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First-year cadet offers his personal testimony.
By Kelly Berggren, Cadet
I had a normal childhood, if drinking at 7 years old is normal. My parents were alcoholics so I would mix one for them and one for me. I did not realize 7-year-olds were not supposed to like the taste and feel of whisky.
In the sixth grade my teacher said I would be the first one in junior high to use drugs. I didn’t tell him I already was an alcoholic and a drug addict.
There was always a void in my heart that I was trying to fill. Being adopted at birth, I would blame it on that, not yet realizing that the void was not knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
I joined the Navy thinking this would help me, but wherever you go that’s where you are. After being discharged, I started a career in restaurant management. I married a wonderful woman and soon had a beautiful daughter. We had a house with a white picket fence, and from the outside all looked okay.
Inside was a different story. All the dysfunction I grew up with was now in our home. The marriage ended in divorce and I lost my job. I left to start a new career in sales—the sale of methamphetamines. After a few years of being in and out of the local jail, I was sent to prison.
When I was released and stranded along the freeway, I called out to God. I simply said, “I do not want to live this way anymore.” Within minutes a truck driver pulled over to give me a ride. I ended up at The Salvation Army Hope House in Medford, Ore., a transitional living center. This was God’s answer to my plea.
While there I was involved in Bible study, and I accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. I started working and thought I would just go on with my life, but this was not God’s plan for me.
I had a good job managing a restaurant, but because of my past sin I was let go. I was discouraged. When I stopped at the Hope House to say hi, the director asked if I would work there. This was not in my plans. I wanted to politely say no, but instead I said I would love to. God knew more of what I needed than I did. I was not drinking or using drugs for the first time in my life; I even quit smoking. I knew God was truly working in my life.
Then I was diagnosed with cancer. I do not recommend cancer as a way of allowing God to work in your life, but for me it was exactly what I needed. I had given my heart to Christ, but I hadn’t surrendered my life. There was still unrepented sin in my heart, the sin of arrogance.
Dealing with cancer, God began to show me who was really in charge, and it wasn’t me. By the grace of God I was healed of cancer. I went back to work, now sharing the gospel and my testimony with all the residents who would listen. I started leading the Bible study—the same one that led me to Christ. Yes, through Christ we have salvation, but now I was learning the joy and peace that comes in knowing our Lord.
About a year ago I was asked if I would be interested in attending officer training. I smiled and said, “I am much too old!” Again, God had better plans. I am now at Crestmont, and God is continuing the good work he started in me.
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