From a lifetime of crime, a new beginning

Billy Reid's Story

Hi, my name is Billy. I'm a member of Destiny Church Edinburgh. I've been a born again Christian for 24 years. I lost my parents when I was 13 and my mum's uncle brought me up. The loss left me absolutely devastated and broken. The pain was unbearable and in my teens I drank a lot to dull it and block it out. Eventually this led to a life of crime, small at first, but later I got involved in big stuff like safe breaking and warehouses. Then came the jail sentences to match the crimes - I had 27 convictions! I didn't care if I lived or died. Life didn't hold anything for me. The things I held dear were gone.

As I was coming up Leith walk one night, severely drunk, I was jumped and stabbed straight through the neck. I was stabbed in the arm, leg, back and my breastbone was split with knife wounds to the chest. I was left there, lying in the snow, the blood draining out of me. As the snow covered me a young couple heard me moaning. They thought I was a pile of rubbish lying in the street. I woke up in intensive care with two police women sitting either side of me. When I was strong enough I escaped from hospital to avoid being moved to the hospital wing in prison. I was already out on bail, and had done the bunk out of a secure unit in Leith.

I went looking for a guy who had befriended me. He was a Christian. He used to help me and was the only person I trusted. As I sneaked into the back of a church to find this guy the sermon was well under way. I didn't want attention drawn to myself. I was looking around the congregation for him when the pastor looked right at me, and said "Jesus loves you". I sat down right away. I felt like everyone's eyes were on me so I put my head on the pew. I knew I couldn't go on, my wounds were leaking. I said "Jesus if you can do what you say you can, do it for me". Suddenly I felt a great pressure being lifted from me and I just cried and cried. The joy and lightness I felt I can't describe. The guy who I had been looking for, lead me in the sinner's prayer. I was truly free. When Jesus came in, the darkness in my life was on its way out.

Now, 24 years on, that same Jesus is still at work in my life. His promise to me: "Never will I leave you or forsake you. I am with you till the ends of the age." Jesus said he binds up the broken hearted and is a father to orphans. He cares deeply for you. I've got my scars. Come to Destiny and hear how Jesus got his. The scars he bears will change your life forever.