“[I sold] half the profits [of the sale of my house] on drugs in six months. I went through a quart of vodka daily. No food—just coke. I was skin and bones, about 130 pounds.” (his normal weight at that time was 200 pounds and he is 6 feet tall).

Then Davis says the domestic violence kicked in and he began physically abusing his then-girlfriend, Ann Taylor. By this time his relationship with Melba Moore and Nancy Wilson were well over:

“I slapped her around a couple of times. Finally I realized I was in danger of hurting her, so I sent her away. Still she’d call three times a day, saying, ‘Don’t snort that—talk to me instead.’ ”

Davis eventually hit rock bottom, overdosed and almost died, until his stepbrother called him and said the family was extremely worried about him and had been holding an all-night prayer meeting for him. Davis said:

“[That phone call] pierced through my heart like an arrow right into my soul. It was a message from God. My stepbrother knew I was about to die. I knelt down and prayed, and my life began to change from that moment on.”

After that moment, Davis successfully kicked his habit and married his girlfriend, Ann in 1981 (they divorced in 1991) and began taking theology courses to become a minister.

It sounds like Clifton Davis’ drug days and years of being a self-confessed ‘people user’ humbled the heck out of him and we’re happy for the brotha. It’s been decades now since his coke days and he’s still preaching to anyone willing to listen. He’s been married to his wife, Monica Durant, since 2000. Sometimes we only truly understand how high we can climb after we’ve hit the lowest point that we can possibly fall. For Davis, that lowest point was the brink of death and he has clearly learned his lesson.