HUMANS OF SURRENDER
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"I grew up in a devout Catholic family. I went to Catholic school. Starting in seventh grade, my parents couldn't afford to send me to private school anymore. My father had a really bad gambling addiction and was also an alcoholic. My dad passed away in 2022.   I went from private school to public school. I started hanging out with people that I shouldn't have been hanging out with. I got expelled my senior year of high school. Thankfully, I was allowed to graduate and walk w

"Jesus brought me through taking chemotherapy and radiation. I have a brain tumor. They also found I have colon cancer. In surgery they took out a foot and a half of my large intestine. Before the surgery, the doctor said, ‘Allen, I know that God is the only One that can heal you but I’m going to try to do my best to help things along.’ I thought wow, this is coming from the surgeon. That really gave me comfort. The colon cancer has metastasized to my liver. My son was there

"I walked into a bank and robbed it. I got caught later on in the night. That was the last time I took a drink. My case was all over the local news, and I thought my life was over. I was incarcerated for eight and a half years. Alcohol was only a symptom of the problem. The problem started off with the abandonment. My mom drove three plus hours to a babysitter and didn't pick us up. In 1967 nobody called the police or family services. My mom was what we'd call the old school

“My mom passed away when I was five and my dad passed away when I was 12.  I had three older sisters. My sister Angie passed away when I was 18.  We didn't know Jesus. Jesus actually introduced himself to me when I was around 15. Ironically through a Mormon friend. From that moment on I couldn't stop thinking about Jesus, however, it didn't mean that I changed my life.   A couple years after that, I ended up going down a really dark path for 10 plus years. I met a girl and st

Can one moment of surrender change a lifetime of pain? Discover Phil Cohen’s raw, unfiltered story of overcoming trauma, addiction, and anxiety to build a legacy of hope and transformation. Join us on this powerful episode of Humans of Surrender as Phil shares his emotional journey from a violence-filled childhood marked by deep trauma recovery and crippling self-doubt. After years of struggling with substance abuse—including addiction to heroin, LSD, and PCP—Phil experienced

“I was a straight-A student and an athlete. We had a really good basketball team.  We went to the state tournaments my sophomore, junior, senior year.  I was also involved in the church, like most of my basketball team, they were also part of my church family. My family was not involved in church at all. There was a church, I'll never forget, Williamsburg Baptist Church. They had a summer camp.  My parents dropped us off there just so that we were not home for the weekend. I