Kelby's Beacon of Hope: A Story of Faith and Recovery

Ron Meyers: 0:00

The following program is sponsored by Ron Meyers Ministries.

: 0:05

It's time now to get the hell out of your life. A weekly broadcast with real people sharing real struggles and offering real hope. Today's show will encourage, inspire and empower you to face life's challenges with a bold confidence and renewed hope. Now let's join our host, ron Meyers. The Provider.

Ron Meyers: 0:28

Hello, my friends, it is so good to be with you today. Have you had your coffee with Jesus, your quiet time with Dad, telling him the problems, the mistakes, the stumbles and, you know, just saying, hey, I got to get back on track there, jesus. I need some guidance today and they're just something healthy about a conversation with Jesus. After all, he's living inside of you If you are a believer.

Ron Meyers: 1:00

I learned a long time ago I bypassed the middleman, I go straight to Jesus. I mean, I do like church and I like all that pageantry and tradition, but there's nothing like that close, intimate, personal relationship with Jesus, my life coach and my mentor, because he is truth and the truth will never lead you astray. This show is all about sharing stories to validate the love, the mercy, the forgiveness of Jesus. I interview people I've been doing it for over four seasons now hundreds of people that never met Jesus in church, but they met Jesus at the end of their loneliness or a needle or just so much hell in their life. They said I can't do this anymore. Well, today you will hear from Kelby. Kelby grew up in South Carolina and, well, he was a little little hellraiser and then one day he's going to tell you about a ballheaded white man that changed his life by introducing introducing him to Jesus. Kelby, so good to have you on the phone with me. How are you doing today?

Kelby McNabb: 2:23

Hey, ron, doing pretty well, doing pretty well.

Ron Meyers: 2:25

So, kelby, what is your story?

Kelby McNabb: 2:27

First of all, thank you so much. That means that means the world to me. I mean, where do I start? That's 17 really is where it all shifted for me. You know I'm the oldest of seven boys. Mom, you know, single mom, didn't really have a father figure. To be honest, I didn't even really get to know my father to probably like late teenage years, and even then it was kind of very distant and not really great relationship. So you know, I was kind of the man of the household and sort of speaking, just one decision led to another and it just started going downhill. And it first started with me really just experimenting with drugs. You know, I dropped out of high school, big 17.

Kelby McNabb: 3:04

I moved down to South Carolina and then when I got here I just I just really just wasn't doing nothing with my time no, can we eat all day and hanging out with the wrong people. You know, kind of prove myself to somebody, really trying to find something significant. And I'll share this story. It was me and my friends at the time and we were drunk, we're on Xanax and literally just out of our minds, and it was like one o'clock in the morning and we were walking down the street and we just had this idea of just breaking into something and it was literally a church right across the street from where we were walking. We said, you know, let's just go kick that door in and ran inside the church and all we were doing just scrumming through stuff, being being stupid, vandalizing things. But a neighbor heard us and they called the cops. We seen some headlights flashing the windows of the church. You know, it's one o'clock in the morning. We're like what is going on? We peek outside and all we heard was, hey, you, and it was officers just lined up in their patrol. Cars immediately freak out and we go run back inside. I actually remember trying to taking off and getting tackled by a cop, but I definitely remember being hit in the back of the head and then they released a canine into the church where my buddies were and had the dog actually bite one of them and drag them out, and so it was a crazy situation. We ended up getting a lot of trouble for that, but that was just the first of many. My mother bonded me out God bless her. She's such an amazing woman Tried to do her best with what she had.

Kelby McNabb: 4:31

Four weeks later, I'm doing it again I'm back on a rampage. I'm back on Zanak and smoking, weed and drinking and this time commit another felony. That happened twice and the last time the judge looked at me I was 17. And now I'm getting charged as an adult. I got six felonies like eight misdemeanors now and the judge looks at me and says Kaby, I'm not letting you out again. Every time we let you out you get back in trouble. So you're going to stay here in this jail cell. And I'll never forget, because I had my 18th birthday in Pickens County Jail here in South Carolina and while I was in there, one day a guard comes up and says Kaby, you have a visitor. So of course I've got nothing to do.

