It has already been five years since I got on my bicycle for the first of one hundred consecutive days of riding in an effort to find peace and clarity in the face of the adversity of my son’s heroin addiction.
The past five years have provided me a myriad of powerful lessons, challenging experiences, and incredible gifts. I have been blessed to have traveled this challenging, yet incredibly transformational road.
Instead of sharing my thoughts on these experiences in writing, I captured them in a brief video conversation. Hope you will listen and enjoy.
“I can go all things through Christ who strengthens me.” (Phillipians 4:13 NKJV)
Wishing you blessing and peace!
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Is your child addicted to drugs or alcohol? Are you trapped on the emotional rollercoaster of addiction? Dave Cooke can help. He’s an internationally recognized speaker who has made it his commitment to minister to parents struggling with addiction in their families. His powerfully insightful, faith based approach to the challenges of addiction have inspired and educated thousands across the country.
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David, did your boy have the opportunity to come home for Christmas? I want you to know this David your son loves you very much. One thing that will never change is a sons love for his father and how important it is to have his father proud of him. He will worry that the addiction stigma will prevent you from ever forgiving him or to accept him before he got sick. I am looking forward to the new year of 2016. Two weeks before my father died while riddled with cancer he called me at the inpatient rehabilitation facility I was attending. For five minutes on speaker phone he unleashed a 100 F-bombs and called me useless drug addict scum bag. When he was done I F-bombed him and blamed him for my addiction. My father died 2 wks later of cancer. That conversation I will never forget. That stigma prevented my fathers love and pride from ever forgiving me. Because that call was on speaker phone it enlightened a psychiatrist on how to help me.
Thanks for the concern and encouragement. I am sorry you and your father had that exchange and it was the final conversation. One thing that I have never wavered in the conversations with my son are how much I love him and how much I believe in his ability to embrace recovery. He knows his family will always love him. And, his family knows he loves us. I personally know how destructive family can be with a challenging member and have always made it appoint to emphasize the power love has in all the issues that can come up in the family dynamic. Yes, we had a very good holiday. Peace and blessings!