Speaker 1: 0:01

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 Myers. The promoter.

Speaker 2: 0:22

Hello, my friends, it is so good to be with you today. I'm Ron Myers, I'm your host. The show is called Get the Hell Out of your Life. I interview people that share stories of, well, a lot of hell in their life a lot of trials, tribulations, worry, anxiety, fear. And what do we do? A lot of times when we have doubt, fear and anxiety, we self-medicate ourselves, whether it be drugs or alcohol or whatever it may be. And Greg's story today? Well, he was really self-medicated himself on pain medicines. So listen to his story, listen to the hope, listen to the optimism and then, when I return in the monologue, I'm going to tell you some things that you can incorporate in your life today to begin getting the hell out of your life. But let's listen to Greg's story.

Speaker 3: 1:16

Yeah, I grew up in what most people would probably consider from the outside looking in a picture perfect family. My parents were married all the way until my father's death a few years ago, one sister, no real trouble, no real trauma in our homes. But, like all families, oftentimes there are issues behind the scenes that people don't see. But we were, for all practical purposes, the all-American average picture-perfect family.

Speaker 2: 1:45

Now did you play Little League baseball and football and basketball and all that fun little?

Speaker 3: 1:49

kid stuff I did. Yeah, I did the soccer, the basketball, the football. I was in band when I was in junior high and high school and marched in parades all over the country, went to junior college and then went to Mississippi State, even went to Kentucky to work on my master's degree your college and then went to Mississippi State, even went to Kentucky to work on my master's degree. So did all the things that you would anticipate that kids growing up in the United States would do.

Speaker 2: 2:12

So when they would ask you in school what you wanted to be when you grow up, I'm sure you never said I want to be addicted to prescription painkillers.

Speaker 3: 2:22

You know, actually because I had a grandfather that was an alcoholic and another grandfather that smoked, which eventually led to his death. I was very averse to those things. You know, I had almost a self-righteous indignation about smoking and drinking and doing drugs and those would have been the very last things that I would have ever considered doing. I stayed away from that stuff intentionally and really kind of looked down on people who did. To be honest with you, my addiction developed over the course of treatment for migraine headaches that I had and eventually I was prescribed after many years of treatment, going all over the country. The final answer was here's some pain medication when it gets too bad, take these at home. And was prescribed by a variety of different doctors, so it wasn't even one doctor necessarily and the addiction just kind of planted the seeds there and grew into what would eventually become the hell that took over my life.

Speaker 3: 3:20

What was the drug that you were taking? The primary drug was Lortab anything that had a hydrocodone in it. There was the drug that you were taking. The primary drug was was Lortab, anything that had a hydrocodone in it? There was a little bit of dabbling with some other things, but that was the primary drug of choice for me.

Speaker 2: 3:34

Now, how old were you when this started and were you a preacher at the time?

Speaker 3: 3:38

Well, the migraines actually started when I was about three and I dealt with the headaches my entire life, off and on differing severities, and they got worse as I was in high school. To the point when I was a senior in high school it was all day, every day. I would go to the emergency room, sometimes two or three times a week, to get shots because the headache would get so bad. I began preaching when I was 17 at my church in Hattiesburg, just every once in a while, and then, when I left junior college, I became a pastor up in North Mississippi and I pastored from 2001 until I finally left the church because of the addiction and the affair that I had around 2009. And the affair that I had around 2009. So it kind of developed before but took over in the midst of and ended up ending my career as a pastor.

Speaker 2: 4:32

So you're in the pulpit telling people Jesus loves you, you need to be saved, and at the same time you're in the back room popping pills, having an affair with someone.

Speaker 3: 4:44

You know it didn't start like that. It started very slowly. You know, here's a couple of pills and now two is not working, so I'm going to take three. And then, a few months down the road, now it's 10 at a time, and that was the first time I looked at myself in the mirror and said this is going to kill me one day. The first time I took 10 pills at a time.

