I SAW THE LIGHT
At the age of 17 I quit school and took up drinking. At the age of 27 I quit drinking and returned back to school.
In the early spring of 1962, as a member of the Royal Canadian
Air Force, I was stationed at Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
One morning around 3 A.M. I was awakened from sleep. The room was full of light although it should have been completely dark since the light was off and the blind was closed to shut out any light from the outside. As I sat up in bed, standing before me was the most beautiful presence I have ever seen. Standing before me in the room was a Being of Light. The light radiating from the visitor began to engulf me as I experienced a most beautiful peace. Never before or since had I felt such peace and love. My first thought was "Who are you?" "You are beautiful" "Take me with you." I was ready and wanted to go with him right then. I knew it as a 'him'.
At this point, I honestly believed the 'guardian angel' had come to take me away through a death experience. I felt extreme joy and happiness in knowing that I would be safe with this being.
"The presence spoke three words and only three words to me. "Change your ways." These words were spoken, not as an order or a command, but as more of a loving suggestion, as if it were my choice to 'change my ways'. Then the presence vanished and I fell into a most peaceful sleep.
Upon awakening in the morning, My first thought was "what a wonderful thing I experienced'. Then after a few minutes my conscious mind clicked into gear and I started to worry about the visitation.
At that time in my life I was doing a lot of heavy alcoholic drinking. So I figured the visitor was there to give me a warning to 'clean up my act' and 'repent' because I was going to die soon.
I was scheduled to fly from Calgary to Lethbridge, Alberta in three days for a golf tournament, so I figured that the plane was going to crash and I would die. The visitor had come to give me a warning. I made the flight, won the golf tournament (while still drinking) and the plane did not crash.
After the flight, I still thought that I would die soon, so I 'cleaned up my act' and stopped drinking. For twenty-six days. Then a few months later, in June 1962, on a Sunday evening in daylight, while intoxicated, I had a near death experience. I rolled my car and as the car flipped over, I fell out of the car as it fell on top of me. The only thing that saved me from being crushed to death was that I was lying in a ditch. The next thing I knew, I was floating above the vehicle and looking at it from above. The first thought I had was that someone was pinned under that car down there. As I soared closer to get a better look, I was back in my body.
Shortly, a car stopped and two men lifted the vehicle off me and pulled me out from underneath.
I did not die in that crash. However, the result of that crash was that I spent three weeks in the hospital and exactly one-hundred days off work. The heart specialist told me that I had a cardiac contusion (heart bruise) and that I was very lucky to be alive.
Well, after that experience I made a decision to stop drinking again. After all, after that experience, it would be insanity for me to drink again.
About two months later I was offered a drink. After thinking it over for a moment, the thought occurred to me. "One drink won't hurt me". So, against the heart specialist's recommendations, I started drinking again and continued to drink for another two years.
During the summer of 1962 I was given strict instructions from a heart specialist to rest a lot, not to play any golf that summer and not to drink alcohol. I remember drinking at the Airman's Club at RCAF Station Lincoln Park, Calgary and after having a few drink I would have to go to the back room and lie on the sofa to rest. I would golf two or three holes and have to rest. On September 1st, 1962 I married Doris Dustan and began my married life with Doris and her two children June and Jim. And I continued to drink for another two years.
One evening I was drinking a rye whiskey at the Trade Winds Hotel in Calgary. I ordered the drink and before the bartender brought it to me, I suddenly realized that I did not have enough money to pay for the drink. That got me thinking. Here I was, alone drinking at a bar, with my wife and two children at home and I thought of the insanity of what I had been doing with my drinking. The bartender placed the drink on the table and I told him I would pay him later since he was busy serving other customers.
Suddenly
a voice in my head said to
me. "Walter, that is your last drink. You don't have to do this no more."
Then I remembered the visitation I had experienced two and one-half years previously and the voice in my head
repeated the phrase, "Change your ways".
I thought, 'Well, if this is my last drink, I am going to enjoy it. I drank it and walked out of that bar. At that moment, all desire to drink left me instantly. That was my last drink. To this day, I have not had any desire whatsoever to take another drink.
That day was October 7th, 1964.
I saw the light!
Today I received 14 congradulation e mails from fellow friends all over the world. I feel blessed
in the fellowship of sobriety. Blessings to you, My Friends.
Walter Collins
