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COMING HOME

“My story is a point of reference, not a residence,” Jerry Shiel clarifies.

“He never shouted at us or ever swore, but he believed in corporal punishment,” Jerry recalls. “I didn’t like it when my dad took out the strap. As a young boy, I just wanted him to get to know what I was going through, but he just talked about God, this mean old character in the sky; I didn’t want to hear that, so I became a bit of a loner, spending time down at the river, in a lot of pain, so scared to go home; sometimes I just stayed in the barn for the night.”

When Jerry failed grades one and two, his teacher labeled him “backwards,” having no idea about dyslexia. “As a youngster, I would take out my frustrations in violence in the school yard. I grew rebellious, stealing and lying.”

At the age of sixteen, Jerry left home; on cold winter nights, he slept in laundromats, hallways, abandoned cars, anywhere he could find shelter. “I was just a hurting hole, filling the pain with drinking, drugs, sex, and crime. There were times I literally didn’t know who I was. I was so hungry I would make soup with hot water and ketchup.”

One day, Jerry’s dad and brother found him. “They brought me some food,” he remembers, “and while I was eating a juicy peach, Dad asked, ‘Jerry, would you like to come home?’ Part of me wanted to, but I stopped eating and said, ‘No.’ I could see the pain in Dad’s eyes, but I didn’t want to hear any more religion. So, I just continued on the streets, joining gangs, selling drugs, and ending up in and out of jail until the age of twenty-three.”

After getting out of jail for the umpteenth time, Jerry headed west, where he was asked to model men’s clothing. “The modeling agency trained me, I did my first show in Victoria, and then I went to Los Angeles. That boosted my self-confidence, but I developed an eating disorder. Feeling the pain of stuffing my face with donuts and then throwing up or starving myself for days was better than feeling nothing at all.”

Then, Jerry moved to Dallas, Texas because another modeling agency offered him a stable contract. “One day, I was walking past a farmer’s market in Dallas, Texas, and I stole a watermelon off the back of a truck. I had the money to pay for it, but I stole it without feeling a twinge of guilt.

“A few days later, I found myself sitting by a river because as a kid, I always went to the river near our farm to work out my confusion. I felt a tremendous load of pain that I couldn’t handle, so I cried out to God, ‘I surrendered!’ I got on my knees, and I for the first time ever, I had peace—a calmness. It was more than a feeling; it was an awareness.

“Then, I thought, ‘What now?’

“As clear as a whistle, I heard: ‘You know that watermelon you took? Let’s go make it right.’ It wasn’t a condemning voice, just a warm hand giving me a friendly nudge—not a boot or jail time or the strap.

“I said, ‘Okay, I’m going to go.’

“As I was going, the thought occurred to me: ‘It’s just a minor thing.’

“Then, a counter thought: ‘Don’t worry; I’m with you.’

“’Sir,’ I confessed, ‘I stole a watermelon, and I just want to make it right.’

“The farmer’s eyes widened. ‘I’ve had a lot of things taken off my truck, but no one ever came back to make it right. Why are you doing this?’

“I shared with him my conversion experience by the river. It was the first time I confessed anything to anyone; he was almost as amazed as I was.

“After that, I didn’t want to do modeling anymore, so I asked God for a sign.”

If you wish to know about the sign Jerry Shiel prayed for and hear the rest of his intriguing story, you can watch it on It Is Written Canada this month on CTV, 3ABN, Hope Channel, Yes-TV, Miracle Channel, or many of the other networks across Canada and around the world where It Is Written Canada is featured. You can also simply go to itiswrittencanada.ca or It Is Written Canada’s YouTube or Facebook videos and click on the programs entitled: “Coming Home – Parts 1&2.”

~ Mike Lemon