The Big Change - From drugs to data entry

Joseph Smith | 1 May 2007

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Ron Robson has spent seven years in a prison cell. He has drenched himself in drink and drugs. He has experienced physical abuse and mental torment that no man ever should. Yet God has worked such a big change in Ron’s life that he now attends church, two Bible studies and volunteers two days a week at Anglicare.

Ron came from a broken home. His father was an abusive alcoholic who died at age 29. Ron’s mother soon left him, his older sister and younger brother in the care of their grandparents and went her own way. Ultimately, Ron ended up in the care of distant relatives in Newcastle.

“This was not a happy time. I was a very confused and frightened young boy. My primary carer was a very violent and disturbed woman. I spent much of my time trying to escape her violence,” recalls Ron.

By his early teens, Ron had started drinking, stealing and running the streets. Consequently, he spent a couple of years in reform school.

“I resented any form of authority. I figured the world owed me a living. I teamed up with one or two other boys who had their own set of problems and the rest is history,” Ron says.

Between 1964 and 1967 Ron spent a total of two years in reform school. More serious crimes led to Ron spending a total of seven years in prison between 1967 and 1980.

Ron says thoughts about God never entered his mind while in prison.

“I did pray a lot as a kid, though. I prayed with a blind faith and a childlike innocence. But in prison, there was no room for thoughts about anything other than day-to-day survival,” recalls Ron.

After spending time in several different prisons across NSW, Ron stepped outside the gates of Grafton prison in 1980 feeling numb.

“I felt no excitement at having finally been released. I was a very angry and embittered man. The years inside hardened me so that I barely recognised myself any more,” Ron says.
“My outlook on life was totally negative. From day one of my release, I tried to drink and drug the memories of prison away.”

Ron says he carried anger, hatred and resentment around with him that would spill over many times in the years ahead.

“I was nearly always drunk and stoned for the first five years after my release. However, I eventually found Alcoholics Anonymous (AA),” he says.

Through the AA Fellowship’s 12-step program, Ron regained a simple faith in God. He experienced the power of prayer in a new way and acquired the beginnings of a new understanding in Christ. He also began a process of rehabilitation and integration into society.
Fast-forward to 1990 and Ron had undertaken a welfare course at TAFE. He didn’t realise why at the time, but he chose to do his field placement at Anglicare Wollongong.

“Who knows what God has in store for us? He has the advantage of being able to see the bigger picture,” Ron says.

Fast-forward another 15 years to the early part of 2005 and Ron was at a very low point in his life.

“I would go to bed praying I would not wake up in the morning, so deep was my depression. But God obviously had other ideas in mind,” Ron says.

“One day I decided … or perhaps God decided for me … that I should ring June Grugan at Anglicare.”

Ron had last seen June over 13 years earlier during his placement at Anglicare Wollongong but he felt she was a person he could always talk freely with.

“With God pushing me on, I got out of the bed and headed in the direction of Anglicare Wollongong,” he says.

After speaking at length with June and praying with her, Ron was offered some voluntary work which he gladly accepted.

He now works two days a week for Anglicare Wollongong on a voluntary basis in a data entry position.

“I have taken so much, it’s now time for me to give back where I can,” he says.

Ron says his decision to follow Christ and accept him as Lord and Saviour came while walking to work one day.

“I was praying silently while walking to work when the truth was clearly made known to me. I felt like I had just walked out of my past and into the outstretched arms of Christ,” Ron recalls.

“This was who and where I was meant to be all along. What comfort and joy. I was at home with my true father.”

Ron was baptised by Bishop Reg Piper at Anglicare Wollongong on September 23, 2005. He now attends St John’s, Keiraville as well as a couple of Bible studies, including a one-on-one meeting in his home with Keiraville rector, the Rev Murray Wale.

Ron is thankful that he is a totally different person now. His seven years of sobriety is just one amazing example of God’s big change in him.

“I was simply existing prior to turning my life over to God. Now God has shown me how to live – and not just with the world around me – but also with myself.”

However, Ron says it can be a struggle to constantly stay focussed on Christ’s reason for dying for humanity.

“I still tend to carry shame and guilt with me concerning my past,” Ron admits. “Yet I am reminded I have no right to feel shame or guilt, lest Christ died for nothing.”

Ron is also writing a book about his life, which he hopes will serve as a ministry to others.

“It was first suggested to me over 10 years ago at the inisistence of a counsellor whom I had been working with. At that point my agenda for writing was unclear, other than getting things off my chest and onto paper,” Ron says.

“After my confirmation, I realised the book – if it is ever meant to be published – must be written as a ministry for the many who feel lost and without hope.”

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