I start this New Year with a deep sense of gratitude. Almost 20 years ago today I was homeless, addicted to both alcohol and drugs, broke, and totally demoralized. On the 14th of this month it will be 20 years ago that I walked into a detoxification center determined to change my life.

God was good to me. After 11 days in that detoxification center I was released to start a new life in a halfway house. My stay at the center was a watershed event in my life. While there I admitted I was powerless over alcohol and nearly every other substance I put in my body. I started going to twelve-step meetings and paying attention to what was said. And it's amazing the course my life has taken since then.

After I left that program I spent a year in a halfway house in Mesa, Arizona. I'm eternally grateful to the folks who managed that program because it was the beginning of a new life. I worked for six months at menial jobs. I rode bicycles and buses. I found a job that allowed me to purchase an old car. After nearly a year I decided to start my own halfway house and found an old property I purchased with no money down.

I started taking in addicts and alcoholics who needed help. I was working another job and putting my money into that program. Before long I had 10 residents, then 20, then 50. Within a year and a half there were nearly 300 people living at TLC. Obtaining property and finding beds and feeding so many people was a challenge. But I remained sober through it all. Not only did I remain sober, my life continued to get better.

In fact, it seemed that staying sober was the easy part. I was going to meetings on a regular basis, I was helping others, and had a mission: to help addicts and alcoholics rebuild their lives. Only once was I tempted to use drugs. I got on my knees and asked God for help. Within hours the urge left and I've never had that experience again.

When I got sober I didn't suddenly get smarter or become brilliant. For a moment I had that delusion. But my sponsor told me I hadn't gotten any smarter; he said that I might even have become dumber. He said what did happen is I got out of my own way and was living the way God intended.

My personal life, my program, and my business all grew. It happened because I got clean and sober.