Hello KTC family! I really do love you all, more than I can express. This community has saved my life, and the ripples keep on going today. It has been a high honor to serve in the administration of the site. With lots of new and exciting things happening in my life, my home and community, I believe it is the right time for me to step aside and pass the torch to other very capable hands. This is simply retiring from the admin position; I’m not going anywhere y’all.
Here’s a little update of how my life has been going since I joined this awesome community. Quit dipping in January of 2016 with support from all you fine folks. I think of you all more like family than a support community. It didn’t take long until I was all in. Working with new quitters, digging through the history of the site, late nights in the chat room, text, groupme, facebook, and so on and so forth. And the in-person quitter meets. Those are the best.
After almost two years of that, I recognized that I had somewhat of a drinking problem, so on the morning of November 6, 2017, I posted day 1 in alcohol quit. My phone blew up with support, and off we went. My bride later remarked to a friend, “I always knew that if Reuben ever quits drinking, it’s for real. Not try, try again.” And it was for real, thanks to everything I learned from 2 years of quitting on the KTC. I joined a support community for alcohol, and my life was gradually getting better.
About six months later, on May 17, 2018, I attended an event called Men’s Encounter. I didn’t really know what it was about, and didn’t really know why I was driving 4 hours to get there. Some dude had invited me and said it’s pretty cool and they have good food. It was out of this world awesome… 48 hours in the presence of God. Essentially what happened for me was I got rid of all my old junk, most of which I didn’t even know I was carrying around, and got fired up for Jesus. Now it’s only getting better, with no sign of simmering out. I’ve been to both of their men’s events since then, taking friends who in turn took more friends. My bride has been to both of their ladies events since then, also taking friends with her. Our marriage has improved to the point where it is unrecognizable from where we were six months ago, with no sign of slowing down. Encounter Ministry is now starting an outreach location in our town, with my bride and me as leaders. We will meet once a week for praise and worship, testimony, and small group time. This will help to keep everybody connected and fired up, and a resource to bring new people in. Lives are being changed all around us, and it’s only the beginning. All God’s work, we could never have orchestrated something like this. We’re just happy to be in it.
Once things get humming with Encounter, I hope to spend more time here again, popping into the new groups, hitting up the chat room, checking on the old timers, and so forth. The KTC community is really a lot of the same stuff I’m doing with Encounter, people helping people. Supporting each other, lifting each other up when we’re down. Getting real about our problems. Taking off our masks and getting our issues worked out.
I love you all. Hit me up any time.
