# Homeless, Handcuffed in Front of His Son, Then Found God | Jonnie Parsons on REAL Mentors Podcast EP 85

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/real-mentors-podcast-7081727/homeless-handcuffed-in-front-of-his-son-then-found-god-jonnie-parsons-on-real-mentors-podcast-ep-85
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/real-mentors-podcast-7081727/homeless-handcuffed-in-front-of-his-son-then-found-god-jonnie-parsons-on-real-mentors-podcast-ep-85.md
Podcast: [REAL Mentors Podcast](https://stenobird.com/podcast/real-mentors-podcast-7081727)
Published: 2026-05-19T12:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://www.spreaker.com/episode/homeless-handcuffed-in-front-of-his-son-then-found-god-jonnie-parsons-on-real-mentors-podcast-ep-85--72068457
Audio file: https://api.spreaker.com/download/episode/72068457/40bd1adb_e975_4cce_a45a_c504a9aa6725.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/real-mentors-podcast-7081727/episodes/homeless-handcuffed-in-front-of-his-son-then-found-god-jonnie-parsons-on-real-mentors-podcast-ep-85
Duration seconds: 2110

## Resource

Jonnie Parsons had the $70,000 truck, the four bedroom house and the white picket fence. He gave it all away chasing a void he couldn't fill. What followed was meth, opiates, fentanyl, eighteen months in county jail inside a two year stretch and getting arrested in front of his son and his girlfriend who barely spoke English and didn't have a license.He was a firefighter risking his career to get high two days before his shift. He was a construction worker making good money at eighteen and spending it all on drugs. He kept coming back to the same bottom in different cities, different jobs and different circumstances because the problem was never the situation. It was him.The turning point came in a spiritual dorm behind bars in one of Florida's toughest counties. For the first time in his life, Jonnie says he was in chains and felt completely free. That's where he found God and where everything actually changed.Today, seven years removed from homelessness and addiction, Jonnie is the Executive Vice President of Alliance Land Development, author of the 365-day devotional Unshakable and a man who refuses to waste the life he almost lost several times over.This Episode Explores:✅ Growing up in Fort Pierce with a Vietnam vet father and a mother who never missed a day of work✅ Making good money at eighteen in construction and finding meth and opiates on the job site✅ The void that no amount of money, sex or drugs could fill✅ Eighteen months in county jail inside two years and getting beaten by cops on the last arrest✅ Being a firefighter and using cocaine two days before shifts knowing he could be drug tested✅ Fentanyl taking him to his absolute bottom✅ Getting arrested in front of his son and girlfriend with a warrant out for his arrest✅ Finding God in a spiritual dorm in…

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