Speaker 3: 5:10

But that thought was gone quickly. There was not a really a conscious thought process that kept weighing pros and cons. It was more about this is what I need, this is what I'm going to do. And when you get into the understanding how the brain functions in addiction, you understand that's that part of the brain that controls fight or flight, and the fight or flight takes over and overwhelms the rest of the logical side of the brain and says look, this is what we're going to do. You can go be quiet in the back corner and that's what you do. And so the thought was there. That part of the brain said, nope, sorry, we're going to go do this. And that's what happened as I moved forward. It wasn't until I was in Kentucky. So that was after about five years of my addiction was the first time that I had the realization, when I was taking probably 90 pills a day at one point 30 in the morning, 30 at lunch, 30 at night that I thought, you know what. I'm probably not taking this for legitimate pain relief anymore.

Speaker 2: 5:59

So were you functioning as a productive citizen, making money, paying your bills, paying taxes and doing everything? I mean? Is that what kept you going? All the pills you needed more and more to keep you going.

Speaker 3: 6:11

Yeah, absolutely. And at that point it was no longer, at least in my mind, about the physical pain relief. There was some of that, but it was very little of it, if I'm being honest. At this point I was in school, working on my master's degree. I was pastoring a church. I was doing all the work that goes along with that. I had a part-time job, substitute teaching in one of the county schools in northern Kentucky, and so by every measurable category of my life I was a productive citizen. But there was this behind the scenes doctor shopping and abusing of medication that most people had no clue was there.

Speaker 2: 6:50

And you mentioned earlier, you had an affair. So you were married and you were having an affair. Did either one of them know you're on drugs and did they encourage you to stop?

Speaker 3: 7:03

Yeah. So my first wife knew, because we had a couple of incidents where we left Kentucky and came back to get some help, and that's a whole long story, but I wasn't able to find the help that I needed and she stayed and she tried to kind of battle through that. And then at some point in time in our relationship, for a long host of reasons I could give you, I had an affair which produced my daughter and I married her mother, in my mind thinking I was doing the right thing. I messed up so many times. I'm do the right thing now and be part of this family, and that marriage didn't work. She had, she had a suspicion that there was an abuse of pills, but but there was no evidence, you know, because I was good at hiding it. At that time Even I had a full time job and, you know, was paying most of my bills at least, and that's when that's when enabling by people around me began to kind of creep into my life.

Speaker 2: 7:58

Well, where are you getting these pills? It's not like you're going to the local Walmart or to the Dollar General and picking them up. Where are you getting these, especially if you're going through 90 a day?

Speaker 3: 8:07

So different stages of my life were different places. Early on I wasn't taking that many. I was able to bounce around to a couple of different doctors. When I lived in northern Kentucky I lived just outside of Cincinnati and within a two hour drive you've got Indiana. I really within a 20 minute drive you've got Indiana, ohio, kentucky and then two hours away, west Virginia. It was easy to bounce across state lines and avoid the prescription monitoring systems they had in place, and so you could run three or four doctors in each state. If you're getting 120, 180 pills a month, it makes it easier to have more.

Speaker 2: 8:45

So you're doing this? You must have fallen in love with God at one point in your life. You're preaching God. So where is God in the equation in this? Have you just put him out of mind, or do you think God is condoning this and saying hey, greg, you need to do this. You know you got headaches and that everything will be OK. So there's a couple of different factors.

Speaker 3: 9:03

The first thing is it's very easy to understand a lot about God logically and understand how the scriptures tie together and be able to talk about those things. So there is a logical understanding of who God is. There's another issue altogether with having a complete personal relationship. That is a healthy relationship. God doesn't toss us aside because we make bad decisions. He disciplines us and he chastises us and rebukes us and those kinds of things. There was a large part of me that was like you know what? I didn't create these headaches in my life. They were genetic and they were here and this is what I have to do to function. This is what I'm going to do. So I would say you know you rationalized it in your head.

Speaker 3: 9:48

Partly, yeah, I mean I think partly. There was a naivete, there was also a willful blindness, and then there was a rationalization, so kind of the perfect storm of justification, which is something that all addicts deal with.

Speaker 2: 10:01

And you did this for 13 years, yeah, so what is it that brought Greg Bufkin to your knees? Did you come to your knees? Did you call out to God what happened?

