by Lee Anne Benz
"I knew I was an alcoholic right away," Saun said. "When I started drinking, I knew I couldn't stop."
Growing up in
By first grade, Saun's hyperactivity often forced school officials to call his mother. In second grade, Saun was regularly lying and cheating. When his classmates were having lunch, he slipped into the classroom and stole from them.
Once his teen years hit, drugs and alcohol came easily for Saun and his friends.
"A lot of the parents drank, so we got alcohol from them or we stole it," he said.
When Saun returned home from his first day of high school, his mother had moved out of their home and taken half of everything in the house. Devastated by his parents' divorce, Saun fell deeper into addiction.
Despite his drinking and drug use, Saun maintained a B average in school while playing varsity football, lacrosse, swimming, and playing in the stage band.
By college, Saun had graduated to cocaine, speed, acid, and methamphetamines. By his fourth year of college, Saun had been arrested at least six times, and the alcohol and drug abuse had begun to take its toll on his body.
A continued journey downward
Saun left college and began many years of starting jobs and getting fired from them because of drinking. Finally finding a job with a company that initially tolerated his drinking, Saun rose to the top of the business. He met a girl named Colleen, fell in love, and was married. The couple added their first child to their family. Soon Saun found himself in expensive tailored-made suits and gold jewelry. He also had unlimited access to alcohol. Again, Saun was fired.
Then a second child was born.
Saun tried outpatient alcohol treatment, but he continued to drink. A more intense inpatient rehabilitation center was no more successful. Saun and Colleen welcomed their third child into their family and Saun was admitted for a third attempt at alcohol rehabilitation. He relapsed his first night out.
Although he continued to drink, Saun entered the mortgage business and quickly rose to the top. He had a new home, new cars, and a new beginning. Life was beginning to look up until the spring of 2000, when Colleen took the kids and left. Saun was stunned into recovery, and began Alcoholics Anonymous and 90 days of sobriety. Sober days would not last, however, and soon Saun was drinking again.
Finding God's help
It was during this time that Saun and Colleen began looking to God for answers.
"Through a series of events, Colleen and I found the Lord at the same time," said Saun. "I believed that Jesus was my Savior, but I was still using."
Finally, a neighbor invited Saun and Colleen to Long Hollow Baptist Church in
"I was dead. I was spiritually walking dead. I didn't have feelings for anything. That is the key right there. You win when you give up," he said.
Giving up was exactly what God wanted. God placed Saun in a rehabilitation program that worked Saun through all 12 steps of rehabilitation, instead of only the first three steps the other programs offered. God lifted the obsession that enslaved Saun.
"When I went in there, I thought I was hopeless," said Saun. "But when I came out, I thought I would never drink again."
That was more than two years ago, and today Saun is sober. Daily Alcohol Anonymous meetings have helped. But ask Saun what has really made the difference and he is quick to point the glory to God, and the love he received from his new Long Hollow church family.
No turning back
Armed with a personal relationship with Christ and a new church family, Saun began attending a 12-step program sponsored by Long Hollow. Then his recovery leader approached him about starting a Celebrate Recovery group.
Although Alcoholics Anonymous had helped Saun, he felt a void in his recovery.
"I was going to AA where they were talking about a god of your understanding, but I wanted to talk about Jesus," he said. "I know who the real true higher power is, it is Jesus Christ."
Through Celebrate Recovery, Saun found the perfect combination of Christian faith and healing.
"I love Celebrate Recovery because it is based upon the 12 steps and upon the Word," he said. "It bridged a gap. It expands my walk with Christ. In Celebrate Recovery, I talk about my issues with other Christ-believers who have the same issues. There is accountability there."
It is his family and his ministry that rocks Saun's world now. God placed a great love for prisoners in Saun's heart. Through his work in the prison ministry, he has been asked to help put Celebrate Recovery in
"Recovery has actually been easy for me," he said. "That is the shocking part. I do things I am supposed to do each day, which is praying and meditating in the morning, working with a mentor, being accountable with other people, serving, spreading the Word, and praying and meditating at night."
Saun loves his service to others, but his first love is where his heart is and that is with Christ and his wife and children.
When asked to speak to others about recovery, Saun is quick to offer optimism.
"There is a solution, and it is in Jesus Christ and the 12 steps of recovery," he said. "You don't have to live this way anymore. But there is action you have to take. You have to get up from your car. You have to go and you have got to work the steps."
Without Celebrate Recovery, Saun is certain he would still be searching.
"I think I would have hit a spiritual wall down the road," Saun said. "I think you are more fulfilled in Celebrate Recovery because your higher power is the true higher power, which is Jesus Christ. The difference is the fulfillment."
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