This is my story: Mike Mellor

It all started long ago with the first drink. ‘No problem’, Mike thought, as a young lad in his teens.

Contrary to expert opinions, Mike contends that no one is born an alcoholic. It didn’t happen suddenly. It was a gradual thing. Mike was in the newspaper business by day and at night out with his band — two jobs well known for drinking.

‘Every lunch time I would go to the pub. ‘It attracted me and drew me. Looking back, I was the kind of person that wanted to live for kicks and was always looking for a high,’ says Mike.

Life goes sour

As time went by things began to go a bit sour for Mike. Slowly, he became more and more of a heavy drinker. He had the kind of job where he could be anywhere at any time. At first it was an hour at the pub for lunch, then two, then three. . . In the end he was going to work for one hour, spending the rest of the time drinking!

At night things were no better. Working with different bands at various gigs, there was always plenty of alcohol to be consumed. Booze was like water to him now. The female singer in the band attracted his attention. The relationship blossomed. Over time they settled down and had children. However, life for Mike was getting a little too crowded. ‘Prioritise’ was shouting at his mind and conscience as he continued to spend more time with his drinking friends than with his family.

Danger to everyone

Deep down Mike knew that drink was getting a hold of him. Day after day he would fall into his car, drive off somehow, not even knowing how he got home. He was a danger to himself and others. Eventually the police took his license off him for drunken driving.

Then he started the really heavy stuff. Musically, his wife and Mike went separate ways. Gwen was a singer, but Mike did more theatre work then. Slowly cracks began to appear in this apparently happy life. Danger signs were appearing at home and work.

Apologising for yesterday

‘I knew I was being a dreadful husband and father. My children’s only experience of having a dad was when this dreadful noise came from the bathroom when I was being sick every day or night. I then began letting people down. All of today was being taken up by apologising for yesterday. Sometimes on theatre jobs, musicians on either side would prop me up. I knew that all the signs were telling me that I was collapsing. Gwen suggested I join Alcoholics Anonymous. ‘But they will tell me to stop drinking’, I protested. You see I loved the flavour of drink and the effect of being drunk. I loved being with drunkards. But I also would wake up in the morning thinking, “That’s it. I’ve had it.”’

Lad with a Bible

One morning at the office, a desk was carried in and put right next to Mike’s. A new job had been created at work. In walked a raw 19-year-old lad with a Bible, which he placed in front of his papers. His boss must have had a sense of humour, placing two such opposite characters in close proximity.

‘I could see that there was something very genuine about Paul’s life — unlike mine. The first thing I noticed was that he had ‘whites’ to his eyes!’

His colleague had certainly got Mike’s attention. Not that he was religious, but there was just something (he didn’t know what) different about him. ‘I would come in the morning’, Mike says, looking back, ‘get a 12-inch ruler and prop up my chin! From time to time this other bloke would speak to me about Jesus.’

What always stuck in his mind was that all sorts of strange people used to come into the office. One chap said he was an inventor. He was a Scotsman about five feet tall with a little beard. He was also an atheist. The Scotsman was having a discussion with the new lad. ‘There is no God’, said the atheist. ‘Yes, there is!’ piped up the other, ‘I know Jesus Christ is alive.’

Mike turned to them saying, ‘Why don’t you both belt up. You will never know there is no God until you die — and you…’, turning from one to the other, ‘… will never know there is a God until you die!’

But slowly, bit by bit, Mike was hearing things about Jesus Christ. He didn’t even realise he was taking them in. Paul was also editor of a magazine for the youth group in his church. He would say, ‘Mike, just check this for spelling and mistakes for me, will you please?’

Jesus made me feel bad

Often Mike would be picking up books in the office and find leaflets about Jesus. ‘Even the name “Jesus” made me feel bad. I knew I was wrong, you see. My life was closing in.

‘I had only recently got my driving license back from the police but I carried on my reckless living and driving just as before.’ One particular afternoon, following a three-day drinking spree, Mike fell into the car to drive home. He hit a car — but didn’t stop. He hit another, but eventually made it safely home. Gwen was downstairs. Actually it was her birthday. She was having a little tea party with the children, with her parents as guests.

The door burst open, Mike fell in and collapsed in a heap. The phone rang in the confusion of Mike’s entrance. It was the police. They were on their way round. Gwen, up until then, was unaware that her husband had had a crash.

One Saturday afternoon, not long after this incident, he was in the office with the young lad at work. Stating the obvious, but in a caring way, he said, ‘Mike, you can’t carry on like this, can you? You believe in God, don’t you?’ Mike muttered something like, ‘I suppose so.’

