The Storyteller

Charlie's battle with alcohol was intense and sobriety was allusive. He said, "I didn't know how I got sober, I couldn't figure it out; I guess it was never meant to be for me to figure it out. But it was a mystery, still is, when I speak at places where I go and when I see people, I say, 'I don't know how I sobered up.' And I just have to, I just have to say the Lord just come into my life one day and this is what came out of it."

Charlie's childhood experiences of physical, mental and sexual abuse left him a hating, cold and violent person who for forty years succumbed to a life of alcohol, drugs, crime and self destruction. Then, one day God got his attention.

The drinking and drugs so easily could have taken her life... and then there were the thoughts of suicide. But everything is different now. Darla tells about how God changed her - he took away the drinking and drugs, the anger and hatred... and now she's a new person.

Darla shares with painful honesty how broken and difficult life was. Hers is a story of simple survival. Abuse, drugs, poverty, anger, hatred... these marked her life. One day she came across an old partying friend whose life was now so different. Was it possible that Darla's life could change too?

War has a way of changing people. That was Jimmy's story. He had medicated the memories for Vietnam but that didn't lead to anything good. In fact things got worse. He was on a dead end road... the road to hell. But then one night something happened that would change his direction - and his life - forever.

Living at home with his biological family was difficult. The longer Ted lived there the less hope he had. At age 15 he finally reached a point where he had had enough. He walked out of the house and went back to stay with his foster family where he knew that he was loved and accepted. But while he was there, he would learn about a love that surpassed even that of his foster family.

Ted was born with Cerebral Palsy. His mother left him at the hospital because they told her that he would not make it through the night. He was bounced around in foster care and spent a few months with his family, but ultimately was placed in long term care. Ted felt valued and loved when he was in the care of his foster parents. They called him their son and treated him like one of their own. Told that he would never walk, they invested in the belief that he would... and he eventually did...

New Years Eve is a very special time in the Claus family. It was on that night many years ago that the family gathered together around the radio and heard something that would change their lives forever. Listen as Tom reflects on the significance of that day and what it means to him after all these years.

Soapy is a Mescalero Apache who was abandoned at birth and raised on a ranch for homeless and delinquent boys. As an orphan, his memories and perspective on Christmas are different than most, yet they are good. The significance that God and His greatest gift has had on Soapy's life is not lost on him... and he loves to tell about it.

Mae shares her story of faith and recounts what it was like to grow up in a remote village of Alaska. Born in the village of Unalakleet before modern conveniences reached that far, she was aquainted with the ruggedness of life in the north. Fishing and berry picking weren't recreational, they were essential to living. She has good memories of life there. And it was there in the village where she met the most important person in her life... who is still with her today.