Twenty-two years ago on New Year's Eve, I was involved in the party scene. I   
   thought I was living the good life. I had moved to Shreveport to manage the   
   GNC at Southpark Mall. I had just bought a 1992 Dodge Dakota Sport. I was   
   twenty-three at this time.    
   Before this, I managed the GNC at Pecanland Mall in Monroe, La. I was into   
   working out. I had lost about 65 pounds through exercising and dieting. My   
   friend, John, helped me with all that I was doing. In November, my district   
   manager asked me if I could    
   transfer to the Shreveport store. I eagerly told him that I would. I was   
   wanting to move up in the company. Previously, I had met a young woman at one   
   of the clubs that I went with my friend named Al. We started dating before I   
   moved. She lived in Ruston.   
    When stopped in see her one day as I was going back to West Monroe to visit,   
   she broke up with me. The day before New Year's Eve, she called me to ask us   
   to hold a place for her at the club where we would be at in Monroe. I had   
   something to prove! We    
   all got to the bar that night with partying on our minds. I started drinking   
   mixed drinks. Sometime after midnight, I blacked-out. I remember just bits and   
   pieces of what was to happen after that. I remember walking out to my truck.   
   After that, I    
   remember shutting the passenger door to the truck. Then, I was walking on the   
   other side of the bridge down Trenton Street in West Monroe. Then, I was at   
   the door of Al's apartment. I woke up at 10:00 on New Year's Day. I told Al   
   that we needed to find    
   my truck. I didn't know where it was! We drove around looking for it in West   
   Monroe and Monroe. I finally called The Monroe Police Department to ask I'd   
   they had towed the truck. The woman on the line told me that it had been towed   
   to Master's Auto    
   Service in Monroe. I went to see it there. The hood and front was crushed in   
   the middle. The owner of the towing company told me that I was fortunate to be   
   alive. I had hit a utility pole on the corner of Pine and Walnut, which was   
   several blocks from    
   the club. The police had pulled some of my hair from the windshield where I   
   had hit with my head. I had walked one mile from where I had wrecked. The   
   officer that worked the accident called me at midnight on January the 1st to   
   ask me about what had    
   happened. I lied about what I did, but they knew that I had been drinking. I   
   had to go back to Shreveport without transportation. Over the next several   
   months, I depended on my parents to pick me up and bring my back home on most   
   weekends. I walked to    
   work sometimes and got a taxi at others. One day at work, I was talking with a   
   regular customer about some of our products. She and her husband worked for   
   the Shreveport Police Department. We ended up talking about church and Jesus.   
   She asked where I    
   went to church. I told her that I was trying to go back to church. She said   
   "You're not doing anything! You better come back to Jesus now!"   
   There had been others who had witnessed to me before, but her words made me   
   think. I didn't write the exact date down, but around March the 15th I   
   repented of my sins, asked for forgiveness, and was saved at Kingston Village   
   Apartments on Kingston Road!    
   What a change! I was born-again! I was washed in the blood of Jesus! told   
   everyone what had happened to me! I couldn't go back to the clubs anymore! I   
   couldn't listen to the same music anymore! I didn't have the desire to drink   
   anymore! I was a changed    
   man! I was able to move back home and get my old job back in April.    
   I am thankful that I have had an extension on my life. I should have died that   
   night of my accident, but I am alive! I am saved!   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)