It's been a long time since my last blog, life has just showed up in ways that kept me from writing until I knew I had to right now. Want to talk to you about our dear, departed friend Willie Mae Bush.

In the early 2000's through our ministry which then was at Campus Church in Norcross, we were invited to do meetings with a group of women associated with Mary Hall Freedom House that lived in Gwinnett County.  We had meetings in an apartment led by myself and a group of wonderful women from Campus who wanted to serve. Willie Mae was part of that Mary Hall group.

It was evident from the beginning that there was something special about Willie Mae, and when I heard her story I found out why. In a failed drug deal gone awry her son was shot and killed in front of her, she was actually the drug dealer, which caused her to run away and hide homeless in the woods. The trauma stayed with her and fueled her own addiction which led her to Mary Hall.

There's much more to the story but when she graduated from MH she came to us at Campus where some members housed her and another woman in their own duplex and she became an integral part of our ministry which eventually became ATB in 2009. She had such a giving, loving heart and while I was employed to travel around and buy cars for multiple dealerships she was the glue that held ATB together.

When I came back to ATL in 2017 we began to grow then eventually went out on our own in 2018 her health declined and there was less involvement, but her heart was still with us and remained that way until her passing.  While this blog can't contain more of her story her love and kindness will always be honored by ATB as one of the heroes of our ministry.

May she rest in eternal peace and remain in our thoughts as someone who overcame all odds to be a strong and impacting woman!

Used to be we all knew our neighbors, we enjoyed time with them, talked with them, ate with them and relied on them and shared the ups and downs of life with them. Some places may still do that today, but not many - we have become disconnected from our neighbors by and large.

Back in Luke 10 an expert in the Jewish Law asked him about eternal life and how he interpreted the law? Jesus responded with Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; and, Love your neighbor as yourself". Then, that expert asked him "Who is my neighbor"? Strange question since in those days neighbors were known.

But Jesus, knowing the intent of the question then told the story of The Good Samaritan where an enemy helped a man when his own people had walked past him in time of need. Scholars can debate the meaning of this but when I read it I understand that when Jesus asked that expert which of these people was a neighbor to the man in need the expert replied "The one who had mercy on him", he gave us a command.

Our neighbor is one who needs us, whatever that need is. Could be to find faith, to take to the doctors appointment, buy some groceries for or just have a conversation when they are about to fall off the rails. May be someone we know or someone we don't, but when Jesus concluded the conversation with Go and do likewise, he didn't qualify the circumstances. Just have mercy on them.

Think about how he handled folks of all situations during his ministry and ask yourself that same question "Who is my neighbor"?  It might give us a whole new attitude on how we do life!

Last week I went in to Northside Hospital in Lawrenceville (love those people) to have my aortic valve replaced in my heart which had built up calcium deposits and was narrowing. The procedure is known as TAVR Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement which goes through the femoral arteries in the groin to insert a new valve without open heart surgery. My thinking - piece of cake!

Surgery was successful and I was released from the hospital a day later to go home transported by my youngest daughter Briana and grandchildren. Instructions before we left, if you start to bleed from the wounds and can't stop it call 911 or you will bleed out. B and Logan both volunteered to stay with me but being that hard headed Marine I declined saying I was good to go.

About 1:30 AM I awoke to urinate and had that portable urinal with me which I began to use. Then I felt something warm on my leg thinking I may have missed the urinal (lights were out). Instead I realized I was bleeding profusely on the rug, on the bed, and I couldn't stop it. Went into the bathroom, looked in the mirror and saw the area it was bleeding from, called 911 opened the front door and they took me back to Northside.

Making a long story shorter, they could not stop the bleeding for awhile and after finally doing it I spent all day in the ER with Briana by my side. Stable now and at home healing here are a few thoughts:

Jen volunteered to clean up my place before I went home - loyal friends are critical in your life.
Briana stayed with me two days after the ER and changed my bandages - family is everything.
God spoke to me while laying on my bed holding a washcloth on the wound - it's not time he said.

If ever I felt the love of God in a critical moment this was it. For some who have had similar close calls
using has been an option, or it was the option that made your spirit bleed.  But what I felt that night to the present time is what I knew - God is not an option, he is the only option, and he brings what you need in the most difficult of moments in life.

Joshua 1:9 - Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified, do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go. I felt that.

That includes alone and bleeding out (bad move on my part not letting them stay), calling 911 or in any dark place in your life where you feel alone and lost - God is with you if you let him be. We tell stories like this to let you know he is and will be if you invite him into your life.

And it helps to have incredible individuals like Jen and Briana to help along the way. Be blessed and feel his love! Glenn

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is married by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms , the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows that in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory or defeat.                                                      Theodore Roosevelt

I love being in the arena, it's where God has me. And I love being there with our team at ATB and the rehabs and sober living facilities who are also in that same arena with us.  In the addiction recovery arena it is an extremely dysfunctional place to begin with.  It is often kindergarten on steroids dealing with folks that have failed to master basic living skills and are constantly in need of finding hope.

All of us together are imperfect but in the perfect place to make a difference and show people the way to live and find that hope. Whether people love us or hate us collectively, we have saved thousands of lives and turned them toward heaven. If you think about it, it's what Jesus did, and he too, being in the arena, was often criticized for his methods.

This blog is not aimed at anyone in particular except at the modern day Pharisees who have failed to grasp the Biblical concept that "love covers over a multitude of sins". So all of us in this arena will continue to help and love on you, your sons and daughters, despite our imperfections by pointing them to the one who is perfect.

As the theme from the successful series of Wide World of Sports said, we experience ​the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. One thing we, or our partners will never do is throw in the towel and quit!

Happy New Year, may God bless you always!

He's making a list, checking it twice, gonna find out who's naughty or nice, Santa Claus is coming to town. He sees you when you are sleeping, he knows when you're awake, He knows if you've been bad or good, so be good for goodness sake. Oh you better watch out....."

After reaching adulthood and reading these lyrics does it seem encouraging to our young children or rather threatening? Or is it just a "kids song" and we act jolly and bright when we sing it? I think it's actually a pre-cursor to the Santa Clause. That's right, the planting of a seed when we are young that naughty is always punished and nice is always rewarded. It may be a kids song but is it real life?

The strangest thing I have seen God do in my own life is reward me even after I have done something "naughty", and it's happened several times and literally shocked me. It's also shocked me into being "nice" because of the way that reward showed me how much He loves me. My Mom was also like that.

Hebrews 11:6 - And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

What I learned is that in my faith walk I will screw up somewhere, but God looks at the overall picture of me and says that guy is following me, and that in that walk I am earnestly trying to seek him even when I go off the rails a bit. Not excuses, just examples like Peter and even Abraham who did some really knucklehead things on his way to becoming the father of all the nations. Read Romans 4:18-21 and tell me what you think. Did he lose either his faith or promise of gifts from God just because of bad decisions? Simple answer, no!

Bottom line, God certainly cares if we are naughty or nice, but he's not looking over our shoulders cancelling us out for our mistakes every day when he knows that our heart has turned to him. Though for many years through many kids and grandchildren I sang this song, I think I will replace it with the Jesus Clause:

Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so! (you know the rest)