By Chris Thigpen, BRC Alumni 2011 I’ve been out of BRC for about four months and over that period of time I have been awake to the world around me. I take the bus up the street to work and daydream out the window. I see kids walking to school laughing and playing. I see single mothers with babies in their arms and empty stares in their eyes. I see homeless people with signs asking for money, weathered skin and frail bodies from a lifetime of abuse. Then I think about where I was headed a year ago. I can’t help but think about detoxing from heroin in that cold jail cell locked up for 23 hours a day. Spitting at the mirror because I couldn’t stand what I looked like, face all sunken in and my skin just barely covering my bones, the pool of vomit surrounding my bed, and the sound of my mother’s quivering voice on the phone when I told her I needed help. And in a split second I am brought back to reality. I’m two thousand miles from my house, but yet I’m home. By some awesome planthat’s too deep for me to conceive or even fathom. I have been spared, given a new life, given purpose and direction. Gratitude overwhelms me at times when I think about from then to now. I’m reminded how God’s timing is perfect, and yet mysterious. How the stars aligned just for me. How God reached into my dark abyss of a life and dragged me up into the light. I was shown the truth, and the truth is undeniable. I worked the 12 steps fervently, but at the same time the steps worked me. They worked–on me, in me, and through me–for me. I stepped out of my comfort zone and walked into the realm of the unknown where miracles happen. Watch my feet and see me bear witness. Walk with me… -Christopher G. Thigpen

Christopher G. Thigpen is a recovered heroin addict currently living in Austin, TX. He grew up in a small New Hampshire town. He’s wandered across the globe ‘like a rebel without a cause but a heart of gold”. He chose the road less traveled by, and says that’s made all the difference. You can email Chris at thiggy22@hotmail.com.