- My dad, he would alwayssay, "You're worthless.

"You're not gonna amount to anything .

"You're going to end upin the penitentiary."

I don't think it was hiswish, but it came true.

- [Narrator] Larry Clemensdad was a tough military man

who raised five kids.

- I wanted to join theBoy Scouts, but because of

him being military

and we had four othersiblings besides myself,

he didn't wanna spend money on a uniform.

So I started lookin' for other friends,

so we started smokingweed, started drinking,

started eating pills.

- [Narrator] The sense of rejection

stayed with Larry for years.

- I didn't feel loved.

I know my mother loved me, mymom was always there for me.

But my dad, I never heard 'Ilove you' out of his mouth.

There was no come alongside me, and encourage me.

- [Narrator] Larry committedhis first armed robbery

as a teen and was sent tojuvenile detention center.

Where he heard aboutJesus for the first time.

- We're at Joplin Boys Ranch

and we used to go to church on Sunday

because the director of the camp

was the pastor of the church.

He's the one that determinedwhen you went home.

So you wanted to look good.

But I heard about Jesus there,that was the first time.

So I always like, "I believe in Jesus".

But I lived like the devil.

I didn't have an understanding

of what it was to be a Christian.

- [Narrator] As Larrygrew, so did his rap sheet

and drug use.

- I don't know how Igot caught up in heroin,

but when I did I fell in love.

And then once you get hooked,it's like there's no return.

- [Narrator] He also began selling drugs

and had other arrests,

including one for attemptingto firebomb a police station

after an officer gave him a ticket.

- Bein' on drug, I meanyou think you're King Kong

and you can do anything.

So I parked my car across the street,

I walk over to the gate and I lit it

and I threw it and I turnaround and I started runnin'.

Well I turned around to look,

to watch it blow up and therag is sittin' there burning

from where I threw it at.

- [Narrator] The next arrestoccurred when a state trooper

ran his license aftera routine traffic stop.

- He's on the hood of thecar, writing the ticket

and his guns right there,and so I knew I had warrants

out of Kern county and Orange county.

And when I heard it comeback over the radio,

(distant dispatch talking)

when that happened, the guncame out of the holster,

he had it, I had it, wewere wrestling for it.

One shot was fired and thankgod it just grazed his knee.

When they booked me into the county jail,

it was attempted murder.

I went to trial and they found me guilty

of removing a firearm from a peace officer

and brandishing a weapon.

- [Narrator] Incredibly,

Larry only received a fouryear sentence this time.

- Every time I would endup in jail or prison,

I was like, I'm off the drugs,I'm clean, I'm gonna get out,

and I'm gonna do good.

And I was sincere, but Iwas just sincerely wrong.

I had nothing to fillthat void in my life.

- [Narrator] But as soon ashe got out, he was arrested

for dealing again.

- I was lookin' at 80 years to life.

California has the three strike law.

I'm like, I can't do 80 to life,

I don't wanna die in prison.

So I just kept onfighting it until a judge

dismissed a strike, andhe gave me 13 years.

- [Narrator] One year, Larrywas invited to a free meal

at the prison chapel, andan Easter service following.

- The guy doin' the service was a lifer.

He held his bible up.

He goes, "I don't thinkthis is the word of God."

And he paused, and I'mlike, "What do you mean

"you don't think that's the word of God."

I even believed that's the word of God.

But then he goes, "I knowit's the word of God.

"Just 'cause my finitebrain can't figure out

"an infinite God, doesn't meanthis isn't the word of God."

And from that moment, Iasked God to forgive me.

And he did.

I started readin' mybible, and I mean studyin'.

I mean gettin' studies and studyin'.

Just like

hours on end.

I didn't know what was happening.

- [Narrator] Larry says,"His heart and mind

"began being transformed."

- I says, "Lord forgive mefor doubting your word."

And then after that, I waslike, teach me your word.

Reveal to me your truth, God.

And I'd start readingscriptures and they made sense.

And that was the moment that I repented,

I repented as to change of mind, to turn.

- [Narrator] Larry was grantedan early release in 2008.

- Before comin' to Christ,I was used to be prejudice.

You know, that's the thingabout the word of God.

It convicts you, it directs you.

When I hugged a black brother and I said,

"I love you" and I meant it.

I knew I was saved then,and in 1st John 3:14,

it says, "We know we havepassed from death to life

"when we love the Brethren."

- [Narrator] Larry wasable to forgive his father

and share the gospelwith him before he died.

He now has a ministry toprisoners in California.

And has written the account of his life,

in "The Good, the Bad, and the Saved".

- Had I felt God's love,or knew more about God

when I was younger, Iwouldn't of had to go through

everything that I went through.

He loves us just because that's who he is.

God is love.

It's unmerited, you know,we don't earn or deserve

his favor, he loved you somuch that he sent his only son

to die on a cross for your sins.

He took your sins upon himself.

That's how much he loves us.

That grace, is just amazing, it's amazing.