Just for today
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Clarence has found a new life of hope at Open Door Mission, thanks to friends like you.
“The most important thing in my life is to stay clean and sober...just for today.”
Clarence is known here at Open Door Mission for his gift of motivating others. If you met him, you might find it hard to believe that his head was once filled with thoughts of suicide and homicide. He was living on the streets—eating out of trash cans and sleeping in a church bus—when these terrifying thoughts overwhelmed him. Drugs and alcohol had taken everything away from this husband, father, and Marine Corps veteran. “I knew in my heart I was a good person,” says Clarence. “My mindset was...I could hurt somebody if I’m out there.” That realization shocked Clarence into action, and he came to Open Door Mission for help. Because he was suicidal, he was immediately admitted to a hospital, where he spent the next 10 days. While there, Clarence thought about the downward spiral that seemed to have swept away his life. How could he have fallen so low—after being raised by a loving mom? He recalls yearning for some remnant of self-worth—wishing somebody would “invest” in him. That’s when a total stranger—a nurse—handed him a $20 bill. “I have a great God,” the man said. “I’m going to invest in you.” Imagine Clarence’s astonishment to hear this specific response to his silent wish. To this day, he keeps that bill as a symbolic reminder that God cares. “I may give it to somebody else to ‘invest’ in the same way,” he says. “It was a ‘pay-it-forward’ thing. I know in my heart it was a God thing!”
The accountability factor
When Clarence left the hospital, he returned to Open Door Mission and entered the New Life Program. “Everything started going good from then on,” he says. That’s because Clarence was committed to changing his life...and worked hard through the steps of the program. “One of the things they teach you is that you have to be accountable,” he explains. “I need to have an accountability partner and a mentor...I need a good church and a support group.” With the accountability factor in place, Clarence remains clean, sober and has become a responsible, humble, self-disciplined man. “You have to keep your mind set in manual,” he explains. “All those papers they give you and all the studying you do, you have to apply it...as long as I apply what’s been taught to me and the tools that have been given, I’m able to stay clean and sober for one day at a time.”
And with each day that Clarence applies what he’s learned, he grows stronger. As he moves closer to graduating from the program, he is thinking more about the future. He isn’t sure what sort of “job” God has in mind for him, but he’s feeling a strong call into ministry. Clarence is also working on rebuilding relationships with the people he loves—his wife of more than 33 years and three grown children who are at the threshold of their own lives. “I know the Lord will lead me in the right direction,” he affirms with confidence. “Just for today, the most important thing in my life is to stay clean and sober. Just for today!”