Kelby McNabb: 5:05

I go to the visitation room and there's this bald-headed white dude on the other side of this glass screen and I sit down and talk with him and first he's asking me how am I doing? And then sharing with me a little bit about who he is, and then he starts talking about Jesus. I've always known about Christ and God. I've definitely felt like I've always been a believer. I knew there was something bigger out there. I just wrestled with, I guess, believing Jesus, and so he started talking to me a little bit and I kind of shut it down to me.

Kelby McNabb: 5:36

If I look dude, like one of the reasons I'm in here is because I was breaking into churches Not for me. I know God's real, I know that, but not for me, not right now. I need to get in my life and together first, and then maybe I can pursue this Jesus thing. And then he shared with me a story about Saul to Paul, how God transformed that man's life and used him to bring so much glory and honor to his name, and it really touched me, man, and really I'll never forget it. It was like hope was deposited in my heart at that moment, you know, and I had this idea that, okay, maybe, maybe I can really change and maybe I can really get help changing.

Kelby McNabb: 6:14

And he gave me this new believer's Bible and I went back to my jail cell and immediately just kind of opened that thing up and started reading, started reading the red word, the words of Jesus. And I'll never forget because I ran across the passage where Jesus was telling them, telling the crowd. I believe he said don't let your right hand know what your left hand is doing, and he was talking about giving you know, at the time, in the jailhouse that I was in, there was a lot of meth addicts in there, and these guys would come in there, beat up super skinny you know, hadn't slept in four or five days and I would just feel so sorry. And so I would literally at night time, 12, one o'clock in jail I would run around and throw some noodles under their mat, so when they wake up they have something to eat or I don't know something. And it was really inspired because of that verse and because of the words of Jesus, and so I started putting these things into practice while I was in jail and really devoting myself to learning and devoting myself to becoming better and pursuing this life that God had predestined for us through Christ.

Kelby McNabb: 7:16

Then it stopped me from having to go through the consequences of my decisions when it came time for me to finally be charged with whatever was going to happen for me, whatever the court decided to happen me as a discipline. It could have been a lot worse. I only got sent down the road for eight months. So I had to go spend eight months in prison in Columbia, south Carolina, and then then I came home and I was on five years parole and it was a very strict parole. When I got home I didn't want to go back and I knew what I had experienced in jail was something significant and something real.

Kelby McNabb: 7:50

And so I reached out to this bald head of white guy again and just wanted to kind of see what he's up to and talk to him. And so we formed a little bit of a relationship. We would go and have lunch together and talk about things and you know, I would bring my challenges to him and I would debate with him on certain, you know I guess, theological stuff and just what I was wrestling with, and he would always kind of give me his ear and just listen and provide value and just kind of walk through with me this journey and getting to know Christ. But it didn't stop there, man. A couple years later I lost a brother, 16 years old, was drinking and driving and powders ville, south Carolina, and wrecked his vehicle, lost his life. And then just a year later I lost older brother who I looked up to a lot, who I lived with for a while. He was shot in a gang drive by. He was a very big blood member. He was a 24 years old, was shot in the heart, died on the spot on the scene, and so I was really just going to really mess up place with a lot of questions, a lot of doubt, and alcohol became one of my best friends again.

Kelby McNabb: 8:57

This time it was worse, you know, drinking every day. I remember my supervisor catching me a couple of times with alcohol in my breath and just sending me straight home. But he loved me and cared for me so much he didn't want to fire me and I was really grace he would tell me can we just go home? What never really ended up happening is I caught a DUI. Another month later I caught another DUI and then a month later I was drinking and driving again and I ran into someone's house, crashing to their wall, told them my vehicle and everything I made newspaper. It was terrible. Here I am now three DUIs, I got a hit and run. I'm already a felon.

