A new beginning
By Ruth Schenk | .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
When John Boel was arrested for his second DUI a little over a year ago, his own words came back to haunt him. Twenty years ago, when his brother-in-law checked
into a rehab facility in Minnesota, John told his wife, Brenda, “He’ll lose his job. He’ll lose his wife, and, ultimately, he’ll lose his life.”
They watched it happen. After three stints in rehab, he ended his life with a .44 Magnum.
Suddenly, John was standing on the same sinking sand as his brother-in-law decades earlier with everything at risk. Seventy Ohio Valley Regional Emmy awards for
outstanding news coverage didn’t save his job as an anchor with WLKY-TV, the Louisville CBS affiliate. The award-winning journalist, who spent much of his life in
front of the camera, stood against a blank wall for a mug shot that captured some of his sadness.
Within hours, his arrest was the lead story on his own and rival TV stations. It was posted on hundreds of websites from Memphis to MSNBC.
Salvaging what was left of his life took more grit than anything John had ever done, even the grueling Ironman triathlons he completed, running 26 miles, biking 112
miles and swimming 2.4 miles.
John checked into a rehab center in the North Woods of Minnesota, near his hometown. It’s the same place his brother-in-law had been three times before he
committed suicide.
There, John learned a lot about himself, about addictions and about the road back.
Nothing was easy about facing the truth.
“Every morning after our meditation and prayer session, I’d go downstairs to the laundry room where no one could see me cry, and the dryer could drown out my
sobbing,” he said. “I’m a thousand miles away from friends and family at holiday time. I’ve been publicly humiliated in the media. Lost my job. Killed my career.
Humiliated my family. I can’t imagine being humbled lower.”
A year later, John is sober and 45 pounds lighter. He chose “grateful” to describe his life now.
“That’s a long way from the anger I felt a year ago,” he said.
John is open about his life, telling about his successes and failures in his book, “On the News … In the News,” which has reached No. 3 on the Best-sellers
(Louisville) list, published by The Courier-Journal based on sales at Louisville branches of Carmichael’s Bookstore. Since it was released, people have been calling
John for hope and help.
He recently signed a contract with WAVE-TV, the Louisville NBC affiliate.
“I take a look at myself,” John said. “I lost my job, but I didn’t lose my wife or my life. I found a sea of wonderful people I never knew existed. God has been able to turn
that back around.”
John’s decision to stay in Louisville where people know his whole story rather than start over in another part of the country comes from his belief that he can impact
lives for good.
“I decided to take the thing that digs me every day and embrace it,” he said.
John isn’t looking too far into the future these days.
“I concentrate on the next 24 hours,” he said. “Doing the next right thing in every decision I make all day long. Then when I wake up tomorrow, I have no regrets about
yesterday. My biggest challenge is being the person God wants me to be.”
In her book, “Get Out of That Pit,” author and teacher Beth Moore says, “We are better healed than whole.”
John is living that now.
“When I look at how I failed and what I lost, it’s hard,” John said. “I would like to go back and rewrite all of it. But the truth is that it had to happen. One of the sayings in
recovery is that your likelihood of recovery is related to how bad you got your tail kicked. I believe what I’ve been through will help me now.”
John’s wife, Brenda, and their daughters Brianna, 11, and Kelsey, 19, have held him up through the darkest days. After John’s arrest, Brenda began working two jobs
as an engineer to support the family. Even as she tried to stretch her income to cover the bills, she insisted on tithing. Putting God first was something she refused to
relegate to another day.
Changes she’s seen in John are profound.
She keeps an email John sent from rehab:
“I’ve spent a lot of time looking back at my life through all this trauma … I’ve always taken you for granted. Now that my head is clearing up, I realize new reasons every
day why you are the most phenomenal person I’ve ever met. What you’re doing for me now and what you’ve done for me in my life is truly the greatest gift I’ve ever
received … Our kids have turned out better because of you. My relationship with my parents is better because of you. My relationship with God is better because of you.
I am still alive because of you.”
Kelsey sent John cards that she signed with encouraging Bible verses.
“Here is my daughter helping me when I should be helping her,” John said. “Fathers should be encouraging their daughters, not the other way around. But she did it, and it meant more than she will ever know.”
On his one-year anniversary of sobriety, Kelsey wrote: “I’m extremely proud of you, Dad. One year sober! That is a long time. I’m sure it has felt much longer. Maybe you
feel ashamed of suffering from alcoholism and the way it has affected our family. Dad, I can’t see how it has affected our family in one negative way. You’ve gotten
help, maturing in the process. You and Mom are closer, both relying on God more. Our family is closer knit, thanks to God. He has provided for our family and that is
enough. Everything is happening for good. James 1 is God telling you that these trials are testing your faith, which produces perseverance so that you can be mature,
not placing anything before God. The most you could ever give me is a life dedicated to knowing and walking with the Lord. One year is victory. Now persevere.”
John came back to Louisville just before Christmas 2010 to be with his family and continue recovery. He filled empty hours writing his book, spending time with family
and taking on the chores while Brenda worked. Even then, when John’s days included laundry, a bike ride to the grocery store to get something for dinner,
housecleaning and yard work, people came into his life with words of encouragement.
It happened at the unemployment office when a woman in line who recognized him from television said, “Don’t you even think of giving up. Your life was bought at a
price. Don’t ever forget that. God is always with you.”
Southeast member Chris Wood got to know John sitting in church.
“For a long time, I knew John as the guy in front of the camera and never took the time to know him beyond that. That was my loss,” Wood said. “As I began to know
John, it was a stark reminder of God’s redemptive process continually at work. John has encouraged me and given hope to others. If that’s the rest of the story, then to
God be the glory.”
John returns to work with a different agenda.
“I love journalism,” he said. “I love experiencing things to impact people to live positively. That’s my goal now.”
When the Boels volunteered at Wayside Christian Mission on Thanksgiving Day as usual, John watched a young family checking in to the shelter. They carried all they
owned in a little bag. Their only question was, “Is there any lunch left?”
“That’s a story I would like to tell,” John said. “Every single person out there has a story. Those are the ones I would like to tell.”