Issue link: https://cp.revolio.com/i/1524530
14 | WheelsOfGrace.com | #74 FROM THE STREETS OF L.A. TO THE ARMS OF JESUS I was born in Los Angeles into a biker family. My dad is a Vietnam Vet. Some memories I have as a child are, adults dancing in the living room, loud music and motorcycles. I was the bartender for the adults at a young age of around six. My parents divorced a short time after that. My mom married a man, who ended up being my stepfather and raised me the remainder of my childhood. Anyhow about that time we moved into the backwoods of Montana. We attended church regularly and I went to all Royal Rangers activities and functions. I believed in Jesus Christ as my Savior. And I understood the relationship I had with Him. But as time went on, we eventually ended up moving back to Southern California. That's where I began to use drugs heavily. Experimenting with cocaine, LSD and methamphetamine. I still remember my first-time using methamphetamine in a Burger King bathroom on our way to a Motley Crew concert. Since that night I was hooked. Little did I know that, that experience would lead me to a life of crime and multiple years in state penitentiaries throughout California. And multiple in-house residential rehabilitation programs such as Teen Challenge, Youth Challenge, Fort Hope and the Veterans Associations Addiction Treatment programs. I am a combat veteran from Operation Desert Storm United States Navy electrician's mate. Somehow, I managed to be discharged from the US Navy with an honorable discharge even though I was addicted to methamphetamine and alcohol throughout my whole enlistment. I continued to use and sell drugs wherever I was. Methamphetamine had a huge hold on me. I swore I would never escape. I was an intravenous meth and cocaine user. And that further brought me along to places most people can never think of. The testimony of Mike Malan From the time I was about eight years old to sixteen years old I had a great childhood up there in Montana. That's where my relationship with Jesus first started at approximately ten years old. In the years I was raised in Montana, we attended an assembly of God Church, and I was in the Royal Rangers. Although, I still managed to find trouble. I committed my first felony when I was twelve years old.