“I was in addiction for 35 years. I grew up in south Mississippi and played baseball through college. I was going to try out for the Birmingham Barons but never showed up. Drugs and alcohol was a bigger part of my life. I started smoking weed when I was 12. Moved in with my grandfather when I was 14 or 15. He passed away not long after, and I had his house to myself. It became the house we partied in during high school and college. 

I got married, then went to prison for ten years. Two months before I got out, my wife took her life. I got out of prison and cut my hand off. Almost bled to death. They put my hand back on, but it has little use. I met another girl. She got pregnant and had our child, then took her life in jail. I buried all of this loss, filling the void with drugs and alcohol. I lost everything–was homeless at the end. I always had a sack of dope and could lay on anybody’s couch. I chose to be homeless because I wanted to be by myself. I overdosed three or four times before I realized I needed help.

Rock bottom was putting a .40 caliber gun in my mouth. I pulled the trigger. It misfired. I told God, ‘You’re going to help me, or I’m going to kill myself.’ I did a shot of fentanyl and woke up two hours away in a seven-day treatment program in Jackson, MS. I still don’t know how I got there. That was the last time I overdosed. I went into a 28-day program and told them I wasn’t leaving until they found me a place to go. I went to the City of Refuge in Lucedale. I don’t know why God placed me in Mobile, but He reinvented me. My name used to be Jimmy Rey; now everyone calls me ‘Rey of Life.’ I’ve been sober and clean for four years. God turned my life around, now I help others who are like me. 

I started Showered by the Holy Spirit eight months ago with Shawn Littles. We have portable shower units at the Theodore Church of God, providing showers to the homeless every Friday night. We run vans all over Mobile to pick them up and take them back. We clothe and feed them–even give them haircuts. Stepping out of the shower and feeling clean can change your life. You start to feel better about yourself. People don’t give you as many problems if you don’t look homeless. 

When I first started doing the showers eight months ago, we were helping the homeless. Now, those familiar faces coming back each week are our friends. They trust us. I’m finding myself in the will of God: He says, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ God’s hand is all over this shower ministry and has grown it. In the next year, I see God giving us a building so we can provide showers three times a week and wash clothes. Maybe give them a place to stay.

Showered by the Holy Spirit has also given many people a chance to serve. They want to be involved when they see the love we share and the transformation from just a shower. I think the Holy Spirit is in that water. It changes them when they come out.”

Rey of Life

(If you want to donate, you can give through the Theodore Church of God and tell them the donation is for Showered by the Holy Spirit. You can also Venmo to Shawn Littles. His story is on Souls tomorrow.

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Rey’s story is part of The Weavers series. Stories about the people who stitch together the fabric of society while so many forces pull it apart. Who are the folks who make life a little better in your community? Send me their names and a little about them, and I’ll try to talk with them.

Lynn