21 Jan 2013 Changing lives at Renewal Ranch
Men of all ages and their families are being impacted through a special ministry located in Perry County.
Renewal Ranch is a long-term, faith-based, rehabilitation program for men ages 21 years and older with addictions to drugs or alcohol.
James Loy is director of the 18-month program which is offered at no cost to the client. (For more information, visit therenewalranch.org.) Started in January 2011, there are 25 graduates of the program.
In their own words, two graduates share their Renewal Ranch experience with 501 LIFE:
Josh Wood
My life was just like anyone else’s.
I grew up in a Christian home with Christian parents, played football and had straight As. In eleventh grade, however, I was introduced to the world of prescription pain medication. I tore my anterior and posterior labrum on my shoulder playing football. I was devastated because all my brother, Ross, and I had ever dreamed about was playing football together and in the blink of an eye, I was out for the season.
Fast forward to the next year. I was a senior in high school and my brother and I were starting on the offensive line right beside each other. Life was great. During a scrimmage, Ross passed out due to a heart condition and was not able to play the rest of the year. We were devastated. The only dream we ever had ended on that field that night. I turned to the only thing I knew that would take away the hurt and let me feel good inside again – pain pills.
The following year I was a freshman in college and doing well. I was a social user and the drugs didn’t seem to be affecting my everyday life. I was walking across campus when my mom called and told me that my grandpa had a heart attack, sending me spiraling out of control for the next four years. She said, “He won’t ever be the same again.” I lost it. I was like a freight train. I drank, did drugs and hurt everyone who meant the most to me. I didn’t care who it was as long as at the end of the day I had my fix.
Drugs and alcohol took me down a dark and dead end road and I thought I could never get back on track. I made one bad decision after another that left me homeless, friendless and hopeless.
On Aug. 15, 2011, I entered Renewal Ranch. I didn’t know what to expect. Little did I know that over the next six months God would bless me more than I could ever imagine. I learned to love people again and to show the same grace that God has shown me.
The only hope I had was to take everything that haunted me and give it to God. Hope cannot be found in anything the world offers. All of those things change continually. There’s only one thing that I know that doesn’t change, and that is God.
As I’m writing this, I am almost 16 months clean. There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think about what God has done for me. I am now at my dream job selling tractors, like my grandpa did. I have a beautiful wife and my family has been beside me every step of the way throughout my recovery. I thank God every day for how he used Renewal Ranch, James Loy and Larry Pillow to help change my life.
To God be all of the glory.
Barry Miles
In 1960, Shirley was an alcoholic. The doctors told her if she did not stop drinking she would lose her baby and possibly her own life. She stopped drinking but the shock to her system sent her into early labor.
On Dec. 15, 1960, I was born an alcoholic at a mere 4 lbs. I spent the first season of this life in an incubator.
My parents went their separate ways when I was 3 or 4 years old and I didn’t see my father again until I was in the second grade. Until then, I was raised by my older sisters and brothers. Mom spent most of her time working, trying to make ends meet as she was raising four children.
I went to the second grade living with my father, who I really didn’t know. I stayed there for one year. While there, I was exposed to Christianity and church life. We went to every service. When I was 8, I got saved. I said the words and was baptized, at least.
At the end of that school year my mother came and got me, though I still spent some time during the summer with my father, stepmother and brother, Carl.
The next nine years, I was on the move. Mom had married a man in electrical construction and the job didn’t allow me to spend a full school year in one place. I had my first beer on my 13th birthday at the drive-in theater in McAllister, Okla. It was a 16-ounce Coors tallboy my sister gave to me. It wasn’t long after that, I tried pot and I liked it. From that point on, I smoked whenever I got a chance. When I went to stay with Dad in the ninth grade, my brother was smoking, so I was able to join right in.
Between grades nine and 11, I went to five different high schools in five different cities. I learned to blend in wherever I went. Since pot smoking and partying was prevalent wherever I went, that is what I got good at.
My junior year of high school, I met a girl and we dated until the school year ended. That summer, I flew to Casper, Wyo., to work. Soon after, I received a phone call from my girlfriend. She was pregnant.
Immediately, it came to mind how I had seen my friends deal with this situation, denying being the father and leaving their girlfriend. I remembered how ugly that seemed to me. So I asked her to hold on. I laid the phone down. I got down on my knees and asked God, “What do I do?” My prayer was answered instantly. I picked up the phone and asked her to marry me and she said, “Yes.”
At age 17, I was engaged and expecting a child. My whole life direction changed. Jan. 27, 1979, was the best day of my life. My daughter, Britni, was born. I was the happiest man alive!
When I was 18, I moved my wife and baby to Fort Worth, where I worked hanging iron. Three years passed and my marriage ended and I didn’t see my daughter anymore. This was devastating. For many years, I spent my life in unhealthy places doing unhealthy things, in unhealthy relationships. All the while, I prayed that the love bond between my daughter and I be kept alive. Again, God answered my prayer. When Britni was 15, she sent me a letter asking me to be a part of her life.
Fifteen years of smoking and drinking and a third unhealthy marriage later, God called to my heart. I got news my father had stage four cancer. I never knew how much I actually loved my dad until I had to consider losing him.
My relationship with my wife of 10 years was at an all-time low. It was as if God reached down and grabbed me by the back of my collar and said, “That’s enough of this life, Barry, follow me right now!”
Britni found out I had left my wife so she came to Texas for a surprise visit. As she approached me, she handed me two pieces of paper. One was a testimony from James A. Loy, executive director of Renewal Ranch ministries, and the other was a class schedule. At first, I told her I was touched by the testimony, and the classes looked interesting, but I had no desire or need for rehab, Christian or otherwise. God once again moved my heart, and I agreed. It was a heartfelt moment for both of us.
Since that day, God has opened one door after another in my life. I applied to and was accepted to Renewal Ranch on Aug. 14, 2011. I know this was what God had called me to do, and I was hungry for God’s word. Six months of full-time Bible study and general discipline was exactly what my life needed at exactly the right time, God’s time.
Upon graduating the program in February 2012, I was asked to stay on as an intern in the ministry. God has put me in a place where I can use all the gifts he has given me to serve Him. I am now construction leader and house supervisor at Renewal Ranch. I teach a Bible study and lead choir practices, and best of all, I get to share what God has done for me.
In July, I had the privilege of going to Kitale, Kenya, to build a classroom for a school for orphans of the Kipsongo slum and share God’s word. I now have the relationship with my daughter God intended. I have an awesome son-in-law, Steve, and three beautiful grandchildren. I also have a relationship with my dad that I never had before. I am finally home.
I thank God for all he has done and for what he continues to do in my life and in the lives of the men at Renewal Ranch. I have been walking in victory for 18 months. I am also thankful for James Loy and Larry Pillow, chairman and chaplain of Renewal Ranch, and all my Renewal Ranch family for believing in me.
