The coffee shop…just as the door closes someone behind surprised me.  “Hey Tom is that you?”

Thomas jumps from his seat.  “I’ve been following you for years.  I finally get to meet you…I heard your story!”  His eyes are a little glazed and he seems nervous…we exchange a few words but he doesn’t link into the conversation…I suggest we go to the back of the shop and have a chat…I want to know more about him…I find out he has First Nations blood…he’s battling addictions…making a life here for 3 years…

Now he is speaking totally coherent, clear and very intelligently… he has a checkered past…he wanted to be a priest…got caught tasting the wine in the church and a few other things in life that sent him down the lost highway...

He came to Three Hills after being released from the Drumheller Prison…he wanted to start over again. He wanted to come here to find a bible…a bit of a rocky start but knows this is a good place to re-start…I ask how long he’s been clean… 5 weeks…

We make a deal… I give him my contacts and ask him to promise this.  “The next time you feel the urge, close your eyes, take a deep breath, and then go and help somebody”…he agrees…we part…Thomas will never be the same…