Hello, my name is Theo Baskind and I’m just going to dive right in…

I was adopted at 6 years old.

By my senior year of high school I was moved out and homeless. By the grace of God I had a handful of phenomenal friends that loved me enough to give as much help as they possibly could.

I moved to Columbus Ohio after graduation and met many phenomenal people there and formed friendships that have lasted until this day. Unfortunately that's also when my life began to spiral even MORE out of control. I drank alcohol with the best of them and really grabbed the college-party-life by the horns. The only drug I didn't try at that time was heroin.

In 2000 I moved to Florida and I found trouble in no time at all. Even though I moved it was simply a “Geographical Cure”. I took Me with me… I jumped right into smoking crack with my stripper girlfriend and began getting into serious legal trouble.

Believe it or not in 2002 I proclaimed I officially beat smoking crack, spending time in jail certainly helped with that, just to dive heavier into alcohol. In 2003 God sent me my wife and she stuck with me through some of the ugliest times of my life. I ended up ballooning to 243 pounds with 5 fused vertebrae, 2 in my lower back, 3 in my neck and a diagnosis of Degenerative Disc Disease which would require follow up surgeries for the rest of my life.

In October of 2025 I had a big fight with one of my good friends and of course alcohol was involved. That was the last straw for me! I fell to my knees that night and REALLY prayed to God for help. I’m talking a, “face-down-crying-snot-dripping-fetal-position” prayer. I begged Him to take it all away and that I couldn't do it anymore.

The next morning I was completely different. Not a single thought about alcohol and when I did finally think about it that day my stomach turned. I was grossed out by just the thought of beer.

The absolute truth is nothing changed until I completely surrendered to God. Everything, from clearing the mental wreckage to having zero surgery pain while standing on a paddle board for hours, is simply His blessing. That surrender is the sole foundation of my life today.

My Substack isn't about pointing fingers at people and shaming them. I was told at a young age, “When you point a finger at someone 3 point back at you…” This is simply the story of how my entire life is being rebuilt from the ground up.

Thank you Jesus, Amen