Delivered on Sunday, July 18th, 2004 at
Brightside Community Church,
Caledonia, Michigan

My name is Sean Casey and I would just like to share with you some of the miracles God has done in my life. 

I was raised in a Christian home and accepted Jesus at a very young age.  I have always believed in God, but as I approached my teen years I began having a lot of problems, both internal and external.  At school I had very few friends and I was often picked on and made fun of because I was the shortest boy in my class.  I was also from a poor family, and I didn’t have the name brand clothes and the latest shoes that were so important to the kids my age.  I began to get depressed, and this led to experimenting with alcohol and inhalants.   Before long I was drinking on a daily basis after school and huffing air freshener and gasoline to the point of complete mental paralysis. 

Eventually, as I entered high school I began to make some friends at school, and together we drank, smoked weed, and smoked cigarettes.   I was caught doing this on several occasions by my parents, but I always seemed to go right back to the same destructive behaviors after I was ungrounded.  This cycle continued as I got older and animosity between my parents and me grew  stronger with each passing year.  By the age of 13, I had reached a point of complete disregard for my parents and was of the opinion that  they just wanted to hurt me and ruin my life. 

Despite my parent’s efforts to put an end to my destructive behavior, I couldn’t seem to stop doing what I was doing.  When I was 15 we moved to Alma, a new town, and a possible new beginning for me.   I was away from my old friends and began meeting the local kids around Alma.  I also became very interested in aggressive inline skating, and devoted all my free time to skating and practicing with some of the guys I had met around town.  We didn’t smoke or drink, because that would get in the way of our skating, and that was the only thing that was important to us.  My parents were glad I had found something I liked and that I wasn’t smoking or drinking anymore. 

Well, my practicing paid off, and on my 16^th birthday I was recruited to join a team centered in the Tri-Cities.  My mom let me drive her car to practice every day, and I had gained a lot of trust with them.  I placed high in several competitions around Michigan and in June of 2000 I was chosen to represent our crew at an official ASA competition in Milwaukee.  My parents were reluctant to let me go, but wanted me to follow my dream, so they ok’d the trip and we were on our way.  A free vehicle to use, my own hotel room, and nearly unlimited spending money were just a few of the things granted me for the trip, and I was on my way.  I got there and met some of the other skaters and locals and it was here that I was first introduced to the drug, Ecstasy.  I also started smoking cigarettes again as well, and drank almost every night I was there. 

Soon after I got back from Milwaukee I had a big fight with my parents and moved out.  I thought I was free, and that I would finally be happy, but I was so wrong.  Skating became less and less of a priority, and partying took it’s place. The next two years were filled with alcohol abuse, marijuana abuse, an addiction to painkillers, cocaine abuse and ultimately ecstasy abuse that left me wanting to kill myself on several occasions. 

Two days before I turned 18 I collapsed on my kitchen floor after ingesting a lethal amount of amphetamines.  My neighbor dropped me off at the hospital and I spent the night in the ICU  wondering if I was going to die,  swearing I’d never touch alcohol or any other drugs again.  I recovered, but hardened my heart once again. 

Two days later I had a big birthday party at my apartment that landed me in jail for 5 days.  I was released into a halfway house and ended up getting mixed up with some people that were stealing from apartments and wanted me to help them sell the merchandise.  I did it for the money, and when they were finally caught they took me down with them.  I was sentenced to 9 month in Isabella County Jail.  I spent all my time in jail making plans for when I would get out, and couldn’t wait to see my girlfriend again, but spent no time praying or reading my Bible.  My heart was still hardened.  Upon my release from jail I moved back in with my parents and resolved only to smoke marijuana, because I felt it was great progress from what I was using. 

On Christmas eve 2002, I had a big fight with my dad and packed up and moved to Grand Rapids, where my girlfriend lived, still running from my problems.  I thought my life would come together if I could just be with her.  I lived at the Downtown YMCA for about a month until I finally found a job and my girlfriend and I moved in together with some of her friends from work.  In June of 2003 my probation officer sent me to rehab for marijuana, because I had failed 9 drug tests, and I spent thirty days there, causing me to really think about where my life was headed.  When I got out,  my girlfriend and I rented our own apartment, just the two of us, and I thought that this was finally the life I wanted.  I was naïve to think that God would allow a sinful relationship to flourish.  It didn’t , and we broke up a few months later and she moved out. 

I moved in with a friend of mine from work, and started going to Calvary Church,  slowly feeling myself being drawn back into the arms of  my heavenly father.  I still wasn’t ready to let go of everything until I visited Brightside, and the spirit I felt during worship overwhelmed me.  I remember driving home that day knowing that I was ready to turn my will and my life over to God, and that I was finally ready to start living as a servant to him.  That whole time I had been running, away from God, and when I finally let go, my whole life changed in ways I never could have imagined!  I was given a great inner peace and a desire to serve God!  Brightside has helped me in so many ways, I don’t even have time to list them all.  It’s given me a spiritual family, and I’ve met many many great friends here already, and it’s also given me the opportunity to serve God through a variety of ministries, my favorite being the youth ministry.  Just a few months ago I was baptized here, and I feel so far away from the life I used to live.  It was only through God’s grace that I could make such changes in my life and find this inner peace.  I give all the credit to him, and can’t wait to see what he has planned for me next.