“If I can make it to 20, I lived a full life.”
Troy Walker shared a powerful message on Tuesday morning at the 19th Annual Central Alberta Christian Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast at the Pidherney Centre in Red Deer.
Walker captivated the audience of about 300 people, including local MPs, mayors and Central Alberta councillors as well as business and community members.
The long-time Red Deerian, who has a number of successful businesses, said the road to success wasn’t paved with sunshine and rainbows.
“I learned to fail. I failed a lot. I failed through school… It’s actually good to know how to fail. You actually realize what you can do when you get to the point of failure. We always want to stay in the safe zone… I want to stay with what I know but you’ve never been stretched to your limit. I learned that at a young age and that’s been necessary for the building of my success,” said Walker, who is president of Walker’s Holdings International.
Walker had a troubled youth, including being introduced to drugs as an eight-year-old and falling into a life of crime as a teenager.
“By the time I was 12, I was into chemicals like LSD… I was given drugs and doing petty crimes just to supply my habits. I was quite fortunate to survive some of the terrifying events that happened with that lifestyle,” he said.
“I ran away from home when I was 14 and experienced living on the street. Escaping really, really close calls with death, drug dealers, sexual abuse… I was finally arrested and that was the beginning of my rehabilitation.”
Walker said that at 15, when his life was on a destructive path, he felt like he was not going to have a “long shelf life”.
“I felt like there has to be something more to life. I think we all have a God-shaped void in our heart and no matter where you come from, you don’t have to come from a destructive past. Every one of us has that void,” he said.
A group of Christians spoke to Walker’s band at the time and their message resonated with him.
“I didn’t think I deserved forgiveness… God had a plan and a purpose for my life. This message was absolutely powerful. As I was longing for something more, that I did not have. It wasn’t too long after that, our band said a prayer. It took a few years to work the hell out of me,” he said.
“That wasn’t easy. It was a rehabilitation process. The support was there, the church was there. Members of the faith-based community led me out of my destruction.”
Walker said he was baptized at 20 and said in a way, he did die at 20.
It was after attending bible college, that he felt called to the business world.
“I didn’t just want to become rich, I wanted to be able to give,” he said.
Walker added that it was that strong community he built that helped him succeed on his journey and could help build a better, more united community.
“Government policy on its own will not help solve our problems, it takes a whole community. Wouldn’t it be great if we worked together more,” he said.
Red Deer mayor Ken Johnston, who was making his last address to the crowd as Mayor of Red Deer, said he hoped the event showed the importance of spiritual health.
“I think it really shows the heart of the community. It’s across every sector of the community. Every profession, every church in the community. I think people realize that what keeps us together as a society is that spiritual health that we need,” he said.
“When we have prayers as a community for medicine, education, government, those are the things that preserve us. It’s very encouraging as a public servant to be here.”
Jim Wood, who is also retiring as Red Deer County mayor after 21 years in politics, thanked all those in attendance for their participation in making their communities better.
“Absolutely nothing that we do is ever on our own,” Wood said.
