ADDICTED TO GOD

There are many ways to conquer the demons of addiction: family
support, medical treatment, sheer will power and sometimes even a
prolonged stint behind bars.

For Steve Bradley, the only true salvation from a life of substance
abuse and petty crime is salvation itself. Bradley, a hard-core drunk
and heroin addict for most of his 20s and 30s, hit bottom for the last
time in 1987 while serving time for armed robbery of a local drugstore.

"There I was on my knees in a jail cell with tears streaming down my
face. I realized that in the (previous) 20 years, I had travelled only
a few feet to a different jail cell, and that my life didn't amount to
a hill of beans," Bradley said. "I had to admit that I was a failure,
and at that point I would have rather died than ask for help. I used
to idolize a bubbling hot spoon. That was my god."

Bradley took God into his life soon after an alcohol and drug seminar
at the correctional centre.

"To tell you the truth, I didn't go to hear about religion. I went to
hustle the guy for cigarettes," he said. "But he was a former addict
who had been a Christian for 10 years. I began calling upon the
strength of God through faith and I heard a calling to help fellow
addicts. 'Help these men' is what I heard."

Shortly afterward, Bradley was released from jail and used his
experience to start an organization called Connection to Freedom,
using the word of God to help addicts get clean. Seventeen years
later, Bradley and his ministry are still going strong.

Bradley has worked with youth at the Victoria youth Custody Centre,
held bible-based support groups for inmates at Wilkinson Road jail and
delivered drug and alcohol awareness talks to school-aged kids for
more than a decade.

He is planning to deliver the first of what he hopes will be many
workshop lectures at the Mustard Seed, hopefully in late September.
He's also written and self-published an addictions recovery workbook
aimed at helping sinners along the road to redemption.

"I've mostly just used my experience. Other addicts seem to relate to
me because I've been there," said Bradley, who has no formal training
as a counsellor. "We use totally and only the bible."

In person, Bradley hardly looks the part of a preacher. Dressed in
shorts, runners and a button-down short-sleeved shirt, he's wiry and
fit for a man in his 50s.

But there are permanent lines on his face that will never go away, a
testament to hard times now so far in the past. A shoulder tattoo of a
broken heart with a hole in it serves as a permanent reminder of the
pain that led him down the path toward self-destruction as a teenager.
"It symbolizes how I felt after my dad died of cancer when I was 16,"
he said. "All my life I wanted to lash out for the way I felt the
world had dealt me some bad cards. Now I've learned how to talk about
my feelings."

While Bradley's addictions recovery workbook is heavily laden with
biblical messages, the most compelling parts are quotes and poems from
other addicts, some who survived and some who did not.

"I've lived on the streets since I was 16. All my friends are now six
feet under. For me alcohol is a slower death than doing drugs," wrote
Greg who died of alcohol poisoning in 1990.

"I always seem to be in a constant battle against my drinking, to try
and win my children back," wrote Melissa, who died due to
alcohol-related violence in 1997.

Bradley, who used his own money to self-published the book, is hoping
to sell enough copies to make his money back, despite catering to a
market that has little money for such frills.

"Addicts can afford to buy this book. Maybe they have to give up one
fix to get the book, but that's the whole point," he said.

For more information call 370-9341.