bootlegger. Little did we know that this would start me down the wrong path.

At 16, I was in jail for breaking and entering. I had been running, ripping, and partying with the wrong crowd. When I got out of jail, I decided to join the Army to see if I could get my life straightened out. Again, I got with the wrong crowd. While overseas I got into heroin, acid and hashish. My Commanding Officer tried to help me but it just didn’t work.

After getting out of the military, I went to work in Henderson and had a good job. Things went well for a while, but as with most drug addicts, I was very self-centered and by age twenty-five I was in trouble again. I was looking for anything that would soothe my soul. I got into a repetitive cycle of drinking and drugging, then cleaning up for a while.

As I look back over my life, I am amazed I am still alive. I have had many “close calls.” Once, while in a New York prison, I got caught in the middle of a prison riot. One night, another prisoner tried to set my bed on fire to kill me.

One day, I was sitting in a cell in Central Prison in Raleigh; I realized my life was in shambles and I couldn’t do anything to clean it up. Everything I tried had failed. I told the Lord I didn’t want to live like that anymore and I began to see God work in my life! I was then moved to Guess Road Prison in Durham and was soon to be released.

A volunteer at the prison started telling me about the Durham Rescue Mission. This man had stayed at the mission and God had turned his life around. On September 26, 2002, I was released from prison and he drove me to the mission.

I thank God for all the things I learned at the mission. Being in their classes helped me to grow spiritually and I realized “I can do all things through Christ.” I left the Mission in November, 2003. Since that time, I have gotten married and I have a good job at Lewis Barbecue. My wife and I are planning to build a home. One day I hope to become a Deacon in my church.

My lovely wife, Barbara, and I enjoy donating to the Mission. We want to be a part of helping others, just like the Mission helped me.

I am grateful to everyone who has given to help make the Durham Rescue Mission possible. I say from the bottom of my heart, “thank you for giving to the Lord; I am a life that has been changed.”