Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: And before we kind of delve into your story, there is something which is happening this Saturday.
So do you want to share what's going on where people need to be?
[00:00:10] Speaker B: And this is Azza, by the way.
[00:00:12] Speaker A: Azza? Yep.
[00:00:13] Speaker C: It's not happening this Saturday. It's happening on Saturday, the 10 August. So we've got a couple of weeks to go. We'll be at Salvation army in calling up. That's on the corner of Reed street and Wilmot Ave, I believe.
And I'll be sharing my testimony, which we'll obviously speak a little bit about now, but just a testimony of really coming out of 21 years of drug addiction, criminality involves some time in Heikea prison and stuff like that. But I'll be sharing my testimony.
I've shared my testimony a few times. And I'm not gonna really concentrate on the abuse that happened when I was young or the things that happened in my family. I'm going to talk about the. From the point of coming out of rehab and meeting Jesus and my walk through to now. And this testimony is going to be a little bit different as well because some of it's going to be done in song. We've got unique revival fire going to come along. And there's a couple of songs I've wrote, really about this journey of meeting Jesus and moving from this real lonely struggle and then coming to the Lord and really finding prosperity and life within the Lord.
So, yeah, that'll be on Saturday, August 10.
We want as many people to come as possible. If you know someone struggling with addiction, this will be the one to bring them to you. I'm also going to share the services that help me.
A lot of the counseling services, the detox facility, the rehab center, some of the programs like man up that I went to. And of course, finding unique and even the Salvation army zone positive lifestyle program. That was one of the first programs I fell into when I came out of addiction at the very same center. In calling up that my testimony nights going to be in, which is pretty amazing. So I'll be sharing all those services as well. So if you know someone struggling in addiction, that could be any type of addiction, this. This would be the one to bring into.
[00:02:19] Speaker A: That sounds awesome. So do you want to take us to. Like you said, your testimony kind of starts when you left the rehab, right? So do you have a background of faith or.
[00:02:34] Speaker C: Growing up, my mom actually went to Bible college and all those sorts of things.
[00:02:37] Speaker A: Oh, wow.
[00:02:38] Speaker C: And when we were young, tried to drag us off to church and Sunday school and these type of things as mothers in the Lord do.
And I remember going when we were really young, but once we sort of got. Got our own agency, I guess I'll call it. As kids, you're too busy for church, no matter, you know, what. What's going on. You're always off with your friends, and life was a bit different than it is now. We'd be gone on our push bikes on Friday afternoon and be able to come home on Saturday or Sunday, you know, stay over friends houses and all that. No problem at all.
So church kind of fell away, obviously, when we were young, and my dad was never in the church. My dad is like, if I could baptize my dad tomorrow, he would stand as one, as the perfect, most christian man you would ever see.
[00:03:27] Speaker A: Oh, wow.
[00:03:28] Speaker C: He does everything like, he's a real provider, and he's a giver. He's a great man.
He's always looked after his family.
I always tell him, we've only just got to baptize you, dad, and you're there because he's a perfect mandehethere. He'd be the perfect man in Christ, but he's never been with the Lord our whole, you know, like, our whole life. And so, yeah, I kind of knew that the Lord was important when I was young. Oh, actually, that's a lie. My mum used to tell me, the Lord was important when you're young. But we don't listen, do we?
[00:04:00] Speaker A: No, absolutely not.
[00:04:01] Speaker C: You know, being the age I am now, looking back, I'm thinking, man, mom was right.
And I would imagine if you, you know, how different things would have been if I would have, you know, kept my faith at a young age.
But unfortunately, it wasn't to be, you know, like, one of those things that look back and regret now, but, yeah. Yeah, it's amazing. I was actually thinking just on the way here, that very line, you know what? Mum was right, and she was at a young age.
You know, you'll find yourself in the church. Church is, you know, the church is where we're meant to be. And it took me, like, you know, another 40 years after that to find the church again.