Speaker 3: 10:17

February 21st of 2016,. I went to pick up my stepdaughter from her father's weekend visitation and my drug dealer met us in Wiggins and I got some pills, took them, turned south on Highway 49. And that was the last thing I remember. I overdosed and blacked out while I was driving. I had gotten some pills that were laced with Xanax and fentanyl which is not stuff that I took, and I blacked out and drove for about 20 minutes with two of my kids in the car. That was a Sunday. I woke up Thursday in the hospital and they told me what had happened and I was so sick in my addiction. When I woke up, my first thought was not you know what, I may have a problem. My first thought was I can't trust my dealer. I just need a more trustworthy dealer.

Speaker 2: 10:57

But your children were OK, everything. Yeah, there was not an actual wreck. Ok, there wasn't a wreck.

Speaker 3: 11:01

No, there was not Get that clear. Eventually my body gave up the fight, long after my mind had given up the fight. You know my daughter tells a story of trying to talk to me and reason with me why I'm driving 102 miles an hour and making no sense. And eventually I slowed down long enough near a gas station that they were able to. I came almost to a complete stop. They jumped out and then for some reason I put the car in reverse and backed across the highway and got stuck in a median.

Speaker 2: 11:28

So you wake up in the hospital and you're mad at the dealer. You got to find a new dealer.

Speaker 3: 11:33

That's right. If only I had a trustworthy dealer, I wouldn't be in this situation.

Speaker 2: 11:37

Why didn't they go to dealer school and learn how to do it right?

Speaker 3: 11:41

So what did you do? Of course I didn't think I had a problem. So I found a new dealer and then two weeks later I'm back at work driving big trucks not class A but bigger trucks for a living and I got some pills from a different guy, not knowing he had gotten his from the same original source in Hattiesburg, and I overdosed while I was driving my big truck and I drove for again about 15, 20 minutes, completely blacked out, got on the interstate, went down the interstate and pulled over into a rest area where a police officer that I went to church with found me because he was there talking to the security guard and he pulled me out and sent me to the hospital. And again that happened on a Monday. I woke up at home on Thursday after they had sent me to the hospital and dismissed me.

Speaker 2: 12:25

Now please tell me that made you wave the white flag of surrender, Please tell me You're dealing with a very, very thick headed person.

Speaker 3: 12:34

When I woke up, my wife said you don't have to go to rehab. But you can't stay here, and I've already talked to your parents. They're not going to let you come. Stay there. And rehab at that point sounded better to me than being homeless, living under a bridge. And so I yielded to go to rehab. So I wouldn't say I had hit my knees, but I yielded to the pressure to go to rehab.

Speaker 2: 12:55

So I wouldn't say I had hit my knees, but I yielded to the pressure to go to rehab, went to rehab and then that began the journey to restoration, renewal and a resurgence to live the life that God created you for. You saw the light. You're in rehab. Where did you go to rehab?

Speaker 3: 13:08

I went to the home of grace over in Van Cleve, Van Cleve, Mississippi. Yes, when I went I was so angry. You asked where God was. I was mad at God when I went because I had been praying for years that God would take this away from me and he didn't. And I would hear people give their testimonies and they would get up and say, oh, I was in a hotel room one night with cocaine and I was going to kill myself and I found the Gideon Bible. I prayed to God and he saved me and took away the desire to ever use again. And that wasn't my story. I had been praying for so long and God just wouldn't intervene. Well, that brings up a point.

Speaker 2: 13:43

There's people out there right now and say well, greg, I know what you're talking about. I've been praying to get away from this problem in my life and God isn't paying attention. What do you tell that person has God?

Speaker 3: 13:53

abandoned them? Absolutely not. God orchestrates circumstances for the point in time that we're ready to receive what he's trying to do in our lives. And when I went I was so mad at God because he wouldn't move. I had spent the last six months before I went to rehab praying Just kill me and be done with it, because I'm tired of hurting the people I love. I'm tired of feeling the way I feel. Just kill me and let's be done with it.

Speaker 3: 14:25

And when I went to rehab, the very first chapel service I went to, the gentleman who spoke came to talk about the prodigal son and I thought oh good Lord, is there any more cliche message to preach at a rehab than the prodigal son? And and the guy didn't really say anything all that new from what I'd heard in the past. But he made one point. He said you know, it was so distasteful and so disgusting to somebody of the Jewish faith to be working in a pigsty. And yet every day when, when the prodigal son went to work in the pigsty, when his day was over, he went to bed planning to get up and come back to the pigsty the next day.

