The Wild Man of Chattanooga: Mickey Park's Two-fisted Journey to Salvation
“And when He had come out of the boat, immediately there met Him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit, who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no one could bind him, not even with chains, because he had often been bound with shackles and chains. And the chains had been pulled apart by him, and the shackles broken in pieces; neither could anyone tame him.”
Those verses from Mark 5 begin the account of maybe the wildest, scariest homeless person ever. They could just as easily have been an introduction to the life and times of Mickey Park. In his rough-hewn autobiographical, Stepping Stones To Freedom, author Mickey Park peels away the layers of his life on the run to reveal the helpless, unloved child who only ever wanted to be a part of a real family.
His gripping story has been told on the 700 Club, Prison Fellowship’s Inside Journal, and in dozens of prisons across the country. Christian Library International has been sharing his journey to salvation by distributing his book to inmates. Dr. Park has also spoken at CLI’s Annual Dinner in Raleigh and will be sharing his testimony again in October in at the Free to Praise Dinner in Buford, GA
Using the vernacular of the street, Mickey takes the reader with him on his journeys as he drinks, tokes and fights his way across America, Canada, and Europe, looking for the next opportunity to get stoned. He always finds it and when he does, there are always consequences to pay.
From an early age, Mickey had to learn to fight. At school, other kids ridiculed him for his hillbilly accent. At home, his parents were raging alcoholics. By the age of 10, he already hated his life. He was angry. He began picking fights just for kicks. Then came the alcohol. The drugs soon followed. By his teens he was a hopeless addict, living for the next high and willing to do just about anything to get it.
“The problem with drug addiction is that you never get enough. It is demonic bondage that keeps growing until it totally consumes you”
Mickey’s life on the streets would naturally lead to a life of crime. He graduated quickly from petty theft to strong-armed robbery just to feed the habit. And then, the big time—a murder charge.
After agreeing to a plea deal for first-degree murder, Mickey received a sentence of 99 years.
He contemplated suicide. In his despair, he remembered the one Christian he had known in his life—his grandmother. In his jail cell, he fell to his knees and began to pray. At the age of 25, with nowhere to run and no hope for the future, he gave his life over to Jesus.
The former hillbilly alcoholic drug addict, as he liked to call himself, was now a child of the living God. For the first time in his life, Mickey felt alive. He began to share his testimony with other inmates. Eventually, Mickey earned his Masters Degree in Ministry from Luther Rice Seminary and met a young missionary girl who would become his wife, all while still behind bars.
Today, Mickey is a free man with a real family. Granted parole by God’s grace, he lives with his wife and daughter in a home that overlooks the beautiful hills of Tennessee, where he was born. But he still spends a lot of time behind bars, visiting inmates and sharing his life story in the hope of reaching one more lost life for Christ.