When the 58-year-old from Canton isn't working 12 hour days during landscaping season...
"Primarily today I'm a lawn service. I fertilize and mow. I love being outdoors," Everhart said.
...you can find him searching for eagles with his camera at locations across Sioux Falls.
"It's creativity. It's a passion of mine," Everhart said.
On top of capturing the perfect shot, Everhart loves to read and write books. He just recently published his very first book...
"It's my testimony. It's what I have to give society. It's my story," Everhart said.
It's called "From Selling To Mowing Grass: My Story Of Deliverance From Drugs and Alcohol."
It will be 30 years this February since Everhart got out of treatment. Before that, the former Air Guard member admits he had a seedy past.
"Joints. I had an opportunity to buy joints from someone. That first couple years, that's all I did. I think I was 18 when I bought my first ounce that I split into quarter ounces," Everhart said.
Right out of high school, Everhart says he lived for the adventure of selling drugs.
"I threw myself into the subculture. I thought it was the best thing since candy," Everhart said.
"Kind of grew up in the 60s and the hippie movement and he was really struggling with addiction, even sold grass, sold weed some," Beard said.
Quentin Beard is Everhart's Pastor at Sioux Falls First. The two have had long conversations about the past. Everhart's story hits home with Beard because the pastor's father also battled alcoholism.
"He's well read. I mean he has really been a student. I know that he's always telling me about a book he read and that he was writing his own book. I think it's great that he's willing to not only share it but he's growing. He's developing as a person and a follower of Christ," Beard said.
Everhart says he never wanted to jeopardize his future because of drugs or alcohol. In 1988, three months after separating from the military with an honorable discharge, he entered treatment.
After treatment he would go on to SDSU to study economics and then spent years working for the City of Sioux Falls. Now he owns his own business and has time to do what he loves.
"I laugh and joke a lot about it. Perhaps you see the humor I'm carrying around. Not many people in business would take a risk and write a book with this title and this story. One of the central messages of the Gospel, if you're a believer, is that when you make this confession and own up to it, you're delivered from the shame," Everhart said.
Everhart's putting his past on paper because he's no longer ashamed of it. His advice to those struggling with poor decisions... don't ignore your history.
"If they're at the point in life where they're able to acknowledge a weakness, yes. Live into it. A retired pastor shared that phrase with me recently. Just live into it," Everhart said.
And you just might come out the other side in a much better place.
"We get nothing by continuing to deny what's in our lives. Just live into it. Live through it," Everhart said.
Everhart has spoken with others battling addiction at treatment centers. His goal is to get his book in every center and prison library so people can read his story. He is working on a new book and says this one will be much different. It will focus on his fascination with quantum physics.
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