Speaker 3: 14:56

And he worked all day in the pigsty to go to bed to plan to come back the next day, and finally, one day he decided it didn't matter what was on the other side of that fence. He was going to step over the fence and start walking home. And God laid it on my heart. And this is just my story. God said Greg, you've been sitting around waiting for me to come rescue you without you having to actually put forth any effort, and now that you're here, now that you've stepped over that fence, we can get to work. And my journey, my story, was there was no person that was going to come in and miraculously save me without me making some effort towards that end.

Speaker 2: 15:33

So you had to make a conscience decision to say today this has got to stop Absolutely. And so you're at rehab. How long are you in rehab?

Speaker 3: 15:41

I was in rehab for three months If I was a dealer.

Speaker 2: 15:44

I'm going to know everything about you. Oh, he's out of rehab today. Let me call. Hey, greg, this is a dealer. John, you want some business Part?

Speaker 3: 15:52

of being successful when you come out of rehab is having a healthy support system around you. While I was in rehab my wife had erased all my numbers from my phone and changed my phone number, so I got out and had a phone number that nobody had anymore, so I'm sure that played a role in me being successful.

Speaker 2: 16:09

Well, that's good, and you're looking good now. So what's life like now? You know?

Speaker 3: 16:15

you might think that life is like being on the mountaintop again, and that's not really the case.

Speaker 3: 16:20

I knew before I left rehab that God had called me to what I refer to as painful transparency. I had a sense of hopelessness because all I ever heard were testimonies about people who had it all together because God took everything away. Had I heard some people say you know what life is a struggle each and every day, but I get up and I make it because God is faithful, maybe I wouldn't have been so discouraged. And so I make it a point to share the struggles that I have, that we have as a family, the things that we're going through, the trials we find ourselves in the midst of, to the point that sometimes Christian leaders around the community may be a little uncomfortable with the level of stuff we share. But what I've discovered is people who are at that point where they're barely keeping their head above water and they're about to go wonder. They see that as a ray of hope. They see that as a life raft and they say, if this guy can go through this and be here and still struggling, then there's hope for me.

Speaker 2: 17:24

Amen, Before we go give the listeners your website of your ministry.

Speaker 3: 17:31

Absolutely so. Our Facebook page, our website, wwwlroiprovidesorg that's E-L-R-O-I providesorg. You can find us on facebookcom slash L-R-O-I provides. We do have some recovery groups that we hold. If you're a family member, if you're someone who's struggling with addiction, we also have connections with people who have struggled with human trafficking and all types of different things financial problems, whatever, Whatever you're struggling with we have a support group for you to sit around and talk with people who struggle with similar things and different things. If you just need somebody to talk to, you just want some encouragement, please reach out, Be more than happy to talk to you and help demonstrate the love of God to you and those that you love.

Speaker 2: 18:21

There's somebody out there right now that needs to hear something from Greg Buffkin some hope, some encouragement that tomorrow is going to be a better tomorrow. What would you tell that person?

Speaker 3: 18:33

I would tell that person that tomorrow is a new day and that the God that did all the miraculous signs in the Old Testament, the New Testament, he's the same God yesterday, today and forever, and the same power is available. In fact, my family is going through a time right now where one of our oldest children has made some decisions we don't really agree with and she's kind of moved in a direction that we're not in favor of, and my family has been hurting a great deal in that midst and saying you know, we've set all the examples for you of what bad things lead to and what good things do for you. How in the world do you make these decisions? And as I was preparing to come in, I felt like the Lord said you know, that prodigal son story still has more to teach you, greg. And I said, okay, lord, what is that? And he said, you know, as the prodigal son went off in a direction he shouldn't go, sometimes the father is called just to sit there and watch him go and know that God is faithful, that God has a plan, that God didn't abandon the father because the son went away.

Speaker 3: 19:33

You know, and our ministry is specifically for the families of people who are struggling. If you have a loved one who's struggling with addiction or with anything else, god has not forgotten you. He is aware, he hears your prayers and he's just as active now as he ever has been. Rest in his arms and give him time to do what he's going to do, and there is hope and there is redemption and restoration. That is possible. It just may not always happen on our time frame.

