Running From Home, Running From God
How the military, alcohol, and lust accelerated my downward spiral
MicK_1 didn’t wake up one day and decide to stop obeying God. It was more subtle than that. Slowly and surely he became distant and eventually so far away from God that opposing Him just seemed like the right thing to do. Or so he thought.
Mick grew up in faith but only learned how to hide his secret sins well.
For years, his life looked like it was getting better. But inside, he was lying—to his wife, to himself, and eventually to God. He thought as long as he kept things buried, grace would cover it.
He found out the hard way, he was wrong.
Read on.
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A Childhood That Taught Me Extremes
MicK_1 childhood wasn’t normal. His parents divorced when he was seven. He’s 34 now, and the truth behind that split has never really been owned—but affairs on both sides seem to be the quiet truth.
After the divorce, he lived between two extremes.
At his mom’s house, Christianity meant fear. Everything was going to send you to hell. Music. TV. Anything outside church walls. Scripture wasn’t explained—it was weaponized. He learned to fear God, but never to know Him.
At his dad’s house, there were no rules at all. Women came and went. His dad married and divorced again, and during that time Mick and his brother were exposed to things young boys never should be. There was no discipline or boundaries.
Later, his stepfather became verbally abusive and controlling, eventually physical with his mom. Mick stayed grounded constantly, forced to work landscaping jobs, carrying a pressure that doesn’t show up on paper. By ninth grade, something in him had already started to crack.
By sixteen, the adults had given up. Mick moved in with his dad. That’s when lust stopped being a temptation and became a lifestyle. His father openly encouraged cheating—love one woman, keep the rest on the side, just don’t get caught. Mick believed him.
Around the same time, he fell in with the wrong crowd and dove into the death metal scene. He didn’t deny Christ existed, just decided to oppose Him.
Running Hard and Falling Fast
At seventeen, Mick joined the Army to escape home. A teenage kid, alone, with no moral compass and full access to alcohol—he was headed somewhere dark fast.
By eighteen, he’d deployed. When he came back, sleep disappeared. So he drank, and he drank a lot.
During that season, he entered a toxic relationship filled with cheating and instability. She got pregnant. He married her trying to “do the right thing.”
That collapsed quickly.
After a brutal fight, she took a bottle of birth control pills and miscarried. Mick watched. That left him numb, angry, and absolutely empty. Shortly after, she left him and he hasn’t seen her since. That was 2012.
The next few years were divorce papers, heavy drinking, and sleeping around nonstop.
In 2013, Mick met the woman who is now his wife—while still married. He didn’t tell her but they started a relationship anyway, fueled by alcohol and desire.
At work, he excelled and made rank fast. He looked successful. But, he was doing what most men do: escapism. Trying to stay busy while burying the deep issues down inside. The uncomfortable truth? He was unstable and spiraling.
A Life Built on Lies
When she found out about his marriage, she stayed. But that made the problems multiply. He finalized his divorce and married her the same week. The marriage began already bleeding.
Mick was drinking a fifth of whiskey most nights. Entire chunks of those years are gone from his memory. He disappeared for nights, lying effortlessly about where he’d been. And, two things made that easy:
His father normalized cheating.
A childhood of constant punishment taught him how to lie convincingly.
Eventually, it all blew up.
His wife found him passed out drunk, phone open to another woman. When confronted, Mick snapped. It turned physical—not hitting, but terrifying. She tried to run and he tried to stop her. A neighbor intervened and the police were called. They both went to jail.
The Army found out.
During a no-contact order, Mick moved in with another woman and went right back to the same ol patterns: drinking and cheating. When the order expired, his wife reached out and said she wanted a divorce.
For the first time in his life, Mick said something different.
“We need God.”
The Lie That Finally Broke Me
They went to church and met with a pastor. Mick prayed a sinner’s prayer. There was visible change—but massive lies stayed buried. He told himself some sins were “between him and God.” That lie kept him comfortable.
He deployed again.
When he came home, things were calm—for a while. Then he called the woman he’d lived with during the no-contact order. She told him she’d been pregnant and he had disappeared. She had an abortion.
It wrecked him. He drank again. Stayed the night. Lied again.
They moved to Alaska. Outwardly, life improved.
Years passed. He stayed faithful physically. They attended a charismatic church that didn’t preach the gospel. They served in youth ministry. Their first child was born in 2019.
Then COVID shut everything down.
At home, Mick and his wife began reading the Bible—slowly, verse by verse. For the first time, Mick actually saw Scripture and conviction followed. The gospel finally made sense.
During a book study, they came to one question:
“Is there any sin you need to confess?”
Mick looked his wife in the eyes and said, “No.”
The moment the word left his mouth, fear hit him like a freight train. The reality of hell became real. He saw himself clearly, saved in name only. Spiritually dead and a liar.
The Walk Home
At the park later that day, pushing his daughter on a swing, Mick knew his testimony was a lie. He knew salvation was worth more than hiding and he knew the truth had to come out.
That walk home is when Mick knows he was saved.
That night, he confessed everything. It took days. His wife was shattered. Years of deception spilled into the light. It hurt deeply—and it healed deeply.
She stayed. At first, for their daughter. Then God healed her heart. She even apologized to Mick for staying only for the child—something he never deserved.
Nothing Left to Hide
Today, six years later, they have four daughters.
Nothing is hidden or feared. Their story has helped others—because of how honest and open they are about it.
Mick isn’t the man he was and he’s finally free.
 | A guest post by
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“The truth shall set you free.”
Too many see this as some magical thing or mere knowledge about the person of Christ—that He is a Lord as opposed to some other “god.”
It’s not. The truth that sets us free is Christ, yes, but that means something. It means coming true in Him and to Him about ourselves and then walking in repentance.
This story is evidence of that. Praise God.
Beautiful story 🙏🏼🙌🏼