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The Cost of Being Cool

The Cost of Being Cool

When Brian Cole lived in Chippewa Falls he was one of those young boys who was bullied mercilessly because he was pudgy and had buckteeth. He also went home each night to a domineering father that lectured him at length every time he got into trouble. His younger brother’s behavior went unnoticed, but Brian always got both barrels.

When he was around 10 years old, he started to look at the cool kids to one side of the playground with interest. These were the older kids who smoked and didn’t care who knew it; they were fearless and way cool and this attracted him. If he could be like they were no one would be able to trouble him ever again. Not the other students, not his dad. He desperately wanted the power of fear these guys had.

For some reason the guys accepted him, and he became one of the cool guys and by age 12 he was turned on to pornography,  sex, smoking and drugs and by the seventh grade, at age 14, the lock-ups started for petty thefts including stealing money.

His father started to keep journals of his wrongs and at 14 he had enough and ran away from home. He’d run away before, but he was always found and returned. This time it led to a series of foster homes for him. Foster homes, group homes, shelter homes, boy’s homes, treatment centers, often fending off sexual advances from older men in charge of the facilities. He spent time in several hospital psyche wards and all it did was make him harder. As he went deeper and deeper into the lifestyle, he even took on a street name. No longer was he Brian, a name he hated, he was Ozzy. 

His drugs of choice included marijuana, mushrooms, speed and acid. His life became a game, a joke, and he became a master manipulator. At age 17 he joined the military to become a combat engineer. He excelled in the training and was top in his class and just about the time he was to graduate, someone looked into his past and found the felony charges he’d racked up and that was the end of his military career.

His drug habit and life was out of control and he started growing drugs and even sold his classic 1969 Dodge for $50 just so he could buy the drugs he craved.

Petty theft was one thing, but as his habit grew he started stealing guns. He’d get caught and spend 10 days in jail and then a short time on probation. His drug habit was now out of control and when he found a fence that bought whatever he brought in, the stealing escalated. 

He was living in Eau Claire in 1984 and burgled 250 homes in six months stealing everything he could find. He stole from churches and desecrated tombstones just because he could. He made $40,000 fencing items and then he found out that his fence was the FBI who had set a sting and he fell into the trap.

He’d already done 4 years in jail as a juvenile, and now he was going to do time as an adult. He’d worn the ‘bracelet’ several times, but it never stopped him from running away, once all the way to California.

The final act he was involved in that sentenced him to 18 years in prison (he did 10 years) was when he was high on crack cocaine; he shot a man with a .357. He aimed dead center, but between the drugs and the kick of the weapon, he hit the guy in the arm and didn’t kill him.

He hated prison and he hated the Bible thumpers most of all. Being a master manipulator, he got everything inside that he had gotten on the outside, drugs, sex, you name it. He was a bad angry man, full of tattoos and piercings and no one got in his way, no one. In 1984 he had added another tattoo, that of a cross. He had it put on the bottom of his left foot so each time he took a step, he stepped on God.

But these Bible thumpers gave him an idea. He needed a god to worship and he picked Satan. He was so dedicated to Satanism that he lobbied tirelessly for six years to get Wiccan time in the prison chapel. 

When he got out of prison he moved back to the Eau Claire area and in 2006, he started a Wiccan temple so he could spread his anger and hatred of God. To have more money for drugs, he lived out of a van, having lost his home and his car. His then girlfriend in 2008 was a recovering cancer survivor with a supply of oxycodone. By now Ozzy was a full-blown pot head and he cut her oxys with meth and they both became addicted and he almost died 3 times from overdoses.

Winter had come and Ozzy was out selling drugs. He was high and it was an icy night and he fell asleep and his car ended up in a snow bank. When he heard the sirens he dove behind a telephone pole and covered himself with snow so the cops wouldn’t find him. It was almost midnight and he fell asleep. It was his brother that came to his rescue, but the cops surrounded the house later and it ended in a trip to the county jail with lots of new charges. 

He was 44 years old and no wiser. After he was incarcerated in jail he discovered he had gotten married to the women whose oxycodone he ‘shared’. He also found out that she already had a son who had autism. 

It was 2009 and he had spent almost his entire life wanting to be cool, to be feared, and to build a massive wall between himself and anyone who had ever hurt him.

There was a drug and alcohol program in the county jail with a 72 year old guy in charge who challenged him to just listen to what Jesus said. He gave him some written questions whose answers needed to be written down using information that could only be gotten from the Bible. Ozzy didn’t have a Bible so he stole one from the chapel area.

Ozzy’s mom was a Christian, so this information the chaplain gave him wasn’t entirely new to him. She was also one of those tireless saints that had prayed for him for 33 years.

Out of curiosity he started reading passages here and there from the Bible and what surprised him was much of what he read was also in the satanic rituals. He had memorized the mantra that included the word hyssop, but the Bible finished its information about hyssop with, “Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean, wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Cleanse me from my sin and wash me thoroughly from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions; and my sin is ever before me.”

Impossible. He was a bad dude. He was a very bad dude with a life of failure behind him. How could a loving God forgive him?

He continued to read on in Psalms 51. “Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy loving kindness: according unto the multitude of they tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. Create in me a clean heart and renew a right spirit within me.”

For the first time in his life Brian made an important decision; one that would change his life for the good. He came to Christ and asked Him to be his savior. 

The rest of the story is almost unbelievable unless you listen to it from his very lips, unless you sit with him and see him smile from a gentle place within.

His You Tube performances are off the charts popular and his school visits are increasing every month. He’s got a huge following on Face Book at simply Brian Cole.

He’s taken out his piercings, but he’s still covered with tattoos. He’s an avid biker, but now his leather jacket sports completely different patches. The cross tattoo on the bottom of his foot now represents his dependence on Christ and his opportunity to follow Him wherever He leads.

Brian sometimes works through the Burnett County Restorative Justice program and will be speaking at the Northwood School in Minong on March 1 and then at both Spooner and Shell Lake March 29. He has plenty of sites where anyone interested in learning the complete story can find it, starting at setusfree.org.

The overwhelming focus of the rest of his life is to work within drug and alcohol programs catching people who are falling through the cracks. 

His father died, but not before Brian could ask forgiveness from him.

His mother remarried and never stopped praying for him. Because he was such a master-manipulator, she wasn’t sure his new life was for real or not, but now she’s convinced it’s true.

He’s miraculously still married to Marsha, even though they’ve had a rough ride and were only weeks from a divorce.

He’s become a pastor in Drummond and rides a Harley and has a biker ministry and works with youth. His congregation is growing by leaps and bounds.

One of his license plates says God Rocks; the other one, Hate Sin.

He’s available to speak at your school, or church, or group. 715-491-7461 or setusfree.org.

 

Diane Dryden has been a feature writer for twelve years and is the author of two novels. Order your copy of the Accidental King of Clark Street and Double or Nothing on Foster Avenue today!

Last Update: Feb 24, 2017 8:25 am CST

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