SACRAMENTO, Calif — Those "ah-ha" moments. We all have them. Sometimes it is something as small as recalling information three hours after talking about a topic with a group of friends.
Other times, those moments are turning points in our lives that lead to starting a small business, marrying your partner, or turning your life around for the better.
For Paul DiGiordano, it was the latter. These days, DiGiordano goes by the Minister of Sacramento—well, at least he does on Instagram. But he wasn't always that guy.
"I remember my mom dragging me to church several times," DiGiordano remembered. "I used to be the guy ditching out of the high school service and smoking weed behind the church."
READ MORE FROM KERISTEN HOLMES:
DiGiordano says he grew up living a party lifestyle — clubs every night, day trips to Las Vegas, and a constant flow of drugs and alcohol. These were his peak moments.
"A lot of folks would be like, 'Man, that's a lifestyle I want to live,'" DiGiordano explained. "But I'm having really high highs, and really low lows. I found myself going deeper into drugs and deeper into alcohol and I found myself really just empty."
His nadir would soon come.
DiGiordano said on a trip to Tahoe he took at least dozens of ecstasy pills and drank so much that he blacked out and could have died. "I woke up on a Monday morning and heard a quiet voice say 'Paul, you gotta change your life. You can't keep living this way.' I was thinking to myself, how did I get here? How did I get to this dark place?"
It took months to figure it all out. He fell into depression.
READ MORE FROM KERISTEN HOLMES:
One day he was watching a pastor's sermon on TV and had a spiritual experience, "People talk about being born again, but I felt like I was born again and felt like a new person."
And now he wants to share the good news through his newly formed ministry — Lounge of Life. DiGiordano wants to let young people know you can have good clean fun without all of the drugs and alcohol.
"There's a lost generation that's partying week in and week out, trying to fill their lives with drugs and alcohol and those things are never going to satisfy," DiGiordano said. "We're trying to create a space where young people can come and have a good time and take all of that pressure away."
As a man of faith who has hit rock bottom, DiGiordano has one message: "I'm not here to judge you. I'm here to love you."
Paul hosts pop up parties for young people with fun, safe environments these days.
To learn more about The Lounge of Life, head here.
Follow the conversation on Facebook with Keristen.
WATCH MORE: Faith takes center stage for athletes