Garst Peterson was paid Incredible amounts of money, but worked pretty much 24/7, had no time for family or fun, was constantly sleep deprived – and alcohol had become a major problem. (Complete interview podcast)
Garst was a powerful corporate player, very successful working at high-tech companies in the San Francisco Bay Area.
“A somewhat unfulfilling career, although I made more money than I ever thought I would make, and I was really, really fortunate in doing that. But it came with many, many costs to me.”
So much of his life was out-of-balance, including his marriage, which ended.
“In the absence of faith and turning to God and relying on God, I chose to self-medicate and use alcohol to try to alleviate my fears, alleviate the stress, alleviate my concerns, and that ultimately led to a real problem in my life.”
The change begins
In time, Garst moved far from the influence of Silicon Valley into rural northern California, where there’s a whole different feel and pace.
In a new marriage, “I turned toward God and began to seek him, began to pray. The first thing I did was in the morning I would pray, my head hit the pillow at night, I would pray. And by that time, I was still drinking as well.”
A desperate life & death appeal to God
“And I remember at one point praying at night saying, ‘God, if you're real, God, if you're there, I need you and I need you now!’ And I said, ‘but if you have nothing else for me, if you have nothing else you need me for in this life or in this world, that I'm okay if I don't wake up in the morning.’
And I was 100% serious in that I was done with drinking. I was done with the way I felt, I was done with the lifestyle I was living and all the trappings of that. And I was just at a really desperate place in my life. And I just prayed to God that if you've had enough of what you needed me to do here, I'm okay with not waking up in the morning.
And of course, I woke up that morning, here I am today, and began my journey shortly thereafter to get sober and find help through my faith that was growing through Jesus and through a great faith-based program called Celebrate Recovery.”
Clearly, Garst now knew that God had more for him to do in this life
These days, Garst is comfortably retired and serving as a seasoned volunteer at the Good News Rescue Mission in Redding.
“And what I do today is volunteer helping out in the academic center. I help out with men who a lot of them are recently off the streets, recently released from prison or jail. Many have backgrounds of violence and drug use and just extreme challenges in their life. And the Mission gives them an opportunity for shelter, for sustenance, for faith, for work, opportunities, for education. It is just such a well-rounded, wonderful program and it just affects the lives of so many people who find themselves in really desperate situations.”
In our complete podcast interview (just below), Garst shares the life and heart-change that has come with having a relationship with Jesus.
Before his first sessions as a Rescue Mission volunteer mentor, “I was quite honestly, pretty trepidatious about going in there. I just didn't know what I was going to face and who I was going to encounter. I knew of, at a high level, the profile of the people I would encounter there and those, to be very frank with you - those are people that I would not have associated with in my prior life. Those are people I would walk past without looking at them twice or drive past them, or people I would want to get away from.
And what I came to realize very quickly is... these are the least of these. (Matthew 25:40) These are the people that Jesus called us to help. And these are some of the most welcoming, gracious people I have encountered in my life. And it dawned on me rather quickly what an opportunity I had missed by looking past some people.”
Doing good, getting involved
If you have ever considered using your skills and faith to help others, volunteering at a local Rescue Mission or other faith-based service group can make a huge difference in your own life.
As Garst says, “I am just so grateful for where I am today, and I'm just so grateful to God for changing my life, and I'm just so grateful for the opportunity to serve others and try to do some good in this world … I get so much out of helping them. I certainly believe I get more out of it in helping them than they do in receiving my help.”
Good News Rescue Mission Action Statement
We believe in the radical and unconditional love of the Father. A love so profound Jesus would pronounce forgiveness over the most unworthy, the most shameful and the most broken.
We believe in the power of the Holy Spirit to fill us with a love so deep, people can tangibly experience the love of God through us.
We believe without love nothing else matters, for the absence of love is the absence of God.
And what we believe defines how we live, because all of humanity needs to know the radical nature of the Father’s love.