GARRY
(life story)

WITH MUSIC CAME DRUGS

Along with Gary's involvement in the music scene came dope, speed, mushrooms, Serapax, reds, smack, opium, Mandrax, L.S.D. Nembutal, cocaine … and pain. Neither drugs nor Transcendental Mediation proved to be the answer for his spiritual longings. Gary finally found true fulfilment when he let Jesus into his life.

With music came drugs

I grew up in a non-religious family where we were pretty much atheists. My father was a fairly hard old bloke and he swore a bit, as did my mother. They drunk and bet on the horses. (I think this is what turned me off betting.) I got into music at a very early age. At the age of fifteen I was singing on stage with a band. With music came drugs … as a musician you fall into the trap of thinking that if you are on something you will play better … whether this was alcohol, marijuana or acid or anything we could get our hands on. We thought we needed a magic mix so we could get up and play. Looking back, I see we probably didn't sound better we just thought we did! Sometimes it got to the stage where you just had to have something to keep you going and this is where the speed came in. I played with Billy Thorpe, Phil Manning, Bobby Lloyd and others. I also met Johnny O'Keefe.

Taken away by a spiritual force while playing on stage

I also got into Transcendental Meditation (T.M.) at about the age of eighteen thinking that it might be the answer. I always had some sort of spiritual thing happening and going on inside of me. Once I was playing a blues harp solo I was taken over by a force (a spirit) and I thought I was listening to someone else playing. There were all these colours and things happening in my head. I gradually came back to myself and it was the weirdest feeling in my life. A lot of musicians talk about this type of experience where a spirit takes them over while they are playing.

Transcendental Meditation was not the answer

A lot of people who practice T.M. ran around in a so-called 'blissed out' state. You're supposed to get into a state of nothingness when you mediate, saying your 'mantra' (a series of words) over and over. You are not supposed to tell anyone else your mantra but one day I asked the drummer and the roadie what their mantra was and it was the same as mine! People in T.M. weren't really truthful to themselves or anybody else. T.M. didn't get me anywhere … it wasn't the answer.

Taking a cocktail of drugs

The drugs I've taken include dope, speed, mushrooms, Serapax, reds, smack, opium, Mandrax, L.S.D. Nembutal and cocaine. I went on the Methadone program (85 mL a day) for quite a few years. I was not taking the methadone because I was addicted to smack but because I was addicted to Codeine. I got addicted to codeine because I was taking it to come down off the speed and I needed Methadone to get off the codeine. (Life can get complicated!)

Garry in his early days

I just didn't want to stick a needle in my arm anymore …

I moved away to Tasmania (Australia) in an attempt to get off the drugs I was taking. I had given up the speed and my friends would come around and throw rocks at my window so that I would come out and take more drugs. But I hid inside like a 'scared rabbit' … I just didn't want to put the needle in my arm anymore … I had had enough.

A bike accident

A friend came with me when I moved and we got a place down on the beach, which had a two-kilometre four-wheel drive track leading to it. This friend was a bit of a 'heavy man' as he was able to collect drug debts when no one else could get the money. He would get the money one way or another. My friend borrowed some money off me and bought a big dirt bike. The day he bought the motorbike I thought; "Here's trouble." He was acting like Paul Neumann in "The Great Escape" and I kept trying to get him to wear a helmet. One afternoon my friend went for a ride and as time wore on I became more and more worried when he did not return. As I got more worried I would throw down some more Serapax and then go back to the problem of finding him. We searched and we finally found him. He wasn't good. He had had a serious accident and I could tell he had hit his head pretty hard. Because of the road, we had to transport my friend in one four-wheel drive and the ambulance people in another. A Christian family who lives just across the way from us bought some blankets because my friend was in shock.

"OK mate, if …"

That night this Christian family spent a few hours time trying to get me to give my life to God. I said to them I was a 'pretty hard nut to crack' as many had tried before to convince me that God was real. The date was Friday 13^th July 2003. The family left me a "Good News" bible. Later that night I opened the bible and I said to God; "OK mate, if you're up there when I open this bible give me an answer. God did give me an answer and by the grace of God it was the right answer. I opened the bible where Peter was talking to Jesus about forgiveness. Peter said to Jesus; "How many times should you forgive a bloke? Seven times?" Jesus said; "No, seven times seventy times." (Read Matthew 18:21 - 22.) I read the bible that night and I was very uplifted by the experience. For the next five days I had the most unbelievable feeling … something I had never felt before in my life.

Read about the

Telling others

I don't know what my sister thought when I rang her and said; "There is a God!" She said; "What's going on?" I said it was pretty hard to explain but I was pretty fanatical that there was a God. Anyway they threw me in hospital and I couldn't sleep so they gave me some sleeping pills and an injection. I was ranting and raving and quoting the things I had read in the bible that night and I wasn't going to stop! Even what they gave me didn't knock me out … I just couldn't stop talking about what I had discovered in the bible. What I had read in the bible convicted me and my life hasn't been the same since. Jesus changed a drug taking fool into a wise man and I am forever grateful.

If you are addicted to drugs, will you heed my warning?

About six months ago, I tried to pull up a friend so I said to him; "Mate, I know what you are doing." (He was playing 'big time' junky.) He said; "How do you know what I am doing?" I told him I know because I had been there for ten to twelve years. He is now on a walking frame and he's got very severe brain damage … he's a real mess. I tried to warn him but he didn't listen and he had to keep sticking that needle in.

At this point you may be thinking …

If you are reading my story and you're taking drugs I plead with you to stop before it us too late … for your sake and the sake of those around you. You may be addicted to drugs that rule your life but you are thinking "It's OK, other people have died but I can handle it." WRONG! If you keep going, one thing leads to another and before you know it you will end up somewhere you don't want to be. Addiction to drugs is like gambling … you are going to lose sometime … it may be the next five minutes … it may be tomorrow or next week or next year. You are going to lose and lose big time.

Or you may be thinking "My addictions have trapped me and there is no way out." WRONG! There is a way out. You need to admit you have a problem that needs help and seek help. Call out to Jesus. Give your life over to Him and He can take away the desire for the drugs by filling your heart with love, peace and joy.

Be humble and invite Jesus into your heart. Ask Jesus to forgive your sins, as we are sinners in this fallen world. Then you will become a new creation in Jesus Christ the Lord and Saviour. You will be born again in Jesus' name.

"The way of a fool seems right to him, but a wise man listens to advice " (Proverbs 14:15).

God says; "Whoever finds me finds life … but whoever fails to find me harms himself; all who hate me love death" (Proverbs 8: 35,36).

"Do not gaze at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it goes down smoothly! In the end it bites like a viper" (Proverbs 23: 31,32).

"The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 6:23).

Garry

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GARRY (life story)