TULSA, Okla. — For years, Scooter Lewis spent day and night on the streets of Oklahoma.
Now, he’s sharing his change of fate in hopes of inspiring others to do the same.
“I’ve been worth quite a bit of money and I’ve had a lot of assets in my life,” said Lewis. “What happened was when I got to the highest point of my career, what I was chasing and what I thought life was about, I realized when I got there, I was the most unhappiest and I was just so depressed… When I got to the top, I spiraled.”
Lewis said it was at this point he found a drug addiction, and in an instant, his life changed.
It was a decade cycle of being homeless and hopeless, he said. He would get clean, find housing, break his sobriety, and end up right back where he started. Rinse, lather, repeat.
“When the sun comes up, you’re like, ‘here we go again,’” he said. “For some reason, we like to operate in the dark. We like to be where we can’t be seen, but when you’re in the light. There’s something about being in the light. You have to accept things and see things that make you think about where you’re at.”
Even in the light, Lewis said it seemed impossible for him to pull himself out of this hole. So he chose to find other ways to fill it.
“Honestly, I’d wake up if I even slept, and I would just wander around to the point where I wasn’t taking care of myself again,” said Lewis. “I didn’t care. I didn’t care what happened.”
It was that apathy and lack of drive for life that sent Lewis on his way back to stability.
After a day of using, Lewis found himself on his way to jail.
“The whole time I was in my cell that had a bible on my desk, but I never read it,” he said. “I never read it one time because I didn’t believe in God really, because I’m thinking, how can you live a life like this if there’s a God? But what I found out is that’s not true at all, he’s waiting for you, he never left you actually.”
Lewis’s lawyer fought for him, and he was released. At that point, Lewis became connected to the Salvation Army.
He worked their six-month rehabilitation and work program and gave his life over to his faith.
“I was a highly explosive personality, just I was a very aggressive person, high energy person that intimidated people that pushed people away,” said Lewis. “The only way I got here was Jesus Christ. There is nothing that could have pulled me out of the situation I was in besides Jesus.”
It’s been a little over a year, but Lewis has a permanent position with the Salvation Army. He is the night watch manager and connects with the people on the streets because he knows them.
Because he once was them.
He said he has even started preaching, to try to save others in desperation.
“Today, what I have is enough,” he said. ”That’s why I know that I went through what I went through at that point in time. When God called me, I wasn’t chasing the dollar. I was chasing a calling. I know no amount of money is going to make me happy. No material things in my life are going to make me happy. It’s the calling of God and serving other people.”
With a new purpose, Lewis said he is living a completely different life – one he didn’t think was possible for someone like him.
“Every day I wake up and I know that God has something big planned for me,” he said. “As long as I get out of that bed, as long as I move forward, that he is going to do amazing things in my life not just some days, it’s every day.”
Stay in touch with us anytime, anywhere --
- Download our free app for Apple, Android and Kindle devices.
- Sign up for daily newsletters emailed to you
- Like us on Facebook
- Follow us on Instagram
- SUBSCRIBE on YouTube
