My name is Rod Tidwell, I’m with Teen Challenge International - San Joaquin Valley Headquarters - I’ve currently been the director here at this facility for about seven years.

My life hasn't always been as organized as it appears to be today. When I was 19, I was introduced to marijuana and not long after that speed became a part of my life.

Marijuana and speed was something I believe I played with - it was a lifestyle I grew into - for several years and two or three years after being introduced to those I came across a drug called heroin. I remember I was in San Pedro, California, the first time I ever fixed heroin.

I was with a couple of buddies and they were actually fighting over who was going to fix me. I’d been up all night, loaded on crank, I hung my arm out, they fixed me and I actually went into an overdose.

The one thing that still stands out in my mind all these years later is that when I came out of that I told myself, “I’ll try that again.” And that might have been the first decision - the first bad choice - to ruin the rest of my life. I did try heroin again, in fact I became addicted to heroin for probably 13 years - the next 13 years of my life.

I went to rehab centers. I went to prison. I went to everything that was available: state mental institutions, I tried the methadone maintenance programs, everything...and there was nothing that seemed to work for me.

I wasn’t a bad guy. I did like getting high and in the midst of getting high, my life seemed to pass me by. I never wanted to hurt anybody. I never wanted to rob or steal, but all these things became a daily issue in my life to support that habit. I remember thinking that if I was to get married and have a wife, it seemed to be the great American hope, my life would change.

And I did marry a young lady - a backsliden Christian girl. But my life didn’t change. I put her through a literal hell for the next seven years as my drug addiction continued. In that process she had come to a place in her own personal life that she recommitted her life to Christ and in that she became aware of a program called Teen Challenge. And it was through that that she took me to Teen Challenge several times trying to get help for me. I would meet with the staff and we would talk, they’d tell me about the program. I’d leave that center, get my cigarettes off the dashboard of my car, and I would continue in the lifestyle that I was seemingly stuck in.

It was one day that she took me to Los Angeles Teen Challenge, dropped me off, drove away and that’s been almost 19 years ago and I’ve been here ever since. I didn’t know anything about God; I didn’t know anything about trust. I knew I grew up in a society where if I didn’t get you first - you got me - and that’s the way I lived.

I prayed a silly little prayer asking Jesus Christ to come into my life, not even knowing if I had enough faith to hold that prayer. But you know what? God met me there that day and that was the beginning of a new life for Rod Tidwell. I’ve been serving God for all of those 19 years now and I’ve never gone back. I’ve never shot heroin once since the day I entered Teen Challenge.

Struggles? Let me tell you, I’ve had some struggles; I’ve had some ups and downs. But you know what? God’s been very gracious me. I went through the ministry of Teen Challenge, graduated, came on as an intern/staff member, and actually stay out, and here it is almost 20 years later and I am director of one of the great centers in Teen Challenge.

God bless you.