Kelby McNabb: 9:31

This is my fourth year on parole. Life's just like a mess. I didn't keep my relationship with that guy who came and visited me in prison. I'm in a situation where I'm feeling hopeless again. I remember being on this railroad just walking. It was right by my house and I'm just walking and I'm contemplating life and I'm, honestly, I'm balling my eyes out and just begging for help from God because I don't know what's going to happen. My mom's tired of it, my mom's kind of like, you know, this is just going to be this kid's life. And I didn't even know what to do. And I remember sitting down this railroad and really praying God, please help me. In that moment I really felt God speak to me and say tell me I still love you and I'm going to use you for my name. And it was such a reassuring, comfort and a loving voice.

Kelby McNabb: 10:14

And I went back home and I told my mom I want to go to rehab. And she said well, there's this place called Home with the Heart. It has a couple of thrift stores that I like shopping at, they have a men's rehabilitation and you can try them out. So I went up there and I talked to the director, mr Alex, and I just gave him my whole story. This rehab was like borderline house on a prairie straight farm. All he relied on was two things Number one just getting you away from your environment and getting you into Jesus and really relying on him to save you. And so he said you know what, kelby, come on in. We got a bed for you 60 days. It's going to be free, we're not going to charge you a thing. You come on in here, we're going to help you, and I did.

Kelby McNabb: 10:53

I went in and changed my life completely. To this day, one of the most greatest experiences I've ever had was stepping foot into that rehabilitation center and I promise you there was nothing fancy about it. It was literally. You work probably eight hours a day at a third store, you would do chores around the house and you got preached to three times a day at a minimum.

Kelby McNabb: 11:16

I think really what happened was at that point, when I stepped in, I was so ready to leave my old life alone and embrace this new life that God met me in that place and I graduated and that was, I think, 2016 when I left there, and my life has been completely changed. As soon as I left, I said I got to go find this, this ballheaded white dude that came and visited me when I was 17 in jail, and apparently he had started his own church now. He was a pastor at the time when he visited me. I still did not know why he came and visited me until a couple of years ago, he finally told me that the detective that was over my case said that there was something unique about this kid and that he reached out to him to come up here and speak to me.

Kelby McNabb: 11:59

And so I reached out to him and I'm like, what is he doing and all this stuff? And he said he's starting a church and it was in a mall. And I said you know what I want to know, want to come be a part of that. And I did, I got connected there and I stayed connected with him and I stayed connected with church and I really, I really did my best to devote myself not only just to believing but to now living the life that God has called me to live, abstaining from the pleasures that I used to indulge myself in, removing bad friendships, removing myself out of toxic environments, removing bad music out of my life. I really wanted to live a holy and purposeful life that God has called me to and I was really because my way was ruining it and I just completely.

Kelby McNabb: 12:42

It was very obvious that whatever my way was, it definitely wasn't working. So like, let me give this a try. Life hasn't been the same. I literally met my wife there, met my wife in Bible study one night and then, two years later, I become his youth pastor. He had no idea that he was talking to his youth pastor through that glass door six years earlier. Today I run a company with about 15 employees who serve churches and nonprofits all over the world. You know I get to lead now as almost like an associate pastor in our church and my message, this story, has reached over 13 million people.

Ron Meyers: 13:18

Well, friends, it's time for a break, and when we return, the conclusion of Kelby's story, and in my monologue I've got something that well, you're going to want to hear this.

: 13:29

You're listening to Get the Hell Out of your Life with your host, ron Myers. Real stories, real struggles and real hope.

Speaker 5: 13:39

What's your story? We're looking for stories of hope and overcoming life struggles with God's grace. Your story validates God's law of mercy, restoration and forgiveness. We want to help you share your story with the world. Visit our website, thepromoterorg, and click on the Share your Story link and submit your story. Your testimony of God's amazing grace will change a person's destiny for eternity.

: 14:10

Getting encouragement is important and it helps us overcome our fears and gives us the courage to face life's challenges. To receive weekly messages of encouragement, all you need to do is text INSPIRE to 888-527-1223. Our messages are intended to inspire and empower you on your life journey.

Speaker 4: 14:36

Remember life is more enjoyable when you're inspired.

