Touched By Jesus Christ by Justin Katsel
My name is Justin Katsel, and I live in Tacoma,Washington. I was born in Seattle, Washington in Swedish hospital on the 11th of October, 1979. My mother had a tough time with my sister and me. She was battling drug addiction and trying to take care of us on her own. My dad left me when I was very young, I don’t even remember who he was. I still haven’t met him. I’m ok with that now though, because I have a heavenly Father who will never leave me nor forsake me, praise Jesus!
I grew up around drug addicts and alcoholics, and when I was fourteen and a half I started experimenting with marijuana. I soon became a full blown drug addict. I was hooked on all kinds of drugs, my favorite became meth. From the time I was sixteen until I was twenty-two I was a full blown meth freak and I loved it. Sad but true! I remember one time I took so much at once, I lost all common sense; I could barely tie my shoes. I thought I had lost my mind; I was so scared I didn’t take anymore drugs for a couple of weeks. But that didn’t stop me for long. Just like the times I went to jail, and the time I wrecked my car. I was so high, and in a hurry, that I pulled right out in front of someone and got t-boned. When I got out of the car to see if they were alright; the first thing I saw was the driver’s little girl in the back seat strapped in a car seat. I was hardly moved by it though, all I could think about was whether or not I was going to jail. How selfish I was. Now I look back, and thank God that little girl wasn’t hurt.
As the years went on I continued to get more and more into the "fast lane." In the spring of 1999 I moved to Reno Nevada. I got a job at a body shop, prepping cars for painting. I had stopped using meth for a couple of months, only because I didn’t know where to get it. But I continued to smoke pot, because my best friend had a connection right at the shop. It wasn’t long though before we found where the dope man was, so I started using meth again. And of course it doesn’t really matter where I moved, if I wanted drugs bad enough, which I did; I was going to find them.
After a while I ended up moving in with this guy named R.C. We became quick party buddies, and we got high a lot. At this time I was working for Baldini’s Sports Casino as a bus boy in the buffet. I eventually got promoted to the bar department, and worked as a bar back. Things were going well for a drug addict at this point. I had a good job, and plenty of drugs. The funny thing was that R.C. was a Christian who had fallen. But he still kept the faith in Jesus Christ, and God used him to plant a seed in me. Up until that point I was a devout atheist, who believed in some kind of life force which held everything together and of course evolution. But after hearing R.C. talk all night about Jesus I started to believe, of course I was a long way from being a Christian, but a seed had been planted which was cultivated in God’s own time.
When I got back to Tacoma I started living with the people my sister lived with. They were meth-manufacturers, and naturally it pleased me to get caught up in that game. And so I began to help them make the dope, and I was getting absolutely tore up in the process. I thought I was alright, but in reality I was lost and hurting. Sometimes a song would come on the radio which seemed to be about me and I would start to get teary. I didn’t know why, but now I believe it was God preparing my heart. Soon the place I lived got raided, and I went to jail on old warrants. By God’s grace I didn’t get booked for manufacturing.
While in jail God touched my heart, and cultivated that seed I talked about earlier. One day while lying on my bunk in G tank in the Pierce County Annex, I heard the guard call out, “Sign-up for church”. I was about to go back to sleep, until I felt something tug at my heart. So I thought about it for a second and said to myself, “what could it hurt, at least I’d get out of that jail cell for awhile.” Little did I know at the time, that God had bigger and better plans for my life than I could ever dream of. And so I went, and I heard the first sermon I’ve ever heard in my life, and it touched me and gave me a spark of hope. I signed up to get a visit from the chaplain at church, and the chaplain came and saw me that week. I told him a little bit about myself, and he told me about Jesus, and how He could deliver me from the bondage of drug addiction. He gave me some verses to read, and told me he would send a Bible and a study to me called "Born to Win." Soon after I prayed the sinner’s prayer to God and asked Jesus into my heart. I gave my life to Jesus, and began to read His word and do the "Born to Win" study.
Jail went very quickly for me after I gave my life to Jesus. I got released early, however I was sent to Puyallup for an outstanding warrant there. The judge dismissed the case and let me go. I was then expedited to King County for a warrant out of Bellevue. The judge there showed mercy and gave me only ninety days out of a year sentence, plus fined me $5,000 and then suspended the whole thing. She only gave me two years unsupervised probation. And the icing on the cake was that she gave me credit for time served for the thirty-one days I had already served in Pierce County. And I did the rest of my time in a minimum security jail called North Rehabilitation Facility in Shoreline, where I worked on a road crew maintaining Mercer Island parks for $4.25 a day and continued going to church and reading the Bible. Jesus Christ made it possible for me to actually have fun while in jail. Not to say that jail is fun, but that through Jesus Christ all things are possible if you believe.
When I got out of jail God led me straight to the Tacoma Rescue Mission. My mom was currently in the New Life Program, and had rededicated her life to Jesus Christ. I tried to get in the program, but could not; because it was considered a conflict of interest to have mother and son in the program at the same time. I really felt that God wanted me to go through this program, so I waited for my mom to graduate. I was homeless at the time, but God met all my needs. In the mean time I got started on my GED at the Challenge Learning Center at the Tacoma Rescue Mission, since I never got a high school diploma because I dropped out in the eleventh grade. God provided odd jobs for me at times, so I always had plenty of socks and the necessary personal hygiene products. I slept at the missions, and ate there as well. Four months later, after my mom graduated, I got in the program, and continued studying for my GED. One of the instructors there, Garry Carlson, really helped me out with my studies. He helped me to understand concepts of mathematics, which I was really struggling at. But by God’s good grace, I have attained the GED; something which I never thought possible for me, because I was always too busy getting high. As I said before, all things are possible when Jesus Christ is in control of your life.
Now I’ve graduated from the New Life Program, and God has really taught me things about the Christian walk in this program. This is an excellent program, and I recommend it to all people looking for a closer relationship with our God and Savior Jesus Christ and to get off drugs. After I’m done here I plan to get a job and continue to study God’s word. I trust that God will lead me into the ministry He wants me to be in. Right now I am an active member of Cornerstone Baptist in Southhill Puyallup, where I am the “Rovercomer”. You see I dress up in a dog suit and gather the kids out of the congregation and lead them down to their Sunday school class before the service gets started. It’s really fun, and the kids really enjoy it; so do the big kids (“adults”). The most important thing to me now is the relationship I have with Jesus Christ my God and Savior. He’s brought me this far, and I know He’s not finished with me yet or else I wouldn’t be here writing this testimony.
Peace and grace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.