[00:04:43] Speaker A: So what rehab were you in just before you encountered God?
[00:04:50] Speaker C: I was in quite a few. I was with the drug and alcohol withdrawal network from St. John of God hospital, and I was on the drug court program. So I'd been locked up in Hakeem Prison. I'm facing a lengthy jail terminal. I've been caught with way too much drugs to actually get off with anything but a custodial sentence this time. And the judge told me that. She said, you're going away at least two years or something.
You're going to have to go away this time. And I heard about this program, drug court. So I got on the drug court program, and it was through that program they started putting this holistic care package around me. They gave me cats, officer, which was just someone to start directing how my life needed to start changing. They were the ones who set me up with positive lifestyle program at Salvation army, but they set me up with this place called. They're called dawn, and that stands for the drug and alcohol withdrawal network. I still remember my counselor's name. She was a lovely lady called Sally. And even in the early days, while I was waiting for a bed in rehab, I used to love my 1 hour with Sally. I think it was like once a fortnight, because she was a real happy, chirpy, funny person. And I would spend my whole counseling session just laughing.
I would walk into her office, just come out of this crazed world of dealing drugs and stressed and broken and, you know, like, it's just a real crazy world. And I'll sit in her office, and I would just laugh for an hour with her. And it was so. I still remember it to this day. It was so important for me. And so Sally ended up getting me a bed in the serenity withdrawal unit down here in Rockingham. And so I did my withdrawal there.
When I went on to withdraw was the first time that I hadn't been on drugs every day for at least three or four years. So I'd had drugs every day. And now I'm in this withdrawal unit, and they've taken everything off me.
I've got no contact with no one.
But most importantly, I've got no drugs that I can take. And not many people ask in the withdrawal unit. While I was in there, four people came in, and all four never made it. I was the only one who made the whole 14 days withdrawal. You know, now when you come out of withdrawal, they meant to put you in a. They try and find you a rehab bed in rehab. But a bed wasn't ready for me yet, so I had to go home.
And what happened is, smart me, I left the withdrawal unit, and I was like, man, I've got no money. I'm just gonna, you know, go collect some of the money I made. I've got money owed to me all over through Rockingham, Kwanana, here, all over the place. First place I went to didn't have no money. So what did they do? They gave me drugs. Here, take the drugs and go sell them. And I was, like, thinking, yeah, I'm strong now. I've been off 14 days. I'll go and just sell this. And so I left there, and I went to a few houses, tried to sell it, and they'd already had stuff and didn't actually get rid of it, and I went home. And so what ended up happening? I relapsed straight away. So I just spent my first two weeks, or 1st, 14 days off drugs in the last God knows how many years, and I've gotten home and I've just relapsed straight away.
What ended up happening is I rang my daughter and she said, I told her what happened. I said, look, I've just been in, you know, this withdrawal unit, and I said, I've come out and I've just relapsed straight away. And I was just telling. I was having this meaningful conversation. I said, I'm gonna die here.
There's no hope for this. And she just said, dad, lock your door up and you come and live with me. Just lock your door now. And she lived pretty far away, like, way up north of the river. And so I rang a friend who came around to my house. I gave the whole bag of drugs that I had in my hand to my friend, and I just jumped on the train, and I went to my daughter's. So I did my rehab through dawn network at home, but at my daughter's house, because I couldn't do it at my house all the time. And I spent my first nine months clean.
Might have been close to a year at my daughter's, rehabbing at her house. I knew no one in that area. No one had no one around me to buy drugs off.
[00:08:37] Speaker B: And awesome.
[00:08:38] Speaker C: And this is the one daughter of mine, Caitlin Sinai. And she's the one daughter that, when I was on drugs, never really wanted anything to do with me.
So I'm thankful that she's the one that stepped up, because her house just ended up being the perfect place for me to be.
[00:08:53] Speaker B: I was awesome.
