NARRATOR: From a young age, Jim Harris had a rebellious streak

and took no guff from anyone.

I got into quite a lot of fights.

I was told, basically, as a kid by my dad

it would be better for me to go ahead and get in that fight

then to run from that fight.

I had no tolerance for anybody to want to pick on me,

or say something to me I didn't like.

NARRATOR: He also had issues with authority figures.

I hated anybody to tell me what to do.

It was definitely a problem, that rebellious nature.

NARRATOR: Several people in Jim's family, including

his grandmother, were Christians.

But he thought they were all phonies.

I grew up hearing about Christ.

I thought that Christians were squares and hypocrites and all

the things that I didn't like, I didn't want anything

to do with.

NARRATOR: Jim smoked pot for the first time

when he was 12, when an older friend told him

it would be cool.

This continued throughout high school.

Drugs, they're a lot of fun.

I mean, they make you feel good.

They enhance things.

Put you around a lot of other people that like to party

and have a good time.

Now when you start to try to get off of them,

that's when you realize that they've got hooks in ya.

NARRATOR: Jim joined the Navy after graduation,

but received a medical discharge when he was injured

not long after enlisting.

He returned to Texas, but with no skills, no job prospects,

and no purpose in life, Jim turned to drugs again,

working his way up to meth and heroin.

He begin dealing, and soon it was consuming his life.

I was a smart junkie.

I knew I was going to overdose.

So I did things to prevent, and to enhance,

and be able to get higher.

NARRATOR: Several stints in jail and rehab didn't help Jim.

During those stays, you would get off the drugs,

but they had a really, really strong hold.

So when you get back out on the street, there they were again.

Because you were landing right on the same

spots that you came out of.

I didn't like the fact that I was hooked.

I didn't like the fact that something

was controlling me any more than I like people controlling me.

The five rehabs didn't help.

The two psychiatric institutions didn't help.

NARRATOR: One evening, Jim and his girlfriend,

Frieda, invited some friends over for a party.

One that had an unexpected ending.

JIM: We partied and had a really good time for I

don't have no idea how long.

And I really, literally, for a little bit, could not breathe.

I called 911.

And the police showed up.

And looking around the house, they

could tell that I was messed up and this was a drug situation.

They stabilized me.

They arrested me.

NARRATOR: Jim had a seizure and later coded at the hospital.

When he came to, he knew he would be facing jail time.

He pulled his IVs out and ran from the hospital,

but was eventually arrested on numerous counts of possession.

The incident caused Frieda to turn back

to the faith of her childhood.

Frieda later helped Jim get into the God pod at the Tarin county

jail, where he befriended a chaplain.

JIM: His name's Roger Haller and I

had been watching and listening to him talk about his family

and his kids and his military experience.

The things that he was involved in and interested in.

And he was real.

NARRATOR: Over time, Jim became good friends with Roger

and grew to respect him.

One evening, he was preaching a sermon at the prison

and asked if anyone wanted to accept Christ.

I said yes.

And I prayed the Prayer of Salvation.

And a bunch of the other guys gathered around me

and they laid hands on me and prayed for me.

It was like I blushed from the top of my head

all the way down to the bottoms of my feet.

And there was a sustained heat.

I can't really explain it.

I have compared it to a gallon hot 40 weight

being poured over you and flowing all over your body.

But while this is happening this just incredible peace

enveloped me, and I knew something had changed.

NARRATOR: After that encounter, Jim started studying the Bible,

and says God began to change his heart.

JIM: The realization that I was the problem

came to me in an instant.

That's the moment where I became able to change

my mind about things of the world,

and start looking at things of God, which is repentance.

NARRATOR: As Jim served out his time,

he says with God's strength he overcame his addictions.

I've never had a craving for the cocaine, or the heroin,

or the methamphetamines again.

The Word says that he that lives within you

is stronger than the he that lives in the world.

It also says that you can do all things through Christ

who strengthens you.

And I stand on those types of promises

because I believe that's what set me completely free.

NARRATOR: After Jim was released,

he and Frieda married.

He turned his interest in radio-controlled aircrafts

into a ministry called Fly Right Ministries.

Today he travels to prisons throughout Mississippi,

and Alabama, spreading the good news of the gospel.

I impact people that I don't know, because God lives in me.

People notice, especially when you're out

with a microphone in your hand, telling them

how good God really is, and how bad I really was,

and what a difference He's really made.

It's not just a story.

It's not a fairytale.

It's real.