Local business owner Shane Meeker says he used to believe in coincidences. But now, after escaping a world of drugs, jail and homelessness, he believes God’s divine hand is in everything.
Today, Meeker, 36, has hope. His life restored, he’s now a husband, father and, with his wife Skylar, co-owner of Sweet Dreams Candy Shop in Great Bend.
His journey to recovery started nearly seven years ago with a visit in jail from Kimberly Becker from the Central Kansas Dream Center.
Meeker grew up in the church and went to private school, but he never had a relationship with God, he said. He began doing drugs at age 14 and continued throughout high school, stealing to feed his habit. Shortly after high school he was kicked out of his home, leaving him to a life on the streets. He struggled to hold a job because of his drug habit.
“It was horrible,” he said. “The hardest part was just not having anywhere to go.”
One winter when he was working for a trash company, he slept in an abandoned Jeep with only a few blankets to keep him warm.
“Depression sets in,” he said. “Then the drugs didn’t help with the depression, and that was the only thing that seemed to take your mind off how screwed up you had made your life.”
He eventually ended up in jail and that’s when his long road back began.
Becker visited Meeker at the Barton County Jail, where he was serving a 180-day sentence.
“She came up there to talk to me and she just felt like God was telling her to take a chance on me,” he said.
Although CKDC did not have a men’s program at the time, Becker secured a place for him in the Teen Challenge program in Alton as an alternative to remaining in jail. But, he only lasted two weeks before he was dismissed from the program.
A counselor dropped him off at a gas station in Hays with a pull-behind suitcase, a backpack and no money. This was his turning point.
Knowing he had violated the terms of his release by his dismissal, he decided to make his way back to Great Bend to serve out the remainder of his sentence.
“I said, ‘all right, God, if it takes me walking all the way from Hays to Great Bend to learn a lesson, then so be it,’” he recalled. “I’m gonna go turn myself in and get this taken care of.”
As he began the long walk, a stranger offered him a ride back to Great Bend and $100. Along the way he saw a sign on a thrift store in La Crosse called “A Second Chance,” which he took as a sign of hope.
Another chance
Becker invited Meeker to become the first member of a six-month men’s pilot program at the Central Kansas Dream Center.
“It really did change my life. Kim never gave up on me,” Meeker said. Neither did Assistant Director Lisa Parr and Work Skills Manager Randy Parr.
The intensive hands-on, one-on-one Christ-centered approach of the program helped heal the anger and grief issues that drove his addiction.
“They dove in to what was really affecting my outlook on life,” he said. “God used the staff to help me come to grips with those issues and really encouraged me and gave me strength to continue on.”
Following graduation, he continued to work with Randy Parr while Becker provided him a place to live as he worked to re-enter society.
Through healing found with the Dream Center’s Christ-centered approach, he developed a close relationship with Jesus, he said, and a renewed approach to his struggles through the lens of that relationship.
“Once you really, truly ask Jesus into your heart, everything changes,” he said.
Now, Meeker approaches each day with his heart focused on God’s larger purpose.
“God did a work in my life,” Meeker said. “(If you want help) you still have to put in the footwork, you have to try. But I can’t say that I did it myself. Without God using the Dream Center as His servant to pour into me and the Holy Spirit pouring into me, there’s no way it would have happened.”
God continued to open doors, Meeker said. Not long after his graduation he met his future wife, Skylar. They married six years ago in March, started a family and moved to Oklahoma.
A couple of years after living in Oklahoma, Meeker came back to speak at one of the Dream Center’s chapel sessions. He and Skyler felt the Lord calling them back to Great Bend.
He began working at Stueder Contractors. Then, last year, they had the opportunity to open Sweet Dreams Candy Shop on Lakin Ave.
Meeker is grateful for all that God has done to transform his approach to life.
“I’m not gonna say life’s perfect; we still deal with struggles,” he said. “But it’s nothing that, as long as we put our faith in God, He can’t help us get through.”
Central Kansas Dream Center discipleship program at a glance
The Central Kansas Dream Center’s website describes its discipleship programs as, “a nine-month, Christian-based residential program that helps (men and women) overcome life-controlling issues that include, but are not limited to, substance abuse, anger, depression, and the emotional residue left by mental, physical, and sexual abuse.”
Prospective participants are interviewed to determine is they are a good fit for the intense nine-month commitment.
The first six months are designed for 24-hour accountability.
This means fully committing to no phones, computers, personal vehicles, or outside employment. Outside personal contact is limited to three 30 minute-phone calls per week with immediate family and one four-hour visit off-campus per month with family, while living full-time at the Dream Center. The men’s and women’s programs are operated separately.
The purpose for these restrictions, according to Men’s Discipleship Program Director Robby Hernandez, is to allow them to focus fully on healing.
“It takes away a lot of the pressure of having to deal with normal life. They’re not able to walk through the grief and trauma that they’ve experienced, because life just keeps going.” Hernandez said.
In the first six months, participants are required to complete a faith-based curriculum focused the individual’s relationship with God; the individual’s self-image; spiritual growth, including spiritual disciplines such as prayer, worship, Bible Study and the Holy Spirit; and development of healthy interpersonal relationships such as family, friendship, and employee/employer relationships.
The classroom time, which also includes a chapel service, as well as intensive one-on-one work with Dream Center staff, is Monday. Wednesday and Friday. Participant are also expected to attend church on Sunday mornings and Wednesday evenings.
On Tuesday and Thursday, participants are assigned work within the Dream Center facilities, where they learn job skills to reintegrate into the community.
Once they have completed the first step, which usually takes around six months, step two focuses on reintegrating into the community and their families in a more healthy way. While still living at the Dream Center, participants are able to have phones and personal vehicles. They are required to actively seek employment.
“All of a sudden those feelings of pressure and anxiety come back that they haven’t had for that last six months,” Assistant Director Lisa Parr said.
As in-person contact with family increases, participants are allowed two off-campus visits during the week, plus one additional overnight off-campus visit with family per month.
The goal is to help participants begin to apply their life changes to the pressures of daily family and community life.
The Dream Center also expects them actively serve the community, Hernandez said.
It is more than just healing them from an addiction or an issue, she said. Instead, their hope is to help them understand they have a God-given purpose, and to ultimately build leaders who are blessings and assets to the community once they graduate the program.
“We don’t just keep people off drugs, that’s not enough,” Parr said. “They have to have something to live for.”
Applications for the program are available online at www.centralksdreamcenter.org, under the “Referrals” section, or can be picked up in person at the Dream Center, 2100 Broadway Ave., in Great Bend. The telephone number is 620-282-4014.