[00:08:54] Speaker C: Just disassociated from everyone. I had to delete everyone off my phones when I came. When I walked into rehab, I walked in there with four phones and three tablets. I think thinking like, that, I'm gonna have these on me. And they just took them all straight.
And when I came out, the first thing that I did, because these are all the different tools that I'm using for my drug network.
[00:09:13] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, that's your income.
[00:09:17] Speaker C: I know different counts. And I'm contacting people on different tablets and I just walked out and I just, like, I just reset them all.
[00:09:24] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:09:25] Speaker C: And I deleted all my Facebook accounts. I deleted everything, and I just started again. And I had two friends when I started, and one was Chevy, my current partner, because she heard I was in rehab and she sent a message to me. So she's the only one that I friended from my past, and the other one was my sister, I think. So I started with two friends again. Disassociation is key. Yeah, disassociation is the key. And I proved that when I walked out, because I walked out, didn't I? And I went and associated, the first house I associated with, I relapsed straight away. And so, yeah, I was fortunate enough that I got to do my rehabilitation at my daughter's house, and I can't thank her enough for opening the door and giving me that opportunity. You know, I doubt I would be here without that.
[00:10:07] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:10:08] Speaker C: Yeah, this was one of the biggest drug houses in, well, I say one, but it was the biggest drug house in Kwinana. And I dealt drugs all through rock and am right through Mandra, as far as Kalgoorlie, right down south to. I just recently going of drug dealing. So could you imagine me trying to rehab?
[00:10:27] Speaker A: Yes.
Not going to work. You'd be getting like knocks on the door, like your back and we've got anything.
[00:10:33] Speaker C: Can you please just go and get me something, you know, can you give me your dealers number, all this stuff? And that's the problem with being there. A few things that I had to do is one, I had to forget about all the money. I was like, yeah, I don't even want to say it on air, but trust me, like, it's a six figure sum if you add up around this area.
[00:10:51] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:10:54] Speaker C: I just can't go and collect that. That was one of the first things that I had to come to grips with is like, you have to just, you have to come to the mindset that that money's gone, it's not yours anymore, just leave it. I even run into people now who I remember owe me thousand thousands of dollars, and I just go, hey, how are you going? Are you better? Are you out of that world? We have those conversations, I never even mentioned them.
[00:11:14] Speaker A: How do people react to the fact that you've changed?
[00:11:18] Speaker C: Oh, man, it blows people away.
It blows a lot of people away. There's a guy living in my house right now. He's staying in the back room, who's just recently gotten himself clean, who actually I met in a real violent situation. He actually mentioned to David, I think it was David or mama tea, how I woke him up one day very violently because of money. That's how that game is, right? But we just became really good friends. And he's actually at my house and he, like, he spreads my story to a lot of people and he just says, people are so amazed by you, they can't believe it. But one of the most amazing stories that I, that's come back to me probably about six months ago is a lady who, I won't say her name, but she reached out to me probably about six months ago when my ABC story news story went out. Wasn't even six months ago, probably about three months ago.
And she reached out, sent me a message and she said, you know what? I want to tell you something. She said, I watched you leave this world.
And she said, like, I got so inspired by you. A year later, I left.
[00:12:25] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:12:26] Speaker C: And then she said, and I saw you studying. So I went and studied. And now she's studying a bachelor's degree as well, like I am. And she's almost finishing her degree. And like, how cool is that? That someone knew and she was one of her house was one of the last houses I left. The week that I went into rehab, there were some of the people that I was just sort of hanging around with sort of saying, see you to. And that. And to get that message was just so wonderful, man. Like, I encouraged someone to not only leave but just rebuild their life. And yeah, for that. It humbles my heart when I hear those stories. You know, it's really powerful. And that story doesn't stand alone. I get stories like that all the time of people just who are like, wow, look at you now, you know, look what you're doing. And my response to that is, you can do that too, man. Yeah, you can do that too.
