I’m John Bischof.  I’m 49 years old, and I’m an attorney here in Tallahassee.

I was born in Jersey City, NJ.  Grew up in a house with my mom and dad.  No brothers.  No sisters.  So it was just me and them – until my folks got divorced when I was about ten years old. 

Afterwards, it was Dad and I.  We used to go to church together regularly.  I grew up as a Roman Catholic. 

And I never really thought much about my faith. Probably the first time that I ever had occasion to think about my faith in earnest was after I had been married for nearly 12 years and had four children, and I was approaching my late 30’s.

We got divorced, which was probably one of the toughest points of my life.  It occurred right during the same year that my dad died.  I really felt as though I had lost my way somewhere along the way. It was a long dark road there for quite a while.

One of the big things that I came to grips with during that time was the fact that although I had always considered myself a recreational drinker, it progressed to the point where, undeniably I had become an alcoholic. 

Halfway through law school – just guilt and alcoholism – I was in the depths of despair.  I had come to one of those turning points in life where I had actually considered that either I could drink myself to death or try and find some sort of a solution.

I wound up going to an A.A. meeting.  It was probably the best thing I had ever done in my life because it got me back into contact with Christ in an incredibly real, committed and structured way, where Christ and I had conversations on a daily basis - more often than not, especially in the beginning, on an hourly basis.

And just the strength and comfort of knowing that I could drop down on my knees and ask for the Lord’s help, got me through, undeniably, the worst time in my life.

It’s pretty neat because right now, as I’m sitting here telling this story, it’s been six years and two days since I had a drink of alcohol – and I’m remarried.

One thing that is incredibly important for me is that the Lord has blessed me with Brenton, Sarah, Christopher, Nicholas, Ethan, and another little baby on the way.  For many years, while I was drinking, and certainly a lost soul, I know that I didn’t do as much as I possibly could do to be a dad, to be there full time.

The one thing that I feel tremendously blessed by is actually being aware and conscious and sober and thankful that I have these kids in my life.  When you’re lost, it’s impossible to feel any genuine feelings like that. 

I’ve got hope where, a lot of times, I didn’t have hope.  I don’t know what tomorrow holds, but I have a lot less stress – which probably bleeds over into a lot of other things that I do, because I can’t control anything.  And when I remember that I can’t, and that God’s got a plan and I’m fully committed to the fact that His plan is a good one for me – when I let go and just fall back into that peace – I’m going to have a good day.