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Craig
People's Stories
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IT ONLY STOPS WHEN THERE'S BLOOD
Craig Reynolds felt out of his depth in the criminal underworld. But what alternative lifestyle was there?
"HOLD ON a minute - what am I doing here?" thought Craig, looking round at the 'champagne bash' in full swing.
"These are the 'biggies' in the criminal world - not boys on the street corner, like me. I'm way out of my league. But what it is all about, anyway? It's all phoney."
That night he did some serious thinking. For ten years his security had been in being Mr Hardnut Cool Streetwise Londoner. It wasn't working.
"I'm not a Londoner by birth," explains Craig. "I was born in Scotland, where Dad was a 'hard man' of Dundee. Mum left him when I was two and moved to Bedfordshire."
When Craig was seventeen, he took a notion to go to Scotland to live with his father. The experiment was a disaster. His dad found him 'soft' and gave him a daily bashing to harden him. Craig moved out and eventually ended up in London. Trying to keep near the top of the street pecking-order, he learnt to defend himself and finance his expensive lifestyle with crime.
"It was a bad time. The reality of the underworld is dark, nasty and corrupt. I've seen a lot of 'movie' stuff - only it's real - innocent people getting hurt for money, shopkeepers fleeing for their lives as they got robbed.
"The other sad aspect didn't dawn on me for years - I was too busy living for money, getting high and trying to impress women.
At the champagne bash, it hit me - it's all unreal. Your money and energy goes into 'front page stuff - image. A guy lives in one room, everything on HP.
I couldn't see the way out - but I knew I needed to leave the dark place I was in.
Weeks later, the break came. I'd binged £400 in two days and was at home when a fight got out of hand. I found myself rolling at high speed out of the window and holing up in a hostel. Here I met a young Christian girl, who invited me to church."
"Wow - it was something else - an adrenaline rush greater than any drug! Not long after, I prayed for accommodation and a 'chance' meeting led me to the Jesus Army community house in Acton."
Craig soon found himself crying over his sins and asking for the Holy Spirit!
"I walked in. The love! It was what I'd been looking for, all my life."
I'd never taken responsibility before but, now, I wanted to be someone God could use. I found I wasn't able to meet the mark! My friends promised to train me and put me through tough discipline. They told me 'Craig, hang on for dear life!' and I have done.
But He's chosen me - I don't know why, but I love Him for it! I never had a father figure but I've opened my arms to God and received His parenting love - sometimes awesome, sometimes intimate and pure."
Craig 
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Craig
