Growing up, I always sensed there was something different about my dad. Even though I wasn’t mature enough to pick up on any specific facts, I innately understood that a different drive, a different mindset guided him through every step in his life, and as a consequence, every step of my family’s life. Later around age thirteen, I found out that this passion I sensed was not accidental or a trait my dad had been born with: it was the passion that had been birthed in him by the struggle and ultimate overcoming of addiction. When my dad finally told me his story, I was confused at first. Being only a young teenager, I barely understood addiction and truthfully only recognized it as a taboo subject in society from which everyone shied away. Therefore, you can imagine my shock at hearing how close addiction had affected my family when I naively viewed it as a distant, foreign issue that only others experienced.
However, it did not take long for me to realize that addiction might not be the scary monster society makes it out to be. Let me preface, society ignoring addiction is a truly devastating reality, but addiction itself is simply another sin, another way Satan tries to take hold of our lives. My saying this is not to diminish the pain that addiction causes and the havoc it wreaks; I simply am stating that society’s ignorance of addiction is the fuel to its fire. True community, accountability, and transparency overcomes addiction, a belief to which Vision Warriors strongly holds tight. However, people walking through the pain of addiction can’t experience the empowerment and renewal needed to overcome the battle if society continues to taboo addiction.
Therefore, this is precisely what I want to speak on as the daughter of Kirk Driskell, a warrior in recovery and a fighter for the restoration of men’s lives. As his daughter, I have had the best backseat view of his passion coming alive through the founding of Vision Warriors Church. While my dad wear many hats, seeing him create a movement in which men fighting the brutal battle of recovery can find true brotherhood has by far been the hat that makes me most proud. Outside of the men’s lives that Vision Warriors has already impacted and will continue to impact, I have had the true blessing of being impacted by Vision Warriors and my dad’s passion in my own unique way. On the surface level, being exposed to the reality of addiction through my dad’s story at a young age made me adamantly against under-age drinking and substance use. This reaction was partly a natural fear of my dad and the consequences that would ensue if I did anything wrong, but more importantly, on a deeper level, him sharing his story made me hyper-aware of the devastation that comes with any form of substance abuse.
I was and still to this day am afraid of the quick spiral that can ensue from a misuse of alcohol or drugs. Having heard my dad’s past, I by no means want a similar situation to become my present. With that said, internally, the impact my dad’s story has had on my character development has majorly exceeded any surface-level precautions I have taken on overtime against alcohol and substance abuse. Seeing his passion for the restoration of men’s lives has only bolstered my hope that one day, society can finally embrace the need to face issues as head-on and boldly as Vision Warriors does everyday.
This hope goes way beyond just addiction; it is the hope for every facet of life all over the world. The day that society as a whole decides to not taboo the painful realities that everyone uniquely faces will be the day society can finally become the driving force it needs to be. Yet, a revolution of this sort will not take place overnight. It is the incessant work of organizations like Vision Warriors and people’s willingness to talk about uncomfortable realities like my dad that is the necessary yet small step towards society’s transformation as a whole. One of my favorite parts about my dad is his refusal to sugarcoat any pain he has faced or witnessed. It takes true courage to blaze a path into an area of life that society largely pushes away, an act that he has unhesitantly taken on by beginning the Vision Warrior movement.
Therefore, I would like to close by thanking him and anyone like him. The world needs boldness, boldness in speaking your beliefs but more importantly, boldness in standing up for those in the shadows of society. I thank God for my dad every day and for the zeal for life he has instilled in me, both deliberately and unknowingly. Being a witness to his passion has been one of my greatest honors in life so far. I pray others have someone to admire and learn from like I have in my dad. He has experienced the pain of addiction and overcome it, not to pity the years of his life that he can never get back or to become a burden to society, but rather to confidently proclaim his past pain in hopes that he can inspire others to experience restoration as well. He doesn’t shy away from reality; instead, he is grateful for every day he was in addiction and every day he has conquered it for the past 24 years. His battle with addiction hasn’t dissipated; instead, he has morphed it into the passion that drives him everyday.
The passion that keeps him up late in the night and wakes him up before the sun every morning. His passion is the restoration of men’s lives, and Vision Warriors is the fruit of his battle. I am so proud to be his daughter. I am proud, maybe to some people’s surprise, to say I am a daughter of a man in recovery because to me, the phrase “in recovery” represents the strength and perseverance it takes to face pain and reality with a belief in restoration, and to be honest, every single person could use this type of strength, perseverance, and hope.