TK Hamilton has a story that he wants to share with the world. It’s a story of a man who dropped out of school in the ninth grade and lived a life of abuse, abandonment, homelessness, and addiction. TK’s story demonstrates what God can do in a person’s life if they will surrender and allow God to direct their thoughts and actions. TK Hamilton came from rags to riches through God, Scripture, and people.
TK is the owner of Midian Roofing in Rome, Georgia and Fort Mill, South Carolina, and has developed a State-Certified Journeyman Apprenticeship Program for roofing. His program is like no other in the State of Georgia, and has been used to not only train men as roofers, but to disciple them at work also. He spends his spare time training and discipling men from his lifelong experiences. TK also brings the message of truth and inside the local county jail.
TK and his wife have four children from the ages of twenty-nine to seven years old and are praying for a fifth child.
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ReRIGHT Table of Contents:
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Twenty years old and as dumb as they come, yes, that was me. I was such a bright shining star. I was one of those guys that could not handle drinking alcohol by any stretch of the imagination. I was one of those guys who thought that it was okay to
tell my girlfriend that I was going fishing and not come home for three days...and didn’t own a fishing pole. I was one of those guys who thought it was okay to go out with my buddies at all hours of the night and leave my pregnant wife at home alone. I
was the guy who would go through the whole range of emotions in the same night while drinking.
I was the guy who on one wet, cold, fall evening thought it would be a good idea to take the family car, while drinking with my best friend and cousin, on a ride through the back roads. (FYI back roads late at night on the weekend are not safe.) A lot
of people think it is safer for them to drive the back roads while drinking, so they don’t get caught by the cops. This story is what happened on one (of many) of the stupidest nights of my life...
I had been drinking a lot that evening and decided to take the family car and leave my wife and child asleep at home. I picked up my cousin and best friend, and off we went. It was cold, and the roads were wet. As I was driving down the long, winding road, I felt the car shaking as I rounded a curve. I thought for a moment, “I am safe,” and then I weaved off the road again. This time, I didn’t make it, I slammed on the brakes and propelled into a large oak tree. When I came to, there was nothing but silence and the smell of impending doom. I immediately tried to get out of the car, but it was so warped that the doors would not open. I looked to the right after trying to open the door, and there was my best friend, motionless, face planted into the heater coil because the dash was gone. I shook my friend and yelled, “Wake up, wake up!” He would not move. My cousin was in the rear floor of the car, yelling, “I can’t move my legs, I can’t move my legs!” I crawled out of the driver’s side window and ran around to the passenger side of the car, and my best friend was still lifeless. I prayed, “God, please don’t let him be dead! Please don’t let him be dead!” I believe God answered my prayer as my friend regained consciousness.
My friend said, “What’s going on?” I told him that we were in an accident and we needed to get out. I scrambled around the car, ripped off the tag, hid the beer in the woods, and busted out the taillights because they wouldn’t turn off. I then got my tag
and fake insurance card and threw them as far as I could into the woods. I was trying to get rid of any evidence that would tie me to the car. My cousin was still yelling, “I can’t feel my legs, I can’t feel my legs!” I told him he needed to get moving because we were leaving, and I couldn’t carry him. Thank God, he gained function in his legs, and we left the scene of the accident. My plan was to make it to a phone to call a ride and report the crashed car stolen.
We walked about five miles in the cold drizzling rain. We made it to a payphone and called a ride. When we were on the phone, a cop pulled up, and we ran as fast as we could. We got away for the moment. My cousin didn’t run, but my friend that was
bleeding from his face did. I circled back around close to the payphone and hid in a bush. I hid there, so when my ride pulled up, I would see them. The cops picked up my friend a few blocks away and escorted him to the hospital. I passed out while hiding
in the bush. I remember how cold I was and wishing that this was all a dream. Moments later, the cops pulled up to the bush that I was sitting in front of, not hidden at all.
The officer came over the loudspeaker and said, “Mr. Hamilton, we know who you are. Get in the car!” I believe it was so cold they didn’t really want to get out in the rain. I got up and politely surrendered with my hands in the air. The cop got out of the car at that point, opened the back door of the police car, and let me in.
They took me down to the local police station and started questioning me. I denied driving the car. I told them we picked up a hitchhiker, and I let him drive because I was too drunk to drive. The cop said, “That is a good story, but we don’t believe you. What we are going to do is not charge you with insurance fraud, if you confess to the DUI.” They had found the fake insurance card right beside my car.
I confessed to the DUI. They told me that the charge was a lesser charge, and it was, but what they failed to tell me was they were going to charge me with leaving the scene of an accident, which would cause me to be a Habitual Violator. I got exactly what I deserved. I am not proud of this part of my life, but had to tell it to let people know just how bad of a person I was, and that God can redeem us if we surrender.
Less than a year later, my best friend that was with me, that I believe God had brought back to life, died in a fiery car crash. You may say, “No, it was all a coincidence,” but I believe God was saving me for a time such as this, to let people know that He does answer a sinner’s prayer. You have to know that I had been trying to get onto the same work shift as my best friend, so we could party together more often. One weekend, after my best friend died, I got on his work shift. Had I been assigned to
his shift any sooner, I would have been in the car with him that terrible night.
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