[00:13:17] Speaker A: Wow, that's, I'm amazed at today's show. Hey, I'm just so blown away. It's, and I guess like God is the God of second, 3rd, 4th, 6000 chances, right? So no matter how dark our life becomes, there's always hope.
[00:13:33] Speaker C: Oh, definitely. You know, you asked that question, did I have any sort of relationship with God? Like, I didn't from a young age.
But I'll tell you what, I reached out for him every time I was in the back of a police wagon and I was getting all hand cuffed up, going, getting locked up again. I would be like, please God, get me out of this one one more time. I promise I'll never do this again.
And you know what? I would get out of these sticky situations, and I would just fall straight back into that mess.
[00:14:01] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:14:02] Speaker C: But I'll tell you one thing. When. When I was in rehab, this is a pretty interesting story, so I'll just run through it. When I. When I was in the swoon down here serenity withdrawal unit on that detox that I was just talking about, I needed a pair of sunglasses because it was. It was hot. It was, um. I think it was like October.
No, November. So the weather was really hot. And we'd go for a walk down the beach, and I'd be squinting my eyes, and I. When Chevy reached out to me, I said, look, can you just send me some sunglasses, please? I need some sunnies. And she came down and she dropped some sunglasses off. When I pulled the sunglasses out, there was a pamphlet in there. And I pulled it out, and it was a man up pamphlet. And I was like, what is this?
And I just read this pamphlet and that. And then when I ended up getting out, I was like, what's this pamphlet? And she said, I've been going to this group called Sisterhood Empowerment, and it's this really cool group that's just, like, helps you and mold you and helps you, you know, like, better yourself.
One thing that group also does is introduce you to Jesus Christ.
Doesn't force it on you.
It's more like a man's group. And they talk about. And they talk about the wonders of Christ and how he can heal you and what he can do to your home. And you learn a lot about the demons in your house. You know, get rid of your. You know, the battle is spiritual. And you learn about. There's actual demons around in your house.
That was one of the first books in the program that we read, demons in your house. And it was through that program that I met Jesus. Now, I tried to get clean many times before I tried counselling. I was senior Scott psychologist at the time. When the police busted through my house, I'd spoken to my doctor many times about trying to get help, because it was really killing me, this drug.
And it never worked until I did it with Jesus.
When I think back, like, how I met Jesus, it was because there was a pamphlet put in with those sunglasses. I think, like, man, what if that pamphlet wasn't in there and I just didn't go to that group? Yeah, I wonder if I would not have met Jesus and if this would have all, you know, would I still be sitting here telling this story today? I don't believe, man. I just think that was such a divine encounter.
Do you know what I mean? It must have been on her heart. Jesus must have put it on her heart that, you know, give your man this pamphlet.
[00:16:16] Speaker A: I feel like so often our breakthroughs are caused by other people's obedience. So liking that, that flyer thing, right? That would have required someone to do what they're told. What God said, do this. You know, I love the people that leave tracks in places, you know, and you don't know who is going to see that tract or who's going to see that flyer, but it's just about being obedient to God. And then, you know, God obviously used that because he knew that that would change your life.
[00:16:48] Speaker C: 100%. 1100. That that group was so important to me for a few reasons. Number one, I'd only, I'd only done about three sessions when I had to stand up the group and say, like, hey, guys, I've been loving this, but I got caught tomorrow. And I just want to let you all know, if I don't come back to this group, it's not because I didn't want to.
And I'll tell you what happened is one of the guys in the group, Adam Gates is his name. He stood straight up. He said, what time's court? I said, oh, I've got to be there. 930 in the morning at the magistrate's court in Perth. But no, I'm all right to go. I just don't want you to think that I was running off from this group. I love. I've been loving being here. And he was like, bro, I'll meet you at court.
