BVOV Magazine 2013 - present

****Sergio's story continues below*** MARCH Read Through the Bible Old Testament / New Testament Sat 1 Num. 7:79-89, 8:1-26 / John 1 Sun 2 Num. 9-10 / John 2 Mon 3 Num. 11-12 / John 3 Tue 4 Num. 13-14 / John 4 Wed 5 Num. 15-17 / John 5-6 Thu 6 Num. 18-19 / John 7 Fri 7 Num. 20-21 / John 8 Sat 8 Num. 22-23 / John 9 Sun 9 Num. 24-25 / John 10 Mon 10 Num. 26 / John 11 Tue 11 Num. 27-28 / John 12 Wed 12 Num. 29-31:1-24 / John 13-14 Thu 13 Num. 31:25-54, 32:1-42 / John 15 Fri 14 Num. 33 / John 16 Sat 15 Num. 34-35 / John 17 Sun 16 Num. 36; Deut. 1 / John 18 Mon 17 Deut. 2-3 / John 19 Tue 18 Deut. 4-5 / John 20 Wed 19 Deut. 6-8 / John 21; Acts 1 Thu 20 Deut. 9-10 / Acts 2 Fri 21 Deut. 11-12 / Acts 3 Sat 22 Deut. 13-14 / Acts 4 Sun 23 Deut. 15-16 / Acts 5 Mon 24 Deut. 17-18 / Acts 6 Tue 25 Deut. 19-20 / Acts 7 Wed 26 Deut. 21-23 / Acts 8-9 Thu 27 Deut. 24-25 / Acts 10 Fri 28 Deut. 26-27 / Acts 11 Sat 29 Deut. 28-29 / Acts 12 Sun 30 Deut. 30-31 / Acts 13 Mon 31 Deut. 32-33 / Acts 14 “Read Through the Bible in a Year Plan” written by Marilyn Hickey, and used by permission. ********************************** Closing his eyes, Sergio was back in Juárez in the little two-room house where they lived. He was 7 at the time, sitting on the floor, when his mother had convulsed and fallen out of her chair. He ran to her but two men shoved him aside. “Get back!” they shouted. He watched them strip off her clothes and drag her to the shower. Following, Sergio saw blood on her arm. Any child from Heroin Alley knew what that meant. His mother had overdosed. While the men fought to revive her, Sergio slid down the wall and collapsed onto the floor. He felt so old, so exhausted. He wanted out of this life, but the only escape he could imagine was death. His mother lived...if you could call it that. There were a few good memories, Sergio recalls. Going to school, for instance, had been like stepping into an alternate universe. He had also loved the smell of food and the sound of the cheering crowds at the basketball stadium where he worked selling potato chips. In the corner of the stadium, his mother scored heroin. For years he’d been the one taking care of her—trying to get her sober, bailing her out of jail. Sergio was 10 when his mother brought them to the U.S. illegally. Instead of solving their problems, the move complicated matters. They spoke no English. And the fear Sergio had known every day of his life threatened to overtake him as his mother spiraled further out of control. To help keep a roof over their heads, Sergio and his brother delivered newspapers and washed dishes. When his mother didn’t come home, he often found her passed out on a park bench. One night, Sergio heard something and sat upright in his chair. The night long spent, stars shimmering in the sky, he watched his mother stagger toward the door with a man. The blade in Sergio’s hand glinted as cold and hard as his eyes. “Try to bring a man in this house and I’ll stab him,” he warned in a voice as final as death. She went in alone while Sergio once again took his place as sentinel at the door. Later, when she slept, he tossed a rope across her and tied her to the bed. Sergio heaved a sigh of relief. She couldn’t drink anything or score a hit until he untied her. For a few blessed hours, he could rest. Before turning to leave, he paused. Looking down at his mother he said, “Are you ever going to stop? What’s it going to take?” Cycle of Poverty and Despair “My mother was illiterate and gave birth to her first child when she was only 12,” Sergio explains. “By the time she was 19, she had four children whose father had left her. I was born 10 years after the youngest of those four. By the time I watched my mother overdose, the youngest of my half-brothers was already a heroin addict. “My mother used drugs, but her primary addiction was to alcohol. I saw my father less than a dozen times in my life. He was from a good family in El Paso. Although he named me after himself, his family refused to acknowledge my brother or me. My dad was a sweet man when he was sober but, like my mother, he was a full-blown alcoholic. 24 : BVOV : MAR '14

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