An Unexpected Gift
“Now that sounds like a warm and fuzzy, cool thing to do around Christmas time.” That’s what Rob Dalton thought as he heard the announcement for volunteers to visit men at the Nashville Rescue Mission. “Sure, I’d be glad to help someone out. Of course, as long as it didn’t take too much time and I didn’t have to go too far out of my way to get the requested Christmas gift.”
Rob signed up and made the trip to the mission and, according to Dalton, he will probably never miss doing it again. “Before meeting my assigned new friend and giving him my gift, we listened to a great message of hope that anyone could benefit from. The names were called out one by one and it was time to meet the person I was going to help with my incredible act of goodwill and generosity,” he laughed.
“His name is William Wallace and I will never forget him,” Rob continued. “He had requested a MacArthur Study Bible or a tie. Being such a generous giver, I, of course, gave him both.” They sat down together and William began to tell Rob his story.
William was from Chattanooga where he owned a construction company at one time. What started out as seemingly harmless drinking escalated into the occasional cocaine use. Recreational use turned into selling equipment used in his construction business to satisfy the insatiable appetite that addiction demands. Once all of his equipment was gone, he sold his truck. With no business equipment left and no business for that matter, he sold his $140,000 home for $30,000 cash.
He took the cash and went to a hotel, paid for six months in advance. He also purchased four ounces of cocaine and some “friends.” Knowing that he had sold his house and had a substantial amount of cash on him, his dealer paid a visit to his hotel room. When William opened the door, there stood his dealer, a couple of guys he did not know and a 12-year-old boy.
They demanded the money from him or they were going to beat him senseless. The guys delivered on their promise and beat him almost unconscious. The guys were part of a Katrina street gang from New Orleans, and the 12-year-old boy was there as part of an initiation to the gang. One of the guys put a revolver in the little boy’s hand. They put one bullet in the gun, shut the chamber, spun it and pulled the trigger, all in a matter of seconds.
William heard the click of the hammer and realized that he was still alive. “That sound will never go away,” he told Dalton. “And that was what started the change of my life.”
They got away with nearly $20,000 he had. And William took himself to the hospital, though they wouldn’t release him unless he disclosed who it was that beat him so severely.
He barely had enough money to buy a bus ticket, but knew he had to leave town. When he got off the bus in Nashville he had no idea where to go or what to do. A lady approached him and told him of the Nashville Rescue Mission and that he could get help there. She also told him that he was going to meet Jesus. He thought she was nuts. Even still, he did go to the mission and within two days he dropped to his knees and asked Jesus to take over his life.
“As I sat there listening, it didn’t take long to realize that I was the one who received the gift,” Dalton explained. “It is a gift of perspective and that hope is alive and working among us. You see, I too am an addict and lost everything. I came to the realization that I can live by the grace of God each day if I choose to let Him take over. If left to my own decisions and fleshly desires, that would still be my story. Even as an addict, the beauty is that every day is a new beginning in Christ Jesus.”
