Faith and Strength

We strengthen our faith by working with other alcoholics and finding that we can do nothing ourselves to help them, except to tell them our own story of how we found the way out. If the other person is helped, it's by the grace of God and not by what we do or say. Our own faith is strengthened when we see another alcoholic find sobriety by turning to God. And finally we strengthen our faith by having quiet times every morning. Do I ask God in this quiet time for the strength to stay sober this day?

That's what I love about H&I. We go into hospitals and institutions and talk to the clients. We don't preach or throw around advice. Instead we tell our stories. We talk about the program, what it means to us, and where we are now. Afterward we answer questions to the best of our ability and offer support. We express our gratitude to our Higher Power and explain how recovery would be impossible without him.

And faith? My faith is strengthened whenever I see a newcomer introduce themselves at the beginning of a meeting or an old-timer pick up a 30 year chip.

My quiet times are right before I go to sleep and first thing in the morning before getting up. I pray for strength and guidance. I ask God for help because I know that without him, there's no telling where I would be.

Speaking of sleep... I'm headed that way soon. May try and watch Saturday Night Live first. Enjoy your evening and have a great day tomorrow!

Impulse and Actuality

"Your feelings aren't always an indicator of how you are doing."

I heard that tonight and really liked it. Sometimes things aren't nearly as bad as I think they are, but in the past, my reactions to my feelings led me down a very detrimental path. I was talking to one of my fellow Round Table members about the steps. How I think that when the correct one is applied to a certain situation I might impulsively act on, when actually worked, it gives me a broader view of things. It slows me down, but in a good way.

Got there early and helped set up. Enjoyed some good conversation. Had a great topic. Our speaker started the discussion on staying plugged in. It was awesome listening to all the old-timers tell their stories. How they went from seeing their relatives hide the valuables when they came to visit to having families of their own. Talking proudly of their grand-kids. What a wonderful incentive to live a better life. Make myself better for me so I can create some love and joy in this world.

Well. I had a very physical day at work, so I'm going to go ahead and put my feet up. Mardi Gras parades start tomorrow uptown. Commuting is about to become very interesting.

Have a great night and God bless!

Old Habits Die Hard Pt. 3- Greed and Envy (Cornerstone Sermon 01-22-12)

Just listened to the latest podcast from Cornerstone Church. Part 3 of their series, Old Habits Die Hard, deals with 2 more of the deadly sins: Greed and Envy. Rusty Hutson was back delivering the message and was quite open about some of his dealings with envy as it relates to self-worth.

There are parts of this sermon that I could certainly relate to my own past. Some parts were pretty heavy. Overall, from a spiritual aspect, I thought it was a lovely service and wish I could have been there. I so enjoyed being there with my fam for the first one.

One thing he talked about reminded me of something I shared with some of the old-timers in north Georgia AA (the Helen group). About how one of my problems in addiction, and life in general, was that I had this attitude of, "Wow. I have this and it is good. Wouldn't it be great if I had this, too, to put on top of it?"

The desire to acquire gone haywire. I think that's what Rusty called greed. He mentioned a survey that was done with "regular, normal" people. There was a list of answers of what they would do for 10 million dollars, and I can tell ya it was ghastly.

He then went on to envy. Proverbs 14:30, "A heart in peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones." It's a sickness and that's why it's commonly associated with green, according to him. Makes sense.

Anywho... I wont give it all away. Here's the sermon... Old Habits Die Hard Pt. 3- Greed and Envy

These behaviors and emotions certainly aren't curable, but they are manageable in our life choices and everyday living. I'm getting alot out of these podcasts!

An Evening With the Old-Timers

I have been looking forward to this meeting for months! I absolutely love the Helen, Ga. old-timers group. I wish I could find one like it around New Orleans... not that there aren't great groups there. NOLA has an amazing AA support system.

The folks here, though, are just some of the kindest country people you could hope to meet. I told them in my share that I wished I could load them all up on a bus and take them back home with me. One lady said she'd go if she could meet Drew Brees.

There were some familiar faces from September that I was glad to see. We had a good topic too. The 10th step, anger, and how we deal with it. We all still deal with anger and resentment sometimes. The difference is that, now, I can identify my frustrations and consciously deal with them in a healthier way. And I don't get frustrated nearly as easily as I once did. That's a character defect I turned over to God.

Got to go gem mining with my dad today. It was actually his suggestion. He's been on the lookout for rubies that he can put in his rock polisher. We found him a couple. Found some other really cool gems too.

Cooked an awesome crawfish pasta casserole for dinner. Gonna try and remember how I made it so I can do it back home too.

It was a really cool day that I got to spend with my folks... And I can't wait to see my old-timers again in June!

Goodnight, all.

The Most Important Person in the Room

We had a very important person at our step study tonight. In fact, he's the most important person in the whole organization. He's a newcomer. A person who is there looking for help. The poor guy has been detoxing without medical assistance for 3 days... Which is incredibly dangerous. This article on Livestrong.com talks about it. Click here to view.

He basically lost everything in the course of 2 weeks. Looking at him, I saw a shadow of a man. Slumped over, beaten, sobbing. Not only are we all there to help him, but he also helps us. We see from the outside what we were like at our first meeting. Or our second or third "first" meeting. And that alone is more than enough to remind us of why we quit drinking and started recovery.

We passed a meeting schedule to him with our phone numbers on it, and one of the old-timers talked to him afterward. I hope nothing but the best for the guy.

On a bit of a lighter note, I need to start remembering that it's no longer 2011. I'm accustomed to ending with "this year" when giving my full sobriety date. We do that at the beginning of some meetings. I think the only thing anybody heard was "this year". I couldn't figure out why everyone's jaws dropped when I gave mine. One lady I haven't met before said, "Keep coming back." I just smiled like an idiot, without realizing what I'd just said, and told her, "Thank you." Thought it was kinda funny. Had to quickly correct myself when I realized my error.

Goodnight and peace be with you.