REVOLUTION HAWAII - ROGER

The Revolution Hawaii team had just spent two nights living homeless on the mean streets of Honolulu. Here they met Roger, a partially paralyzed drunk, long scraggily, matted down hair and beard, looking far older than his birth age - his life spent atop a flattened cardboard box, begging for change to feed his habit. His story captured on video here.

“The first time I met Roger" recounts Rob Noland, Director of Revolution Hawaii, "he was being carried into our Upper Room service by team members who placed him on one of the front row pews. The smell was overpowering causing everyone to move far back into the chapel, except for those few brave team members, sitting with arms around him so that he wouldn't feel alone. Scrounging up a battered wheelchair, they wheeled him back week after week."

Five years earlier, Roger had been in a fight, leading to bleeding in the brain, which led to a stroke paralyzing the right side of his body. This resulted in a deep depression and a conscious decision to drink himself to death. Consequently, unable to get to a bathroom, he defecated and urinated in his clothing, never having the opportunity to bathe or shower. This is how they found him every week.

He loved coming to Upper Room, followed by fellowship downstairs where dinner was served and food prepared for street evangelism and outreach following. One evening he commented that the lasagna Ernie Ing bought at Sam's Club was "the best home-made lasagna I have ever tasted!"

The 5th week Roger expressed a desire to get into a clean and sober house. John, one of the RevHi team members, took him to the dorms, personally bathing, shaving and outfitting him with a set of clean clothes. Following, he looked 15-years younger, a newfound glow about him. He began to open up about his life, originally coming to Hawaii to work on geo thermal wells, married, divorced, children and grandchildren.

Following the stroke, he lost his job, apartment, and girlfriend, spiraling into depression, addiction and a futile sense of hopelessness - DO SOMETHING! - reverberating down through the centuries, now being echoed in the ministry of Revolution Hawaii and Upper Room.

Through the team's efforts, Roger was accepted into a clean and sober house. Fast-forward five months. His badly infected foot is healed; he walks with a cane, is of clear speech and praising God joyfully. He leads AA and NA meetings and is looking forward to being reunited with his children and grandchildren. Aloha In Perpetual Motion!

A Year To Change A Lifetime! www.revolutionhawaii.com