From Gurus to God

Filling the void with Christ

Growing up in LA in the 60’s Ed set out to be a musician and explore the new age movement. Seeking spiritual things was a fascination for him. Ed joined a band that was sent to New York to do public relations for a new age school. The school catered to wealthy people who wanted to study all the mystical schools on the planet including Buddhism, Neo Catholicism, Hinduism, Islam, etc… The band fell apart but Ed became deeply involved in the school and for the next 13 years did all they said and taught to find a higher plane and to grow spiritually. Ed said that at that point, he was actually spiritually dead. A lot of hours in meditation and breathing had done little for his desire to grow. Yet he believed in the school, thinking this was a good direction for mankind as it was progressive and dealt with the whole human spectrum. What it didn’t do was fill a void that would eventually be filled for Ed, with cocaine and alcohol. Being a very liberal school, drugs were not considered bad if they were controlled, and the same was said for alcohol. His vision for a new age faded into a reality of addiction. After leaving New York he headed back to LA., where he would be in and out of rehabilitation programs many times before ending up working on a ranch in Occidental, CA, and as he says, “I was at the end of my rope. Someone suggested that I should go to the Redwood Gospel Mission.

I had no idea what that was, but in my desperation I went. Upon arriving there I was completely broken, but felt at home almost immediately. About six months into the program a light went on in my mind and my heart. This was real. This man Jesus paid the price for this imperfect man (me) to become perfect before God. Now that is true transcendence." Ed completed the New Life Program as well as a 58-week Christian counseling course so that he could help others recover from addiction. Ed says, “My desire is that what ever I do I want to do it for the Lord.” Ed has been doing that while an employee for the Redwood Gospel Mission thrift store for the past two years and through his Church.