Deep in the heart

But something deep was going on in his heart that day. Mike will never forget it. ‘I never denied that there was a God, but my mind was saying, “How can you know for sure?”

‘I left the office and went into the little toilet (the only private place available). Right there, I, Mike Mellor, alcoholic with completely messed up life, got down on my knees and prayed, asking Jesus Christ to come into my life. I walked back into the office. The young man must have been dying to know what was going on, but I never said a word about what I’d prayed. I just left the office, got in the car and headed home. I broke down in tears of joy for I knew Christ was alive. Jesus Christ loved me and died for me. Even if I crashed the car now I knew I was going to heaven.’

‘I’ve become a Christian!’

Gwen has never forgotten that day of September 8 1979. Mike burst through the door as she was in the kitchen preparing tea. ‘Everything is going to be different’, he exclaimed, his face glowing. ‘I’ve become a Christian!’

Oh yes, she thought, I’ve heard all that before, but what did he mean by ‘Christian’?

‘Of course, we are Christians’, Gwen replied. ‘We live in a Christian country’, and then carried on with the preparing the meal.

Mike explained to Gwen, as best he could, that he really knew that something wonderful had happened to him — the actual desire for drink had been taken from him.

After many years of total addiction to alcohol, this was indeed some statement. It had been obvious to all, and especially Gwen, that he had a drink problem, but he never acknowledged it. The tell-tale signs were clear. Now, there he was standing in front of his wife saying he was a changed man and that, because he had asked Jesus to take control of his life, the desire to drink had gone!

Gwen thought he must have been dabbling in black magic or voodoo. At first, she was terrified. Later, she was more relaxed as the greatest thing she had wanted was for him to stop drinking.

A new husband

As the days and weeks passed by Gwen found she had a new husband! Gone were the urges to drink. Mike, still full of joy, continued to work at the newspaper office with the same people during the daytime, but, at night, he was off playing his trombone in theatre shows. It was the talk of local musicians.

‘What’s happened to Mike Mellor?’
‘He’s got religion.’
‘Bible basher’, they taunted in Gwen’s hearing.

One December night, after such a tirade from one member of the band in particular, Gwen told them, ‘Well, I don’t fully understand what has happened to him, but Jesus Christ has changed him completely.’

‘Oh you’ll be next Gwen’, said the drummer. Gwen looked him in the eye saying firmly, ‘Oh no, not me!’

Gwen gets converted

But the new Mike was definitely different. He showed great patience and love with Gwen as he pointed out a verse in the Bible to her. ‘If anyone is in Christ he is a new creation, the old is gone, and the new is come’ (2 Corinthians 5.17). She could not deny the miraculous change in Mike. It was a ‘power’ too great for her to argue with. She battled within herself as she refused to admit that she, too, needed Christ in her life. On her way home in the car one night, she remembered some words from the Bible from Sunday school, years before: ‘Why have you denied me?’ (the words of Jesus to the disciple Peter before the crucifixion).

At last Gwen gave up the battle going on inside her and received Jesus Christ into her life. She asked him to forgive all her sin and come into her life.

‘I felt so clean’

She describes how she felt: ‘I felt so clean, so happy. I was different. I was seeing everything in a new light. I had four lovely daughters — now I wanted to spend as much time as possible with them. I viewed my singing career in a different way — what was I actually singing? Were the places I went to, the right atmospheres to be in?’

Though her lifestyle began to change, the happiness she was experiencing, along with the fulfilment she enjoyed, was never to leave her.

Root plucked out

So, how does Mike view his old habits? ‘There is no cure for alcoholism. I know that is a controversial statement! It’s like going into the garden and picking up a weed. You take the top off but the root is still there. What Christ did is pluck out the root. What God gave me that day was such a clean, pure happiness that there was no competition with what I could get from drink. I am thankful that I got into a mess. To have gone through life on an even keel, being a nice chap, meant that I would have gone to hell when I died. With hindsight, I am strangely thankful that this crisis arose in my life. It woke me up to ask “What is life really about?” and “What lies ahead for me?”

‘I often feel that though bad things happen in life, it is through those bad times that we find the meaning to the big questions of life.’

Mike Mellor is now pastor for evangelism at Moordown Baptist Church, Bournemouth.

This extract is taken from This is my story: Mike Mellor by D.J. Carswell (£0.25 for one, £20.00 for 100), published by 10Publishing, a division of http://www.10ofthose.com, and used with permission.