A Father's Love

A Father’s Love By Michael Dean Chadwick, as told to Susie Magill

If you had told me that the shaky figure I was staring down on my front steps was my future son-in-law, I would have called you crazy.

It was 2 a.m. when Josh Hamilton rang our doorbell in September 2003. I had no earthly clue who he was, but I sure knew what he was. As a recovered drug addict myself, I could recognize all the signs.

I had never previously met the kid, and I knew nothing of his professional baseball career or the success he’d had down the street at Raleigh’s Athens Drive High School. All I knew was that he was in trouble and needed help.

I figured he’d probably heard the testimony I’d shared throughout the area regarding my own drug problem and thought he’d give me a shot. But I also knew that God had sent him to me. I was supposed to do something. And my philosophy is that until you know what that something is, you can always be available.

I welcomed him in, and we sat on the back porch until daybreak just talking, trying to figure out where he was in life and how to get out. I knew there was only one way to get Josh back, and that was to love him back. Eight rehabs pretty much told me that rehab wasn’t going to kick it. Josh needed more.

I began to share my own life story about growing up on the streets, losing my dad at age 12, getting into drugs, and then finding freedom through Jesus. I told him we had to take it one step at a time. He had to make it through the morning, and then we would focus on the afternoon.

Hamilton and Chadwick

After our initial meeting, we maintained our friendship. While he battled his addiction, he continued to seek me out and even attended speaking engagements with me as he searched for the same freedom I had found.

He began sobering up and going to AA meetings. I gave him a job in my construction business and, soon after, he and my daughter, Katie, started dating. Four months later, in what seemed like a blur, they were married.

Then that demon reared his ugly head once again, and it was bigger than Josh could handle. He had no idea how to fight it; he didn’t have the right equipment. It was still Josh trying to conquer it through Josh’s strength. His stints of sobriety were short-lived because he wasn’t seeking real help—help from the only One who could fully deliver him.

You see, prior to his drug addiction, Josh had never really experienced failure. This was a kid who hit over .500 in high school. Baseball was what he knew, and he was good at it. But after his car accident, he felt lost and alone. So, he found something new to be good at. Unfortunately, it was getting drunk and high.

There were times he and Katie would have explosive arguments, and he would leave for several days. Then he would show back up at our house in the early morning totally clean, asking my wife to fix him some eggs as if nothing had happened.

There were two Joshes: one during his straight periods and another when he was trashed out of his mind. But we chose to love them both. And that is the advice I gave to Katie: that if she didn’t love him back, she wasn’t going to get him back. That didn’t mean she didn’t set parameters to protect herself and the girls, but, if her love was tough enough, it would survive this storm.

“There were two Joshes: one during his straight periods and another when he was trashed out of his mind. But we chose to love them both.”

The ironic thing was that seeing Josh’s struggle was like me holding up a mirror to myself 20 years prior. I knew that if God could deliver me, He could deliver Josh. I always believed that with all my heart. Even when times were tough and we wondered if Josh was going to self-destruct, I never really doubted that God was going to turn him around.

When he finally hit rock bottom, it was the best place for him. He was broke, didn’t have a place to live and on the verge of losing his family. He finally realized that the price he was paying for doing drugs was costing him more than he wanted to give up. It was going to cost him his wife, his girls, his baseball career and possibly his life. And just like the story of the prodigal son, God was right there waiting for Josh with arms outstretched, welcoming him home. Josh didn’t have to chase Him or even wonder where He was; He hadn’t moved an inch.

Today’s success hasn’t come overnight for Josh. He has had to work to surrender his addiction to Christ every day. It is a continuous fight, but, by using the right spiritual weapons, Josh has been victorious. What the devil meant for bad, God turned into His good and glory.

The story of Josh Hamilton is a miraculous one. It has provided so much hope for so many people. I see it everywhere I go, from the fan mail to the phone calls. This guy has given many people a new lease on life and has restored their faith that God can heal their family just as He healed ours.

Even with the distractions Josh faces in Major League Baseball, his faith has not faded once. He is the kind of guy who is all-or- nothing, and he is all-in with his relationship with Christ. He is staying focused with his faith and his family and remaining humble throughout his success on the field. Even after all the attention he received following the 2008 All-Star Game’s Home Run Derby, he is still both humbled and thrilled to be used by God.

There just isn’t a lot of pretension when it comes to Josh. It’s pretty simple: He’s just a kid out there, playing for his Father. And when Josh says, “It’s a God thing,” you’d better believe it. That’s not a sound bite he feeds to the media; it’s words flowing directly from the lips of his heart.