Life after military service

I spent almost 10 years in the Army after high school. When I got out, I went to college. After that, I spent about seven years working for the Boy Scouts of America as an executive, serving Grays Harbor and Pacific counties. Later, through family connections, I went to work for a pest control company. After doing that, I didn’t really have to work.

For years, I was in a relationship with someone, and it went south almost overnight. It was bad—really overnight. I walked away with nothing but the boots, pants, and T-shirt I was wearing.

Life at the Mission

Dale from Lighthouse Mission took me in.

Suddenly, I had a roof over my head. I had food. I had people who cared about me.

I know from real life—that’s an investment. People were investing in me at that point.

After a few days, I started talking with the program staff, the intake staff, and the case managers. I remember thinking, I want to do this.

So from September through October, I cleaned the men’s restroom twice a day. I scrubbed the entire floor with soap, water, and a push broom. I cleaned the inside and outside of every toilet and every urinal.

When I first arrived at the new facility, they gave me a bed assignment. I wasn’t in the larger dorm with 70 or 80 other beds. They placed me in one of the smaller dorms with just five beds.

I thought, Wow. Okay.

As an only child from a dual-income family, I didn’t mind having fewer people around. That didn’t bother me one bit.

I figured, I’m going to keep earning my keep.

I wanted to work in the kitchen, so I met Chef Fortune. I found out there was literally nobody showing up to wash dishes or clean pots and pans. I really thought maybe that was where I was going to end up.

It didn’t work out that way, but that’s fine.

Finding a Home

Then the Opportunity Council’s housing agent for veterans told me I had a home.

I got housing in July.

About three months later, I got a job here at Lighthouse Mission.

That’s when I realized I could keep working alongside all my friends.

Not only that, but I get to have a job that is incredibly humane and Christian. Christ’s teachings—how He saw life and how we ought to live—that’s what matters to me.

What also matters is that all my friends here feel the same way. More importantly, they live that way. They have the courage to live out what their hearts are telling them.

They’re not the kind of people who walk past someone they think looks sketchy on a street corner.

It’s different for them, and it’s different for me.

It’s different for all of us.

Everybody here, all day long, 24 hours a day, is doing Christ’s work.