40
The War Cry | FEBRUARY 2016
W
ilson Nicklie, a Tlingit Indian, is
a native of Petersburg, a small
fishing village in Southeastern
Alaska.
If you watch the TV show Deadliest
Catch
on Discovery Channel, you can get an idea
of what Wilson endured when he was a salmon
fisherman. Often storms and other perils at sea
brought him and his crewmates close to death,
but somehow the Lord brought him through ev-
ery danger.
Another Discovery Channel show, Gold Rush,
offers a glimpse of Wilson's experience as a
miner. The hazards of that job were formidable,
too, but he is convinced that God was present.
"My father died when I was eight, and my
mother couldn't raise all five of us, so my grand-
parents adopted us," Wilson says. "That is when
we began attending church at The Salvation
Army."
As a child, Wilson loved going to the Army,
where he attended Sunday school and junior sol-
dier classes. "But at age 12, I began hanging out
with the wrong friends and was introduced to al-
cohol. From then on, I began drifting from God,"
he remembers. By his early teen years, Wilson
hated going to the corps--something he had once
loved.
"At age 16, I moved out on my own," Wilson
says ruefully. "That was the beginning of a real
downward spiral."
Growing up in a fishing village, commercial
fishing was all Wilson knew, so for 15 years
he braved the ocean's dangers and made good
money. Then, wanting to try something different,
Wilson began a new but equally deadly career in
underground mining.
The nature of both professions sparked the
temptation to drink in Wilson. His alcoholism
landed him in jail repeatedly.
"I tried to remain sober, but several attempts
ended unsuccessfully," Wilson explains. "I even
joined AA a couple times, but as soon as God was
mentioned, I tuned out and quit."
More and more, Wilson longed desperately for
peace and happiness in his life. "I missed being
part of a church family and the peace and love
that brought to me when I was young."
He started going to one church, but "it wasn't
like The Salvation Army." The more he searched
for the right church, the more he realized how
picky he was being. But this was important, he
reasoned; if he wanted his life to change, this
had to be right!
"Then it dawned on me," he says. "Why don't
I just go back to The Salvation Army?" Wilson
went to the nearest corps in Juneau, and on De-
cember 13, 2011, he had his last drink. He gave
his heart to the Lord, and today he is a new crea-
ture in Christ.
He attended soldier preparation classes at the
corps. At the Army's Alaska Congress last year
Wilson was enrolled as a senior soldier along
with dozens of other new recruits for the Alaska
Division.
Today, Wilson feels an urgency to share his
recovery with others who are far from God and
suffer from the same dependencies he once had.
His hope is that he might minister as a counselor
in a recovery center, sharing the gospel of Christ.
"Now that I'm a born again believer in Christ,
I see how God is answering prayers every day,"
Wilson testifies. "Once I `let go and let God,'
things began to work out on His terms, not
mine!"
How I Met
the Army
............
A Story Straight from
the Discovery
Channel
by
MAJOR FRANK DURACHER
40_HowIMet_WCFeb16_Werk3.indd 1
1/8/16 2:25 PM