And I rocked up and him and his wife was standing out front of the court even before I got there. They walked me in. And this is one of the man. Adam didn't see this, but because him and his wife sat behind me and I was in court, but I'd actually had a tear in my eye when I was in court because they were the first people that came to court with me. Aw. You know, like the first special. It was such a moving moment. And the fact that I was nearly gonna go to jail. What happened is the judge asked who they were, and I explained to them to the judge who they were while I was in court. And the judge told them to stand up and said, you know what? These people hardly ever have anyone come into court and support me and just thank them for being there for me. And she put me on. She let me back out that day, you know, gave me.
[00:18:15] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:18:15] Speaker C: And Adam just said, I don't know what happened there. Even Adam said, man, you've been blessed by God or something because I thought you were going in. I said, so did I. So I just think Adam being there actually helped me get out and get on the program properly. And it was from that day that actually got accepted on the program that day, or I was going to jail. And I got accepted on the program. And I think it had a lot to do with them too, being there.
[00:18:38] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:18:38] Speaker C: The fact that the judge made them stand up and really acknowledge that as.
[00:18:41] Speaker A: Well, because it could have been just friendship and family. Right. So they don't normally do that.
[00:18:46] Speaker C: So in there with all their man up attire on, you know, like, okay, so that's why. And so the judge really wanted to ask who. Yeah, guys never knew who they were. And so when he explained who they were and what they did, man, the judge thank them and said, you know what? These guys very rarely have support. Like, you come in here and the judge was just blown away by it. And. And I got out that day, you know, which was, um, praise God, which was massive. So that was the first big thing that told me that this group cares for me.
[00:19:15] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:19:16] Speaker C: Beyond this group. Right. The second thing it did is we used to have our man up sessions down at Klista Oval.
There's a lot of this going to be in my testimony, so I don't want to go right into it. But it was there where I learned to pray.
We would always pray. Every man up group, we'd pray, and every group we'd finish, we'd pray. And always spoke about not really knowing how to pray.
One pastor, Pastor Glenis was her name, she gave me the pray acronym, which is praise and thanksgiving for the p. The r is repent, the a is ask, and the y is yield. And I was like, man, I'm going to use this acronym. So what I used to do is even when man up wasn't on down the park, I should go back to the same spot. I just felt a connection at this spot. I had this tree and I prayed at this tree every day. And so I learned. I learned how to pray and ask God for stuff, but I also learned how to yield there.
[00:20:07] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:20:07] Speaker C: And listen, and. And I'll tell you what, I asked God for some pretty crazy out there things for a guy who's just dealt drugs for 20 years and has no education.
I have no high school education. Obviously asking God for an education.
You know, like, I used to sit on the train, go on a court every Friday amongst all these businessmen in business suits and attire, and I was telling God, I want to be like one of them.
[00:20:30] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:20:30] Speaker C: You know, I'm asking these really big things and I. And it was there that I learned how to do that and how to ask and how to yield and listen to God and God's guidance. And I look back now and I can tell you now, God gave me every single thing I asked for. Everything. Man. He put an uneducated man in a university. Not only am I at university, I teach at university.
[00:20:51] Speaker A: Oh, wow.
[00:20:51] Speaker C: And I have no high school education.
I won one of the highest awards you could win at university called the vice chancellor's award. Puts you in the top 1.5%. So there's 30,000 students there. I'm in the top 300 or 400 because of this award I won.
To get that award, you have to get high distinctions consecutively for a certain amount of time. I did that in my first two years.
So when people kind of hear my story and they're like, man, how do you know this is God? I said, man, like, it couldn't have been done without.
[00:21:22] Speaker A: No, it couldn't have. No. You know, that has to happen.
[00:21:27] Speaker C: Then. People that I used to sit next to on the train, man of our speaker, the west australian teaching and learning forum. I'm an uneducated man. Do you know who goes there? Is all the people that lecture at universities, and there's me teaching them how to teach.
[00:21:41] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:21:42] Speaker C: And I'm goddess. You know what I mean?
