timothy initiative

My name is George Wood, and I am the founder and director of the Timothy Initiative.  I have been involved in ministry, addiction recovery and outreach in different capacities for the better part of 8 years.  This is my story.

I came from a real mixed up childhood that was anything but normal, pretty far from normal.  As most parents do, I am sure mine did what they felt they could at that time.  Unfortunately timing was bad.  In first grade, all of my brothers and sisters who were older moved out, and so did my father. That year, after the divorce, my oldest brother was killed in a construction accident, my family was destroyed. My parents dealt with it anyway that any dysfunctional family could.  My living environment was a difficult one during my growing years, and that is being understated.  

I learned to cope with things by excelling at whatever I possibly could in order to gain attention.  Unfortunately, not all things were positive.  Sex with multiple women and drinking had also become validation for who I was.  I was able early on to survive the negatives, and my life was somehow able to actually gain some success.  After college, I married a beautiful woman, had a successful career, and even had a wonderful beautiful baby boy.

Around that time, things seemed to unravel. Literally, my world came undone.  Everything fell apart.  Life as I had known it was over.   The non-existence of identity in myself became apparent as I tried ever so diligently to fill it with anything that I could find. Typical destroyers followed extremely heavy drinking and drug use followed with addictions to any emotionally based feelings.

The real issues that evolved were depression and the loss of desire to live. Around 2001, I suffered a nervous breakdown, and it was actually at that time that my indulgence into anything and everything that made me feel a little more normal became an issue.  The depression and feeling that I was losing my mind then set in. I battled this for about 3 years.  It was during this time that on more than one occasion my desire to live had dissipated to the point where I had given up. I have in my life been on just about every anti-psychotic, anti-depressant known to man, all to no avail. The excessive drinking and drugs only led to legal issues and even worse depression and a slide into insanity. I have seen the inside of more than one psychiatric ward and detox through my travels. I eventually lost everything: my family, friends, career, respect and my dignity.  Nothing and no one in my life at that time was equipped to handle all that was happening to me. I had given up. I was hopeless, lost and alone, very alone.

I know that I have lived an incredibly tumultuous life, one that has been a roller coaster ride. At times, it has been of great success and adoration from onlookers, but at other times, it has been devastation to myself and unfortunately anyone around me.  I became a person completely void of any form of peace, no matter where I searched for it. 

Then one day the clouds were removed from my eyes.  You see, I consider myself somewhat intelligent, but the answer was right in front of me. The peace I so desperately sought after was there for the taking. All I had to do was open my heart and my world would change.  You see, our reality is what we believe it is. The day I chose to make Jesus Christ my savior, my past no longer shaped my life. My past was forgotten, and I became a new man in Christ Jesus.  I received a peace that will never leave me and hope of a future I didn’t believe could ever come. 

I still encounter trials and tribulations of all sorts, but you see now I count them all as joy because my perception of them is no longer of impending doom. It is the knowledge of my Eternal salvation and how with that information I can see the light through anything!  This past year I have experienced the most difficult experiences of my new life.  My older sister, after years of fighting addiction, lost that battle and died of a drug overdose.  My family and myself were rocked by the news. At that point, I knew my calling was solidified people need help. 

Alas, the devastation with my family was not finished. Seven months after my sister died of a drug overdose my older brother did the same. My brother at one point was a very successful trial attorney with some of the largest firms in Tampa. Two family members. Two overdoses. Two lives cut far too short. All in one year. I do not have the words to describe the darkness that seemed to be looming over my life.  A certain reality hits home when two so close to yourself, by blood, fighting a battle you are all too familiar with lose and your left standing. It’s a wakeup call. Why was I able to wake up, open my eyes and see that life is beautiful? Why in the darkest time of my life was it not the toughest? Do I hold a key that others may need in order to do the same? If so, how can I go on enjoying this beautiful life while keeping this to myself. The simplicity of it all is I can’t. The only way I will continue to see this beauty is while sharing it with others that need the same revelation and hope.

I now see the importance in remembering my past and seeing the present experiences that people without Christ are experiencing.  Hopefully, to along the way, give inspiration that God always provides a way out, no matter what the situation is!  No one is alone. No one is hopeless, and no one is so broken they don’t deserve a chance.  

We are all called to something. With the experiences I have been through I am called to these people: the lost, the addicted, the hopeless, the homeless, the fatherless and societies’ throw a ways.  Called to give that chance, that hope, that encouragement and that introduction to Christ. The one whom in my darkest hour I promised to deliver this message for the rest of this life if he just saved me from the hell I was in.

My life today is amazing. I am surrounded by the most incredible community of believers,  friends and people that I now call family. I have a great relationship with my ex-wife, and my son River is the coolest little boy any man could ask for. Just recently I remarried, to an amazing woman, amazing in every way! With her comes a daughter Faith whom I am honored to now play a part in her life.

 I live every day with the realization that our lives are meant to inspire and encourage the less fortunate, and that a life lived only for yourself is not worthy of living.  You see, God has restored all the things in my life that I had once counted as lost!  It's as simple as a choice, a choice we all have, seek Him.  You may not get what you desire, but you will find peace and get what you need.

“For God has not given a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” 2 Tim 1:7

                    Our Team                                       Letter from the Director