- I'm like, man, I been shot in the head.

I've been run over by atruck and I'm still here.

Maybe God does have a plan in my life.

- [Instructor] When he was a young child,

Eddie Ramirez came to America

on the freedom flights from Cuba in 1967.

His father came a year laterand was aggressive and angry.

They never formed a bond.

- I was cheated.

I was cheated because Ineeded a father in my life

and he wasn't there.

He wasn't there for me.

- [Instructor] When he was13, his parents divorced.

Eddie took out his anger fightingkids in the neighborhood.

Some older boys noticed how tough he was

and pulled him into theirdrug trafficking ring.

Eddie finally got the attention he craved.

- I needed somebody to accept me

because like I said before I was cheated.

I needed somebody that wasolder than me to accept me

and embrace me in and say, okay, you know,

you're part of this, but thenthere's something missing.

So then what is the next thing?

Well, let me have, let me get some drugs.

Let me start doing drugs.

- [Instructor] He eventuallybecame a drug dealer

to high profile clients.

And the sense of powertook him further down

a dark path of drug addiction.

- You're always chasing that first high.

It got me to the point of no return.

That I was like I can't stop.

There's no way of me stopping.

I have power, you know, Ihave power, I have money.

People were looking for me,people needed my merchandise

you know, and I was roofless.

So I felt like I was in control.

- [Instructor] In realityEddie's life was out of control

and reckless.

He crashed his motorcycle

and was run over by atruck, nearly killing him.

When he recovered his best friend

who had become a Christian,took Eddie to church.

- Once I was there in church,I was like, what's here.

There's nothing here for me.

You know, I'm not making no money here,

nothing there's, what'sthe church about there's,

I need to go out there and make money.

- [Instructor] He continued selling drugs

and living a life of violence.

He even survived a gunshot to the head.

Cocaine fueled his emptiness

and he felt like there was no escape.

- I felt disgusted the waythat I would like just stay up

all night and do drugs.

And my nose was like falling apart.

Cocaine is not a drugthat you wanna start doing

because once you start doing it,

there's no turning back.

- [Instructor] Desperate fora way out of his addiction.

He turned to his mom for help.

She checked him into a rehab facility

where Eddie had a life-changing encounter.

I remember one night I'm there in my room

I get a visitation

from what I believe it was the Lord Jesus.

And he comes into the, intomy dream, into my vision

and he tells me, look

you really wanna changeyour life at night.

And I'm like, inside of me,yes, I wanna change my life

cause I can't live like this anymore.

And he tells me

all you have to do iswalk through this door.

And if you walk through the door,

your life will be changed.

And I look at the door, I look

and the door was a real thin door

with a light behind it, you know

and I'm like, I'm willingto walk through this.

When I went through thedoor, like all the burden

that was on me, everything that was there,

all my problems, everythingjust like fell off.

I knew that once Iwalked through that door,

my life was changed.

You know, he came, hesaved me right on time.

- [Instructor] Eddiegave his life to Christ

and was immediately set free from drugs.

- I didn't have the desire to do cocaine

to do marijuana, to do nothing else.

I didn't wanna do nothing.

It was like God literally tookit out of my life completely

like some people they tell me, no

you know, God is working on me.

God, wasn't working on me.

He did the work right away.

You know, I couldn't believe

that God would save somebody like me.

Like I was such a bad person

that he would reallyliterally come and save me.

Like I couldn't wrap my mind around that.

And I was like, you know, why God,

why, why would you save me?

You know, why would you do that?

And Lord, you took care of me.

You took care of mewhen I needed somebody.

When I needed a father,you came up, you showed up.

And that's what he does.

That's what he does.

And that's what he doesto many people out there.

When we don't have that father,

when we don't have that personin our lives, he shows up

and he becomes thefather of the fatherless.

And that's what he did to me.

And till today, I believe that.

- [Instructor] Eddie hasbeen clean for 28 years.

And now pastor, has a church in Florida.

The joy of his new life,overflows to everyone he meets.

- I'm grateful for everythingthat he has given me

my family, my children, my grandkids.

I'm very grateful foreverything that he has given me

but all I need is him.

Everything else I couldlose but he makes me whole.

(soft music)