Ryan Gillespie never saw himself in a career meant to serve others. In fact, he would have laughed if anyone had suggested the idea to him.
However, the new employee of the United Gospel Rescue Mission is making an impact by helping others succeed.
“I lost everything,” Gillespie said during an interview. “I lost my family, I lost my friendships. And I ended up coming here to the Mission and graduating from the program.”
Gillespie said his road to redemption was not quick nor easy but rather a very slow process for him.
“It took me a while to get my life figured out,” he said as he reflected on his past. “It was this time of year, Nov. 18, when a little light bulb went off in my head and I went out and started working again.”
Gillespie’s first ambition was in music and he intended to follow a career path in teaching but soon realized that teaching was not for him. Eventually, he landed a career in the trucking industry and traveled extensively, but found he was missing something in his life.
That’s when Greg Kirk, the executive director of the United Gospel Rescue Mission, stepped in.
“Pastor Kirk offered me this job to come back and work in a position,” Gillespie explained.
As far as thankfulness and gratefulness, Gillespie said that he got to a point where he truly began to appreciate the blessings he had in his life.
“There is a lot of thankfulness,” he said. “Because coming from my background, I grew up having the best family that I could have asked for. My dad, my family, my stepmother — they loved on me so much.”
Gillespie said the realization of how much his family meant to him completely changed and impacted his life.
“I went from being someone who wasn’t thankful for anything to someone who can find thankfulness and joy and happiness in the really little things,” he explained. “I can be thankful for waking up every day and having a good job.”
Gillespie said that the catalyst for his change was shaped by two things.
“First, was my faith,” he recalled. “My faith in God is number one in my life and when I learned to grow my faith, that’s when my life started to change.”
Gillespie noted that it wasn’t just his friends who started to encourage him more and make a positive impact. It was also local community leaders.
“There were people out there like pastors and leaders here in the community that I had grown up around that stepped up for me when I needed them,” he said. “And that was my first eye-opener that there was more to life and that I need to change my life around.”
Once Gillespie realized the important aspects of life — faith, family and friends — he said his life changed.
“I know that is the kind of thing that everybody puts up on their wall and they just look at,” he laughed. “But for me, that is the order of things.”
While Gillespie never faced a drug or alcohol addiction, he did say that one of his greatest downfalls was his pride and arrogance.
“Pride was my downfall,” he said. “And arrogance was my addiction. And looking back now, I still have to check myself and I have to stop and take a breath. It’s hard, but after you change your life around a little bit ,you have a new perspective on life when you look at the way you used to live and you realize how unhappy you were.”
As of today, Gillespie said he uses nature photography as a means of relaxation.
“It’s important that you find something that helps connect you and helps to ground you,” he said.