Speaker 1: 20:05

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: 20:15

What's your story? We're looking for stories of hope and overcoming life's struggles with God's grace. Your story validates God's love, 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.

Speaker 5: 20:44

Life is filled with challenges and addictions, and bad habits of any kind do not make it any easier. My name is Mark and this is the Journey. Addictions take many different forms Food, work, sports, gambling, drugs, alcohol, pornography. The list is long. And it is a form of slavery. The Apostle Peter says in 2 Peter, chapter 2, that we have become a slave to whatever it is that controls us. The good news is that God loves to set people free. Think about what he did for the Israelites as they left Egypt. He parted the Red Sea to make a way for them to escape their slavery, and he is fully able to do the same sort of thing for you.

Speaker 5: 21:29

Romans, chapter 5 reminds us that sin was introduced into the world when Adam disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden and caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God's wonderful grace and His gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one man, jesus Christ. Paul declares in Galatians, chapter 5, that we have been called to liberty. God's free gift of righteousness is what sets us free. His gift of righteousness is Jesus, who gave his life on the cross to pay the penalty for our sin, jesus can truly set you free. So be encouraged today that, whatever causes you to be a slave, whatever it is that controls your life, you can be set free when you trust in Jesus.

Speaker 3: 22:22

Welcome back listeners.

Speaker 2: 22:53

I told you Greg's story. Well, it was a doozy, and our stories are doozies. I mean, how many things in your life, my life, have just held us back? And we wanted that willpower, we wanted the strength to overcome something, but it never worked. Did it? To overcome something? But it never worked, did it? We might have a brief little freedom burst in our life, but then it comes back in our life.

Speaker 2: 23:20

I found out for me, my guest, it is only through that day-to-day relationship with Jesus, giving everything to him every day, giving everything to him every day, constantly just focusing on the things that he has designed to give you and I, because you and I have an assignment in this world and we cannot do our assignment if we're always in a state of la la land or we just really don't give a hoot about this world. But I know you give a hoot, otherwise you would not be listening. I want to ask you. I have talked to a lot of people after the election on Wednesday morning and there is a universal feeling among a lot of my friends that say, ron, it was something different. I felt relieved. I said I know what it was like. It was like being constipated for four years. And then you wake up on Wednesday morning after the election and everything is just flowing beautifully and I had a conversation with Jesus that morning and what I heard in my spirit was this Ron, the veil of spiritual warfare has been lifted. Ron, the veil of spiritual warfare has been lifted. You are understanding the freedom there is when I am in the center of your life In this nation right now. Well, we need some time. Well, we're not being held down by spiritual oppression, but it only comes with an intimate personal relationship with Jesus.

Speaker 2: 24:53

Now here's the thing I told you that I would share with you your walk with God is between you and him. It's not what other people think, it's not what the church tells you, it's not what the preachers say and it's not a politician in Washington DC. You've got to take control of your life. It's you and Jesus. You have to share with him all your hurts, your struggles, your fears. Rejoice in the joyous times in life when you go a week or two weeks or a month or a year that you've been free, and share your story with people and, most importantly, focus on today. You cannot control tomorrow, you cannot control the future, but you can control today, and today is the day the Lord has given you to be you, nobody else. Be you, be open, be honest, be loving, be nonjudgmental, because there is a freedom that is taking place right now in this world. I don't really understand it, but I know 2025 is going to be a great year for many of us because we are going to intentionally walk in the plans and purpose of Jesus.

Speaker 5: 26:02

Christ, ron, we'll be back in a moment to wrap up today's conversation. We want to encourage you today with God's promise to you. It comes from the book of Jeremiah, chapter 29, verse 11. For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you hope and the future. That's God's promise to you when you choose to commit your plans and future to him Now back to Ron.

Speaker 2: 26:37

Well, friends, my time is up and I hope that you've enjoyed today's show. If you would like to hear more stories, go to my website, thepromoterorg Lots of stories from the last five years from individuals all over the world. And if you would like to share your story, there's a tab on my website, thepromoterorg. It says share your story Until next week. This is Ron Myers, reminding you that I love you, Jesus loves you, and when you give Jesus your heart, he will not only take the hell out of your life. Life begins to get good.

Speaker 1: 27:31

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.