Ron Meyers: 14:59

Welcome back, listeners. Yes, God is in this story. Is God in your story? Well, listen to the rest of story, and story, decide you'll you'll today to keep God in your story. Kelby, there are a lot of people right now that drugs, alcohol, the pleasures of life have you said that is the only thing that they know, because that numbs the pain in their life. So somebody listening right now they say, wow, you know, that's that, Kelby, and that Jesus thing. That's not for me. What would you tell that person?

Kelby McNabb: 15:35

I totally get that mindset. But here's what I would say Give it a try. You have nothing to lose. And if you really, really, really don't want to live the life you're living, deep down inside, if you have an inch of hunger for a better life, just give it a try. Don't knock it. Don't knock it just yet. Don't say that could happen to him but that'll never happen to me, because that was that same mindset that I had at that time. The truth is, the same grace that was given to me, the same grace that was given to you, ron, can also be given to them, and it's available. All we got to do is just take that step.

Ron Meyers: 16:11

But sometimes we have to hit bottom. We have to see the world collapse before we reach for help. What do you think?

Kelby McNabb: 16:20

That's so true, you know. You know, I had an MMA instructor who Really really dear in my life, trained with him for about eight years and he's always telling me Kelvin pain is a very cruel teacher, but she is very good, she will get you to learn and sometimes it takes that for some people. I really hate that it does but sometimes it takes excruciating and really a lot of pain for people to finally realize, like wait a minute, this can't be what life's about. It can't be why I was sent here.

Ron Meyers: 16:48

Well, god will take our pain and turn it into his purpose. That's right. You're having fun, aren't you?

Kelby McNabb: 16:54

I mean, I really am. I'm gonna be honest with you. On now, my life has completely flipped. That person that was in bondage to drugs and Xanax and blunts and liquor I don't even know him, like that. It's absolutely fun, it's absolutely amazing. And the truth is, you know, what I really love is when I get to tell people, like when they Ask me like oh yeah, like like um, you know what college did you go through? Or they want to know a little bit about my background, and then it's like surprise, yeah, and they're just like what? There was grace in my life. God was looking after me.

Ron Meyers: 17:26

Okay, I'll be. You said something a minute ago reminds me back to my before Jesus days, when it was all about sex, drugs and rock and roll, but a lot of it was based on Looking for that love, looking for that acceptance. Do you think, a lot of the people that are struggling nowadays with drugs and alcohol, that the foundational Reason in their life is they just absolutely?

Kelby McNabb: 17:52

I'll give you a good example, the reason why alcohol became so addicting to me. It brought me significant, it made me feel important, or it made me get attention, which I was really secretly craving, and I think a lot of people maybe not all, but a lot of people also want that. They want to be Known, to be known and to know. For me, it was just like I was always thought I was just this poor black kid who was just another stereotype and no one's ever gonna see you with anything more than just this, and so I was secretly longing to get Attention and show off and to kind of just like you know, be different. But I didn't know how to meet that need, and so alcohol and drugs helped me meet that need.

Ron Meyers: 18:30

Sounds like you're addicted to Jesus now.

Kelby McNabb: 18:32

That's right. I mean literally. That's right. Jesus said to free. It really does he gets you stop thinking about yourself and Making the world just about you, which is a huge, huge thing. It really is. It's just a beautiful journey once we start.

Ron Meyers: 18:47

And that's the thing is. Once we start has a young black man growing up. You can go now into a black community and you can talk to gang people. You can talk to people on drugs and you become relatable to them. Have you found that?

Kelby McNabb: 19:02

Absolutely. I mean, I literally just got to go speak at the fatherhood coalition nothing. It was a bunch of young teenagers, majority of them African-American At least 70, 80% African-American. They're all between 15 and 17 and they're on probation for bringing guns to school, catching charges, and I get to speak to those guys and I really tried to Resignate with them and allow them to see, listen, I didn't graduate high school, I didn't go to college. I didn't like grow up and like this great household. To be honest, I was living in a shed in the backyard, those little buildings you see on the side of road where it's like rent to own. We would get one of those, we would insulate it, we would run an extension court out there and that's where, you know, I would live. So, like absolutely, and I try to keep that perspective. Still, I try to hold on to that because I know how much, how important that is, you know. I'll say this I love this story so much and I like to share.

