My Life Before Jesus

A man survives a drug overdose.

I met Kevin Hutton at a church social event on a Sabbath a few months ago. I did not recognize him as a member of the church, and I wanted to become acquainted. From our first conversation, I understood that he had learned from Scripture that Saturday was the Sabbath, that the dead do not ascend to heaven when they die and many doctrines we hold as Seventh-day Adventists. Soon after meeting with him, we started Bible studies together and he is preparing to join the church. As I sat listening to his amazing story, I asked him to share some of the highlights of how he came to know the Lord. 

—Mike Bauler

As an eight-year-old, I listened to my older brother recite Luke 19:10. “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” We didn’t go to church much as kids. I heard about a kingdom in heaven, but never invested in treasure there. Jesus knocked at my heart’s door, but I never answered. The years of my past were marked with loneliness, confusion, anger and pain. But the Bible verse my brother taught me stayed in my mind. 

I became a hateful, proud drunk who struggled with drug addiction. I broke all of God’s laws and cared only about myself. But I loved my older brother very much, and we stayed close through the years.

Unfortunately, he struggled with drug addiction too. When I didn’t hear from my brother for several days, I went looking for him. I found him—dead—a victim of heroin overdose. My body wracked in pain and shock; I felt a surge of anger as I blamed God. At my brother’s funeral, I chose Luke 19:10 for the verse and listened mechanically to the familiar line.

I plunged deeper into my addictions. One day, I knew that I was dying of a heroin overdose too. As I crossed the living room floor of my house, I felt myself slipping away. I didn’t call out for help. I stumbled over to my chair without a word. “It doesn’t matter where I go after death as long as I don’t have to look at this world anymore,” I thought. Maybe death would break me free from my chains.

Everything went pitch black as I lost consciousness. I woke up to an EMT standing over me. 

“He’s brain dead,” the guy said.

“I am not brain dead,” I argued.

I had been unconscious for eight hours. I feel that I must have died. I was brought to the ambulance and then the hospital. I was in bad shape. The doctors found that I was septic, had pneumonia and my heart was in atrial fibrillation (an electrical dysfunction of the heart which causes an irregular heartbeat.). I breathed only with assistance.

When I woke up in the ICU the next day, I felt different. One thing I noticed is that I didn’t have cravings for alcohol or drugs. I felt a hunger for spiritual food. In my heart, I opened the door and let Christ in.

From that day forward, I began reading the Bible. It brought back the memory of my beloved brother teaching me the words of Luke 19:10.

My life is different now. God has made me a new creature. Where once I saw despair, I now see hope. I see a light that never goes out—even in my darkest times.  

Location
USA

Author
Kevin Hutton lives in Martinsburg West Virginia. He is studying to be a member of the Seventh-day Adventist church. 

How You Can Help
Pray that God will keep Kevin faithful to the truth and be used by God to bring others to know Jesus.