My Glass is Finally Full - By John Leone
/As a young boy at the age of 8 years old, I was told that I had to find a part time job after school and weekends to supplement my family’s income. The year was 1943 and a world war was raging. I found work peddling newspapers, shining shoes, and mopping floors. I was a happy kid and loved work and helping my family. This work ethic lasted me all my life. At 18 years old, my first full time job was driving a truck for my father, who owned several trucks and rented an unheated garage in the Tremont area. When business was slow, I went to work anyway and found an old, used desk, got a telephone, and started calling contractors offering them our services.
Fast forward 20 years, I was the CEO of a successful corporation, employing 100-150 employees with 5 different divisions and a dozen sister corporations. I sported fancy cars, yachts, three homes, and traveled to faraway places. I was involved in political campaigns, attended White House functions, and had presidential appointments. Yet somehow, I felt incomplete, and none of my toys or accomplishments seemed to satisfy me. I was like a glass half full searching to be complete.
Then, at a New Year’s Eve party in Florida, I thought I finally found what really made me feel good and could take away all the stress, fatigue, and business worries. The two words that changed my life forever were “try this” as an acquaintance poured three lines of a white powdery substance on the bar top.
Welcome, John, to the life of addiction!
The power of drugs is awesome, and it was like someone took out my hard drive and replaced it with one belonging to someone else. I was a totally different human being, thinking and acting like someone I couldn’t recognize. I now had one thing only on my mind, and it was not family, friends, business, or community service. It was getting high, partying, and being sure I always had a stash on hand no matter the hour or the cost. I was a slave to my drug of choice and a half dozen treatment centers and family interventions met with little success. I reached my bottom only after my arrest and started to rebuild my life from scratch in prison, when I met True Freedom Ministries’ Gary Koly and heard the testimonies of people like Frank Sinito and Mike Swiger. I became a faithful member of all their programs and was mentored by the volunteers for many years through their faith-based mentorship program.
They went to my parole hearings, consoling my family members, and wrote passionate letters for me. I have been released now for 18 months, and the Lord has given me a joyful and abundant life.
What are the ingredients for parole and a successful transition, you ask?
Jesus, my Lord and Savior, a good family or support network, and True Freedom Ministries Prison Programming.
On June 1st I will celebrate 27 years of a godly and sober lifestyle.
My glass is now full, and I am complete. I found what I was searching for all those years.
Would you prayerfully consider making a monthly or one-time gift to help us meet and fulfill the mission to which God has called us?
