August 23. Rodney Williams. Rodney’s life was already in a downward swirl when a meth lab blew up in his face. And God met Rodney there in his pain. On this date in 2008, Rodney’s life story was performed on stage. Listen to this.
Has life blown up in your face? Reach up.
If the meth lab hadn’t blown up in his face, Rodney would probably be dead now. At best, he would still be enslaved to methamphetamines.
Craving a chemical high started when Rodney was introduced to marijuana—then alcohol. He was around twelve and carrying a deep hurt. He had been molested as a small child, and getting high helped mask the pain.
Some years later, a car accident made pain pills necessary, and Rodney got addicted. A second car accident made it worse.
Rodney got married and had a son, but inside he was restless, on edge, and craving drugs. He tried to keep his behavior a secret—once telling his wife he was going coon hunting. Instead, he and a friend got drunk and went gambling, and—with the win—bought three-and-a-half grams of cocaine.
But it wasn’t cocaine. It turned out to be methamphetamine, and it nearly killed him. Now, he was hooked on meth.
Rodney’s wife couldn’t handle the chaos anymore and divorced him. Dejected, he started doing LSD and Ecstasy—his new drugs of choice. He wanted to be punished for who he was.
Things came to a head the night Rodney locked himself inside a meth user’s trailer with ingredients for cooking it. Fixated on the brew, Rodney stood over jars of steamy chemicals. Fumes grew noxious. He watched meth drop to the bottom of the jars.
Suddenly, the heat lamp ignited the fumes. The room exploded. Rodney ran and unlocked the door, but flames engulfed him. He stumbled out the door beating out flames.
Charred and disoriented, Rodney staggered to a neighbor’s house for help. His right eye and ear, face, hands, and neck all burned.
He was a burned and broken man. He had lost his family, his reputation, and his self-respect. Rodney had hit rock bottom. He cried out to God and surrendered—not just part of himself, but all of himself. Then he entered a faith-based treatment program—and this time it worked.
“Therefore, if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed” (John 8:36 NKJV).
Today, Rodney shares his story of deliverance from addiction, and God works. He tells a story of addiction the people understand.
When Rodney tells how he was lit on fire in a meth explosion and Christ rescued him, people have hope they can be rescued too. Now, Rodney runs a non-profit organization called Club Meth to Christ. He gives his book Club Meth to Christ free to addicts and prisoners or anyone else who needs one and can’t afford it.
Has life blown up in your face? Reach up. Do you think you’ve fallen too far? Not so.
Williams, Rodney. Club Meth to Christ. Huntsville, AL: Evangel Publications, 2008.
Williams, Rodney. Once an Addict, Now Free! Escatawpa, MS: Club Meth to Christ, 2018.
Story read by: Stephen Holcomb
Introduction read by: Daniel Carpenter
Audio production: Joel Carpenter
Story written by: Toni M Babcock, https://www.facebook.com/toni.babcock.1
Editor: Teresa Crumpton, https://authorspark.org/
Project Manager: Blake Mattocks
Copyright 2020, 365 Christian Men, LLC. All rights reserved.