26
The War Cry | OCTOBER 2015
myself," he says, "but I was wrong."
His sister flew up to New York from Atlanta
to find him. When she found a 93-pound shell
of the brother she once knew, she cried.
"I knew at that moment that my addictions
were indeed hurting others."
He agreed to return to Atlanta with his
sister to try recovery programs and counselors
there. But nothing changed, in fact things
got worse.
"To finance my habit, I began stealing.
Pretty soon I was being arrested on the average
of once a month for various felonies!"
Each arrest was compounded by the fact
that Jerry had been carrying a small amount
of crack and a few items of drug paraphernalia
at the time. He kept appearing before the
same judge.
"This judge kept giving me second chances,
or would assign me to this rehab program or
that counselor for treatment, but I was an ani-
mal. The judge finally said to me, `I'm done
with you, Mr. Casey!' and sentenced me to four
years in prison," Jerry recounts.
He served 17 months before release on proba-
tion, which meant regular check-ins with his
parole officer and drug testing. He would al-
ways fail the tests and spend a few days in
county jail.
The cycle continued for some time until Jer-
ry's parole officer decided to give him choice. At
the Atlanta ARC,
"[My parole officer] took off the handcuffs
and shackles and said to me, `Jerry, you can
either enter this program, or I can put these
back on you and send you back to prison.
This is your last chance!'"
Given his options, Jerry decided to stay.
"I met Christ that day through [Major]
Delaney. That was May 24, 2010, and I've
been clean ever since!
"The only answer is the Lord Jesus Christ! I
always knew deep inside that no power
on earth could have delivered me from these
awful addictions and urges," he says. "I was
right...because the power that delivered me is
not of this world, it is of God!"
Under Major Lynda's guidance, Jerry grew
in his faith and eventually was enrolled as a
Salvation Army soldier in the Atlanta Peach-
crest Corps.
"She introduced me to Majors Gary and
Beth Sturdivant [then youth leaders for the
Georgia Division]."
The Sturdivants proved to be as loving and
firm as Major Lynda had been.
When the Sturdivants were transferred to
the Mississippi Gulf Coast Area Command,
they soon offered Jerry a chance to work
there--first as maintenance worker, and then
as the SAMS (Salvation Army Mission
Specialist).
"I have a group of about 12 homeless people
who I minister to, and that group is growing,"
Jerry says.
He transports them to church at the Army's
Biloxi Kroc Corps on Sundays and throughout
the week. He also works at the Army's Social
Services building, where he feeds and houses
many of the homeless in the area and conducts
regular Bible classes at the Army shelter.
"I'm able to talk to them and tell them,
`I've been where you are.'"
Jerry is happy to help others find Christ.
"Since I met Jesus, I'm a new creature in
Christ," he testifies. "I can't explain how He
does it; the old desires are still there sometimes,
but Jesus is still in my heart today, too.
Jerry picks up
Biloxi's homeless
for corps events.
Once in
Handcuffs
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