CAN GOD SAVE A HOPELESS DRUNK?

With a father who was a saloon keeper and drunkard, it is not surprising that the son would follow the same path. He grew up learning how to tend bar, often working for his father. By the age of nineteen he was having trouble because of his own drinking and gambling.

Mel finally lost his job, but as a prospective bridegroom he knew that he needed steady work. He promised his new wife that he would never drink again. It was a good promise, but one night when he was about to walk into the house he suddenly turned and went out to find some alcohol. After that terrible drunken spree he managed to stay sober for three months.

When he did start drinking again, he sold his horse in order to get the money. Mel and his wife moved to Chicago, but his drinking spurts continued with shorter sober periods in between. He made many promises to himself and his wife, but the liquor kept winning out. He was finally hospitalized in order to be treated for his alcoholism. Upon his release he was given a medical kit. Within fifteen minutes he had traded the kit for more whiskey.

Mel's wife gave birth to a baby, but in his drunken state Mel paid very little attention to his family. One day, returning home from a ten-day drinking spree, he found that his baby had died. He was so sorry over the mess that he had made of his life, and the way he had failed to provide for his family, that he decided to commit suicide.

Only his wife's urgent prayers and tearful pleadings turned him from that course. As he wept, he promised never to take another drink. Two hours after the baby's funeral, Mel came home drunk again. It seemed that there was no way he could beat his drinking problem.

On a cold January night, he decided to end it all by drowning himself. As he walked the streets heading toward Lake Michigan, he was stopped by someone who insisted that he come sit in a service being conducted at the Pacific Garden Rescue Mission.

Harry Monroe, the superintendant, told the gathering how God had saved him from a life of drunkeness and counterfeiting. At the close of the service he said to the people: "Jesus loves you. Make room in your heart for Him tonight." Mel stood up and went to the front. There Mr. Monroe led him in prayer, asking forgiveness for sin and turning his life over to God.

From that night in 1897, Mel Trotter began to serve Christ. He spent many evenings at the mission, playing guitar and singing gospel songs. He would often visit churches with Harry Monroe and talk about the work of the rescue mission. Three years later he was named superintendent of the mission in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

For the next forty years he soberly headed that mission, which had an auditorium that could seat fifteen hundred people. He helped start sixty-six rescue missions around America, seeking to reach the down-and-out with the life-changing message of the gospel. Mel Trotter discovered what many others have found: that Jesus is the answer!