The Best Move Brian Ever Made

After 47 years, Brian knew it was time to leave Indiana — and his alcoholic past— behind. Just released from his second jail term in two years, Brian counted the cost of his 30-year drinking addiction and it was high: jobs, relationships, marriage, home— everything he had worked for.

He needed a clean start in a new city.

When a friend suggested Milwaukee, Brian bought a bus ticket and headed north to look for a job. Last June, he checked into a motel, intending to start his job search the next day. But he started drinking and the next day turned into yet another day…and then a week. Soon, Brian’s money was gone.

No Direction

“I fell deeper and deeper into a hole,” he remembers. “A change of place to be living, a different state, wasn’t the answer for me. It just brought me down in a different area!”

Unable to pay for the motel, Brian checked into a detox center. After a week, he left with a list of shelters that included the Milwaukee Rescue Mission. “But I overlooked that,” says Brian. “I just roamed the streets of a city I wasn’t familiar with at all. I had no direction.”

Bruised and exhausted from lugging his heavy bags, Brian finally stopped, looked up and said, “Can somebody help me? If there’s a God, can He help me?” Leaving his belongings behind, Brian walked on…right to the Milwaukee Rescue Mission.

Out of the Darkness

“The Lord picked me up and said, ”I’m not going to let you live in darkness anymore!’ I believe the Lord brought me here,” Brian tells us.

After only a week at MRM, Brian joined theLifeSkillsprogram. “I finally woke up and began moving in a positive direction. The Lord has taken away my alcohol addiction, my fear, my loneliness. The whole time, all I needed was Jesus Christ!”

Today, Brian looks forward to starting theFOCUSprogram in July and taking the next steps towards a life of stability and success.