Kelby McNabb: 19:52

But one day, and you probably heard this, one day, there was a man who was doing his best but he fell into a hole. He was trying to get out of this hole and he was trying to climb up the sides and he still couldn't get out. He was giving off what he had and there was no hope. And so he would just sit down there and yell for help and help, and no one would hear him. But one day a doctor walked by and peaked in the hole and seen him down there and said hey man, what are you doing down there? He said I mean, I've been here for a while, I've been crying out for help. No one's helped me. I don't know what to do. And the doctor says here, well, take this prescription, take three of these a day and this will help you get out of this hole. He tries that and he's still stuck in the hole, he doesn't get out. And some time goes on and he's defeated, still stuck in this hole. And he hears somebody walk across the top again, and this time, this time it's a pastor, a preacher, and this priest comes by and says man, what are you doing down in this hole? And he says man, look, I've been here for a while now. I've been talked to the doctor, I've been yelling for help, nothing's helping me. And so the pastor says here, look, here's a Bible. Just read this, read this, get to know this and this will help you get out of here. And the man spends hours reading and spends time reading this and he's still stuck and he still doesn't help him get out. So this guy's now just hopeless at this point, just withering away, dying.

Kelby McNabb: 21:05

One day this man is walking across the top of this platform or this hole, peeks down in there and says Everybody, what are you doing in this hole? And he says listen, man, just go ahead and go on like let me just, let me just be here and die. And and you go and live your life, said I've done, had the doctor I've done, had people pray for me, I've done, did everything I can to try to get out this hole. So the man doesn't say nothing, he just walks off and the guy in the hole just accepts it. Then all sudden he hears a loud bump Right behind him and he turns around and this man done jumped in the hole with them. He says what are you doing, you idiot? We're both now stuck in this hole, didn't I just tell you? I've been here for forever and I've tried everything. Now we're both in this hole. And the guy looks at him and he smiles and he says don't worry, I know the way out.

Ron Meyers: 21:52

Kelby, I can see why so many people follow you on social media and I appreciate your passion and your love so much, because it's contagious.

Kelby McNabb: 22:03

Well, that means the world to me, ron, it really does. You know it's always what the enemy uses when I go to lay down at night is you're really not helping nobody? Or you know, are you even really doing what you can do? Or you know all this isn't saying no one's going to really listen to you or believe you.

Ron Meyers: 22:24

Amen, brother, I've been there, done that. I got the t-shirt. I know exactly what you're doing, but we know who's we are and we are in the hands of Jesus and we are more than conquerors. Kelby, will you give my listeners a Kelby McNabb-Pupp Talk?

Kelby McNabb: 22:44

If you're a parent and maybe you have a kid who is struggling with drugs and alcohol and you see them taking this path that I just shared with you guys about and that me and Ron has been talking about. You know, I know how difficult that can be and I wish there was just a one answer solution that'll help you feel better about all of this and solve the problem. You know I pondered so much on Mary, the mother of Jesus, and how much she had to endure when she made the decision in her head to let her baby boy go into the world to be abused, mistreated, the uncertainty that she had to bear of knowing that she's going to let Jesus, her son, go right and she gave it to God. I first want to kind of challenge the parents out there with that. I really do. I want because I know how much that stress can be. I know I've seen my mom go through every phone call after those times where it's always filled with anxiety, because you never know if it's a detective, if it's a state trooper saying your son is dead or if it's something like that. I want you to first know that God cares for you. He really does your prayers matter. He is fighting for your child, he is fighting for you. Go to him, really, pursue that. Get connected with the body of believers who also have gone through what you're going through.