[00:21:44] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:21:44] Speaker C: And I'm not an educated one. You know, the Hosea conference. I've been at the National Indigenous Learning support conference and done the success talk there. Um, and even, um, I got the opportunity to speak at Tracy Westerman's gala. Tracy Westerman's amazing aboriginal psychologist from over here in Wa.
She's started a foundation to really encourage aboriginal psychologists around the country. Started with her own money, $20,000 of her own money she started. She gave two aboriginal psychologists $10,000 each to get through their degrees. Now she has 52 psychologists students.
I'm on a $30,000 a year scholarship with her. She's got another 51 of me around the country. Yeah, she's just growing this massive big army, you know. She asked me to speak at her gala last year. You know, like, I was on stage, got interviewed by Rove McManus's wife. I can't remember.
It was quite surreal. You know?
[00:22:43] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:22:43] Speaker C: And I think back, like, man, I think back to that tree, you know, like, yeah, you asked to be amongst these people on that train in suits and tires, and there I am in my own seat, man. God put you right where you are.
[00:22:58] Speaker B: Amazing.
[00:23:00] Speaker C: It's quite surreal for me, but it all started down at that tree with where I learned how to pray, you know, and, you know, praying now is kind of effortless, but I remember those early days when it was really rigid for me. But what wasn't rigid is what I asked for. I knew what I wanted.
[00:23:17] Speaker B: That's good.
[00:23:18] Speaker C: And so I just. I asked God, and I. I tell people everything. I didn't ask God for the little things, man. I didn't ask God for little things. I asked him for real big things. I mean, I kind of test people with this sometimes. I say, man, if you ask God for little things, he'll give you little things. And so I.
[00:23:33] Speaker A: You've got to, like, stretch your tent.
[00:23:34] Speaker C: He just. He rolled them out over time. And I'm like, I'm a living example now, I guess, of what prayer can do in someone's life.
One of the most skeptical people in the world. So when all this started, when all this was started, I was very, very skeptical that Jesus would help me. And a lot of people were telling me, man, Jesus is going to restore your life. You put it in his hands. I was very, very skeptical at the start. And so while I was down at that tree, I feel like I wasn't only praying to God, I was also testing him a bit.
I was seeing him, you know, like, that makes sense.
[00:24:09] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. Let's see if you can do this.
[00:24:13] Speaker C: He's done at all, you know?
[00:24:15] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:24:15] Speaker C: Nothing that I asked for that he didn't give me.
[00:24:17] Speaker B: Wow, that's an awesome testimony. Wow.
[00:24:20] Speaker C: Yeah, it's pretty crazy.
[00:24:21] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:24:22] Speaker A: And I love how far likes that.
[00:24:24] Speaker B: When he talks like that.
[00:24:26] Speaker A: Yeah, that's really cool.
[00:24:27] Speaker B: I love that when they sparkle and really talk properly.
[00:24:31] Speaker C: I've been blessed with a bit of media lately. This is like podcast number two just this week.
[00:24:37] Speaker A: Oh, cool.
[00:24:37] Speaker C: But I've been on. Yeah, had my story on the ABC. I've just been doing filming at Murdoch for. For some other things, you know. Podcast was on the radio the other week.
Yes. Quite a crazy little run. But more people find out about my story, the more things gonna happen, but, yeah, man, it's such a pleasure to be here on somewhere where I can really talk about the Jesus side of my story.
[00:24:57] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
[00:24:59] Speaker C: Yeah. A lot of the other stories. Really interested in the academic side or the rehab side.
[00:25:04] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:25:05] Speaker C: Now I get to talk about the Jesus.
[00:25:06] Speaker A: And that's the most powerful part, right?
[00:25:08] Speaker C: It is. It all started with him.
I don't know how I can relate it to those other people that I talk to as much. Man, this all began with Jesus. Without him, it would not have been possible.
[00:25:20] Speaker A: Okay, well, thanks for coming in. You're still going to hang around because we're going to be talking to Chris next. We'll go to a song.
