Gene Guin grew up in a rough little Arkansas town, and he turned out just as rough.
Drugs and sex, dealing and gambling, Guin's life started spiraling at an early age. He was obsessed with winning, the now 60-year-old Ooltewah resident said.
"I grew up hard and fast," said Guin. "I did a little bit of everything."
But about 10 years ago, he decided to change his life, and he wrote a book to tell the world about it, calling it "Alive and Tripping."
The book details his conversion to Christianity and his beginnings in a church community. Having never spent a lot of time in church, he felt ignorant of the Bible and self-conscious about it, he said. His book goes over many of the questions he had as a new believer as well as some of the things that helped him in his walk with God.
"It sounds so simple, but I have a peace I could have never had without it," he said.
Guin, who is now a member of Freedom Worship Center off Dayton Pike in Soddy-Daisy, said he hoped to just help even just one person with his book. He realized that goal had already been met by the time the book was published.
"It helped me," Guin said. "It opened up things I had not thought about and had kept buried.
"The response has just been phenomenal," he added. "I don't want to draw any conclusions. I want to pique their interest. I'm not perfect, but that's what everybody has to realize. You don't have to be perfect. Nobody has a testimony unless they have a test."
"Alive and Tripping" is available tatepublishing.com/bookstore, barnesandnoble.com and amazon.com.