Kelby McNabb: 23:58

You know one thing is that the enemy wants us to feel alone, wants us to feel like this is only happening to us because we're bad parents or we're bad people. But that's not the case at all. This is happening to a lot of people. A lot of believers are having to go through this. So I just want to say that for the parents out there and for anybody out there who may be listening to this now and you're the one wrestling with kind of the addiction of the drugs and or the just the life of sin and just of selfishness, it ain't worth it. There's not a, there's not a pill you're going to take that's going to immediately change everything. You know I told my story in the last 20, 25 minutes. That was over the span of well, eight to 10 years. You know I left rehab six years ago. It's not going to happen overnight.

Kelby McNabb: 24:39

And the number one thing when someone comes to me and asks you know what? What do I need, I always say you have to have hunger, you have to have something inside of you that wants a better right. You will not sit here to just live a life of working every day and just misery and making drug and taking drugs to feel better. That was not the life he had planned for you. So you've got to have a hunger inside that wants that and you've got to keep that hunger there, because there's going to be times when you're going to try.

Kelby McNabb: 25:06

You're going to be sober for two weeks and then slip up, or you're going to try and then you're going to fail. You might fail over and over and over again, but listen to me, don't let that be the end. You get up and you keep trying. Don't let someone call you a hypocrite because this is your eighth time trying to get this right. You keep pursuing, you keep moving forward and I promise you grace will meet you there, promise you if you really put him first. You say God, I believe you, I trust you, I want to give you my whole life, not just part of it. I don't want to just say I believe, but now I want to actually take that and make it real in my life. I want to do things for you, I want to behave differently and I need your help. He will show up. I promise you he will show up.

Ron Meyers: 25:48

Kelly, that is awesome. Now listen, how do people connect with you?

Kelby McNabb: 25:51

Facebook obviously is a great, great way. I mean, I almost answer every message on Facebook, ron. That's how I got to meet you and talk with you. I take that very seriously. So Facebook, kelly McNabb. K-e-l-b-y-m-c-n-a-b.

Ron Meyers: 26:06

One last thing before we go. How do you get the hell out of your life?

Kelby McNabb: 26:09

I love that title. Listen, I think you've got to pursue heaven and would inevitably, I believe, will happen, as hell will just get left behind.

Ron Meyers: 26:17

I want to thank you so much. Thank you for sharing your story, thank you for being faithful to the call in your life. And again, ron, thank you. A member of our.

Kelby McNabb: 26:24

I appreciate it.

: 26:25

You're listening to Get the Hell Out of your Life with your host, ron Myers. Real stories, real struggles and real hope.

Speaker 4: 26:36

We hear real stories every week of job loss and broken relationships. Perhaps you're experiencing difficult times in your life, the fear of a shaky financial future, or maybe just plain fear of the unknown. No matter what your situation might be, there is someone who's there for you, someone who can bring you an answer to the fears in your life, and his name is Jesus Christ. Placing your faith in him is the first step in obtaining the peace found solely in a relationship with Christ, a relationship that can never be broken. God has said many times in the Bible I will never fail you, I will never abandon you. Wouldn't you like to know someone who will never leave your side? If you would like to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, call 888-NEED-HIM. That's 888-NEED-HIM or chat with us at chataboutjesuscom.

Ron Meyers: 27:32

Because my greatest joy is producing this show. Get the Hell Out of your Life. You hear stories from people from all backgrounds that got the hell out of their life by calling upon the name of Jesus. 90% of them never met Jesus in church. They met Jesus at the end of themselves. You can listen to more episodes at the website thepromoterorg. Now, next week, this is Ron Myers reminding you I love you, god loves you, and when you give Jesus your heart, he will give you total forgiveness and a life that is absolutely everything you dreamed of. Get the hell out, get the hell out, get the hell out of your life.

: 28:29

Today's show was produced by Ron Myers Ministries, a listener-supported ministry. For a copy of today's broadcast, please visit our website, thepromoterorg, and would you prayerfully consider making a tax-deductible donation so that we may continue to share stories of God's amazing grace with the world? And join us next week for another broadcast of Get the Hell Out of your Life Real people sharing real struggles and offering real hope.