03/09/2026
The Man Who Came Back
Some stories are loud and dramatic. The first part of his story was, (which we won't go into right now) but this second half; it’s kind of quiet and slower. It’s a story about Brad and how he keeps on going, even through the gruffs, sighs, and groans he tries to hide. He ultimately lets the smile win.
Brad is at the 180 now and was at the 180 Ranch before. He left, and by the mercy of God, he is back again. This time is different. More grounded, surrendered, and real. There was a time when him coming back was a hard NO. He burnt some pretty big bridges and let them burn. But God changed our hearts after witnessing some changes in Brad’s. So now, Brad is a fixture at the 180. He has a unique place here; kind of in the program, kind of not. He has his own category. I don’t quiet have a name for it yet, but I do have a story about him and his journey. He has stayed. It’s been over a year now, and he’s still here. He has stayed.
For a man with Brad’s history, staying is no small thing. Staying means not running when life feels hard or boring. It means resisting the old pull toward restlessness, impulse, and escape. It means learning that healing often looks less like a dramatic moment and more like steady obedience. Sometimes the bravest thing a man can do is remain in the place where God is rebuilding his life. Doing the simple tasks God places in our hands for today, and only today, requires a kind of patience and surrender that can leave a person both aching and at peace at the same time. It can stir that restless place in us that wants to run, to cry, or to escape into dreams too far beyond the boundaries of what God is asking right now. And yet, there is something holy in staying present, in resisting that pull, and in quietly receiving the grace for just this day.
Before this season, Brad worked as a directional driller in the oil field. It was high-pressure, highly skilled work with very good pay. Very good. He was capable and built for that world in many ways. But addiction does not care how capable a man is. Eventually, it cost him that life. And on the other side of that loss, Brad made a hard but wise decision: to protect his sobriety by protecting the life around it.
For the past two years, he has stayed out of the oil field, choosing peace over pressure, stability over ambition, and healing over the old pace that once helped unravel him. That choice may not impress the world, but it is impressive because it is not weakness.
Today, Brad lives full time at the ranch and works full time at another ranch, helping care for the needs and ranch upkeep of the family who owns the property. It is honest, practical, necessary work. The kind that rarely gets celebrated but quietly holds things together. And Brad has become a man who can be counted on for that family. He shows up. Not always because he always feels like it, but because he has made up his mind to keep going.
Two years clean is not just a date on a calendar. It is a thousand unseen choices. It is saying no when no one is watching. It is staying when old instincts say run. It is fighting through lonely, restless, tempting moments and letting God carry you instead of returning to what once owned you.
Brad has fought for this life. He prays, reads, exercises, works hard, and keeps moving forward. He even jumps out of airplanes, which somehow feels fitting. There is still adventure in him, still strength, still hunger to feel alive. But now those things are being redeemed instead of wasted. That is one of the beautiful things God does: He does not merely strip a man down; He restores what addiction tried to counterfeit.
Brad is not pretending to be perfect and will tell you so with a grin. He is still growing and being corrected, as we all are. Still learning how to stand firm, say no, and walk in truth without being driven by old habits or the need to please everyone. But that is what makes his story honest. His testimony is not built on polish. It is built on persistence because his habits are changing.
One of the sweetest parts of Brad’s life right now is his friendship with a little girl; the daughter of the family he works for. Their bond is full of joy, laughter, and simple adventures. There is something healing about seeing a man who has walked through so much darkness now entrusted with gentleness, trust, and childlike joy. That, too, is redemption.
Brad has also overcome throat cancer and pushed through physical struggles that would have slowed many men down. Yet he keeps moving. Keeps working. Keeps trying. Keeps showing up.
Scripture says, “He brought me up also out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings” (Psalm 40:2).
That is what Jesus does.
He does not only rescue a man from his worst moments. He teaches him how to live afterward. He takes what was broken and begins, day by day, to make it new. “And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not” (Galatians 6:9).
Brad’s story is not flashy, but it is powerful. He came back. He stayed. He keeps going. And in a world that celebrates quick transformation, his life reminds us that there is something holy about slow, steady faithfulness especially when it costs you something.
At 180 Ranch, we believe in that kind of redemption: not only the dramatic rescue, but the long road after. Not only the breakthrough, but the daily obedience that follows it. We offer that adventure (ordinary and out of this world all at the same time) to anyone ready to commit. We never promise easy, or fancy or fast. But we do promise real, common sense, everyday lessons for success.
Brad is proof that a man can lose his way and still be found.
2 Corinthians 5:17
“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”
And the best part is this: his story is not over yet! Only the Lord knows Brad’s future, but we know that presently, Brad is winning!
Brad Buffington David B Jones
