by Lunar Park, 17
“The only way out is through.” – Robert Frost
Having grown up in Bronson, New Jersey, AJ Fox’s journey has been anything but easy. From the small towns of his childhood to the bustling corporate world, AJ has experienced the highs of professional success and the lows of personal trials. After earning his business degree from Monmouth University, he stepped into the corporate sphere in 2005, playing the part society seemed to expect of him. But beneath the surface, life was preparing him for a different path—one shaped by hard lessons, deep reflection, and a search for spiritual balance.
AJ has lived through seasons that greatly tested his resilience, sparked by a painful series of betrayals from his partner, forcing him to confront the reality that trust, once broken, is difficult to rebuild. He experienced many forms of financial strain, shouldering the high cost of living in New Jersey on his own. Sometimes, even old habits from his youth resurfaced, luring him into the party life, occasional drug sales, and some risky behaviors that could have spiraled out of control. At one point, he even felt the pressure of being watched and targeted.
Yet, instead of letting those moments define him, AJ chose to step back, cut ties with destructive influences, and focus on regaining control. Solo travel became a form of therapy—trips to Jamaica, Mexico, and beyond gave him space to think and heal.
“Sometimes those things happen so you can be pointed in a different direction,” he says. His direction began to shift toward self-reliance and a conscious choice to avoid toxic cycles of gossip and negativity.
AJ’s spiritual turning point came quietly.
“Honestly, I couldn’t even tell you how I first heard of Trinity,” he recalls. “Nobody told me anything to begin with—I just found myself out in the cold one day, wondering where to go, and I ended up there.”
Yet, the moment he walked in, he felt something different.
“There’s a nice vibe here,” he thought, but what struck him most was that “they actually do Christ’s work.”
For AJ, Trinity wasn’t about formality or appearance—it was about action.
“When you walk this path, things will happen … nobody’s gonna believe me anyway, but you get resources, and you also get put in bad situations sometimes. Not everybody has good intentions.”
He solemnly recalled when help carried hidden costs, or opportunities came tangled with ulterior motives.
“You just have to keep your faith strong and know God’s gonna use even that for your good.”
Over time, he began talking to God more directly—sometimes out of desperation, sometimes in gratitude.
“Where is God at this point? I gotta talk to God,” he remembers thinking during one of his lowest moments.
Even when answers didn’t come right away, the act of reaching out kept him grounded. Trinity became his anchor—a place where his faith could grow without pretense, and where he could learn to trust the process, one step at a time. For AJ, faith was always something he never let go of. He always found himself talking to God in moments of uncertainty, finding the strength to walk away from toxic situations, and learning to discern the difference between those who lift you up and those who take advantage. In his eyes, God has been a steady presence, even when he wasn’t sure where his life was heading.
Listening to AJ, I was in awe of his firm belief that even the darker stretches of life serve a divine purpose. He sees the hardships not as an excuse to give up, but as necessary turns on the road to God. His personal philosophy is that a shadowed path often brings the clearest understanding of grace. Even as a proud believer of God myself, I have faced moments in my lowest points where I questioned everything—Why am I doing this? What is the point of all this? Why does God seem to be absent and distant during this hardship?
Yet AJ reminded me that faith doesn’t mean having all the answers, but trusting the path even when it’s hard to see. As he spoke, I realized his story wasn’t just about surviving—it was about surrendering to the process, trusting that God sometimes leads us through all those seemingly never-ending valleys so that we can truly appreciate the mountaintops.
Sometimes, a darker path is necessary for the light to pass through and guide you.
Bridge Ink 