Damon West shares redemption story in Ohio

Sometimes grace can show up in pretty unique places.

Just ask Damon West.

In a miraculous turnaround in life, West experienced several key moments that helped him survive something he was certain would kill him.

After being sentenced to what amounted to a life sentence for drug abuse and breaking and entering in Texas, four monumental moments became saving graces in his life, and West shared his amazing story throughout West Holmes Schools recently.

First saving grace: The angel in Kevlar

West was sitting in his home, where a life of breaking and entering helped him and his cohorts perpetuate their addiction of drugs and methamphetamine.

Then after a shattered window, a bright flash and a loud boom, a Dallas SWAT officer had his boot on West’s chest, his assault rifle aimed at West’s temple.

His life of crime was about to have dire consequences.

“Dallas SWAT didn’t arrest me that day; they rescued me,” West said. “They pulled me out of a situation I couldn’t pull myself out of. God sent angels to get me, but my angels didn’t have wings. They had assault rifles.”

Second saving grace: The love of parents

West said the ensuing trial, in which the jury deliberated a scant 10 minutes before throwing the book at him, completely broke his father.

He was given one short meeting with his parents before being whisked off to prison.

That moment set the guidelines for which path he would choose to follow.

Because his dad was so broken, his mother did all the talking, and one message became clear: The love of parents isn’t dictated by circumstances — once your child, always your child.

His mother laid down the law, telling her son debts in life must be paid and he was paying a big one. She said he owed Texas a debt as well as them, and he was going to make good on that debt and return the son they had raised or not return at all.

“She said, ‘Here’s the debt you’re going to repay to us. When you go to prison, you will not get into a gang. You will not get any tattoos inside there. And you get on Christ’s back like the footprints in the sand and come back as the man we raised,'” West said.

He agreed and stood by that agreement, something that helped carry him through the most difficult times in prison, where gang attacks were constant and danger lurked at every turn.

Third saving grace: Mohamed and the coffee bean

Somehow West had survived in prison without becoming part of a gang.

That was because he met Mohamed, a career criminal.

Mohamed walked West through what prison was going to look like, complete with the dangers, the pitfalls and challenges.

Mohamed, a man who bore no resemblance to West in any way, became his mentor.

“One day he said this, 'Imagine prison as a pot of boiling water where anything put into it will be changed by the heat and the pressure inside the pot,'” West said.

Mohamed said he would put three things inside that pot: a carrot, an egg and a coffee bean.

The carrot became soft, mushy and weak.

The egg, while having a hard outer shell, became hard in the center, much like a hard heart, creating a person incapable of giving or receiving love.

Meanwhile, the coffee bean, the smallest of the three items, changes the atmosphere of the water in the pot and makes it useful.

“He told me while everything else placed in the boiling water changes, the coffee bean changes the water because it is the change agent,” West said of Mohamed’s wisdom. “He said, 'If you want to go back to the person your parents recognize, you have to be like that coffee bean.'

“It was the most transformational message I’ve received in my entire life. The messengers in life can come to you from anywhere, and they won’t always look like you or come from the same background as you.”

Fourth saving grace: A teacher’s compassion

Mr. Jehlen was West’s Texas history teacher. Everything Jehlen taught West in class paled in comparison to the way a few words much later in life would impact West while in prison.

Around 2010, Jehlen wrote West a letter while he was in prison. The letter said West had experienced the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. He wrote words of encouragement, but four words stood out and made a major impact.

“He wrote four simple words,” West said. “He wrote, ‘I believe in you.’ Man, I took that letter everywhere with me in prison because it was proof someone believed in me.”

The letter also had one other thought of encouragement. Jehlen told West he needed to share his story of redemption with young people once he got out of prison, something West took to heart and hasn’t strayed from since.

Four saving graces on a journey that would have destroyed many people.

Four saving graces led to a renewed life of giving and sharing, impacting the lives of young people around the nation.