Where God has put me

Stephen Freeman describes his old life as hell, but after a long road he’s now trying to help people escape the same life.

I trained as a carpenter, then spent 20 years blasting and spray painting ships in Dunedin. I had to stop because I was seriously unwell. I had major drug and alcohol issues. My marriage split up—my wife thought I’d gone mad. Eventually, I was diagnosed with solvent neurotoxicity. I was addicted to solvents in the spray paint and I didn’t know it. That led to my drug and alcohol issues.

ACC sent me to The Vincentian Centre in Christchurch to get clean. I hated Canterbury, because I was from Otago. The centre was like an island in a desert, because I knew no one and nothing in Christchurch. I knew if I left I’d end up back where I was before—in hell. That was 12 years ago and I haven’t had a drink or done drugs since.

I first encountered God there. I met The Salvation Army through an Alcoholics Anonymous group. Then I decided I wanted to explore a bit more about God. My son and grandson lived across from Sydenham Corps, so to pluck up courage I grabbed my four-year-old grandson and said, ‘Come on, you’re coming to church.’ That’s how I got in the door and the love of the people and the peace I found changed my life.

After the February 2011 earthquake, [Auxiliary Captain] Eric Turner rang me—he had lots of people coming in saying, ‘What can we do to help?’, so he asked if I’d start a DALTA (Deliberate Acts of Love to All) group.

At first it was a lot of liquefaction work. One couple had been stuck in their house for two days – the liquefaction was so high they couldn’t get out. One lady, her bath fell through the floor, all the pipes were leaking and her whole garden was overgrown.

We just want to give people a blessing. We clear sections, do building, cut firewood. We built a garden for severely intellectually handicapped children at Ferndale school—that was special.

We work four days a week,  starting with a morning devotion and working till mid afternoon. The guys are often unemployed, so it’s about giving them a work ethic, experience in team work and working with tools. We act as a referee for future employment, which is so cool.

Some are from addictions, or the Army’s Addington Men’s Hostel, some are community service workers. Many have come to a pretty bad place in their lives. We try to keep an eye on our people and make them feel loved and worth it.

We get people who are so anxious and withdrawn they don’t speak to anybody. A couple of months here and they come out of their shells. It’s an amazing transformation and an honour to be involved.

It blows me away that every day I come in there are guys here before me. As a carpenter in Christchurch I could have another regular job these days, but this is where God’s put me and it’s such a privilege.

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By Stephen Freeman (c) 'War Cry' magazine, 30 April 2016, pp 9
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