Redeeming Love: A Story of God's Redemption and a Tribute to My Husband

Today is my Wonderful Husband's Birthday. He is turning the distinguished young age of 41.

Because there are so many new people reading this blog that don't know our back story, I wanted to take some time to share about who we are and how we got to where we are today.  Tomorrow I will share my story, but today I am celebrating a true walking miracle on his birthday.

I am my husband's biggest fan.  He encourages and challenges me daily.  He is an incredible man of God.
As hard as it is for me to comprehend, because this is all that I know, he hasn't always been this way.
If you would have met Glenn even 5 years ago....you would have met one of the meanest, ungodly men you'd ever meet, according to him.  He used to live every day on a pathway to hell...even the doormat at his house said, "Welcome to Hell." Pay attention...this is a story that could happen to anyone who loses sight of what is truly important.

Glenn grew up surrounded by music and God created in him a passion and talent for it. His father was a musician and band director and Glenn and his brother, Scott, were influenced by it at a young age. In fact, his brother is now an incredible professional saxophone player. (www.scottpaddock.com). Glenn went to college with plans of being a music teacher as well. He was on a path to really being an influence in kids lives, doing what he loved...however....one decision, started a path to destruction in his life and the lives of others.

While in college, he started a job as a bouncer at a strip club. Glenn, having the business sense and people skills that he had, quickly found himself in the position of managing the strip club.  With a rock star lifestyle and  more money than he could ever make as a music teacher, he quit college and started working full time managing strip clubs in several different places on the east coast.  But it didn't stop there. Glenn started dealing/trafficking drugs, guns, and women. At different points in his life he was shuffling millions of dollars...sleeping during the day and partying all night. He did this for 18 years, never getting more than a DUI. God was nowhere on his radar.

After being tipped off, he was pulled over for a broken tail light. The cops spent 4 hours ripping his car apart to find drugs and arrested him for possession of cocaine. The state seized all of his property and assets. After serving some jail time, he found himself with literally nothing to lose...so he set out to collect some money that was owed to him.

He went to a man's house who owed him upwards of $30,000 and knowing the man would not be able to pay him, he proceeded to beat him. Glenn did not care if the man died, in fact, he knew that's probably what would happen.  In the midst of beating the man, Glenn found himself thrown up against a wall about 10 feet away.   The crazy thing was, there was no physical person there to throw him into the wall except the man he was beating, who was now in a bloody heap on the floor. Glenn tried to get back on the guy to finish the job 3 different times and every time he reached for him, something was holding him off. Dazed and confused he walked out of the house and down Bull Street. A few blocks later he found himself in front of the Old Savannah City Mission. Without really understanding what was going on, he walked in and sat on the front row as service was about to begin. This was a man who had gone from having millions of dollars, to sitting among the homeless in the city. He was not there on his own free will....God had obviously intervened in that house and led him there. As the service started and the preacher started to preach about God's love and forgiveness, Glenn found himself sobbing and broken. At the very end of the service, the preacher looked Glenn in the eye and said, "Would anyone like to give their lives to Christ?"  There was no question....that was the answer...that was the ONE thing Glenn had not tried in his life.....God.

November 6, 2008 was the day that marked the 180 degree turn in his life.  Glenn could have called someone to pick him up after the service. He had places to go, but he knew that he could not go back to the lifestyle he had lived before. If he was going to change, he had to change EVERYTHING.  He never looked back and for the next 2 years, Glenn went through the Urban Training Institute, taking daily classes to become the man God had called him to be. He ended up finishing his degree in Urban Ministry and doing a 1 year internship AT the Old Savannah City Mission, giving back, teaching and pouring into the guys, just like people had done for him. He was in charge of Volunteers, which is how I met him, when I went to volunteer for Thanksgiving and later served on staff along side of him at the mission.



Glenn always says there are consequences for every action, both good and bad. He can't turn back time, and there are scars on other people as well as him that hold a lot of pain, but I pray every day that the same God who literally ripped him off of a man and led him into a church service, will heal the wounds and restore relationship and forgiveness over time. Along with doing a 180 in his life, God has restored a dream....to impact and teach kids.  On November 6, 2011, exactly 3 years to the day that Glenn gave his life to Christ, we started our first day of work at Rescue Atlanta.  By Chance? No. A reminder of WHO wrote the story and HIS attention to details? Yes. The pictures I leave you with are from our Middle School Class this past Sunday where they helped celebrate Glenn's birthday. We are now Mama Morgan and Papa Glenn to a group of inner city Middle School Students.

God is good....no...God is AMAZING.  I not only got the man of my dreams, but a daily reminder of God's power, love, and grace for us. So, Happy Birthday Glenn. You are one of the greatest blessings God has ever given me.
I love you, the mostestestest.

For His Renown,
Morgan