Step Study Night and This Week's Cornerstone Sermon

"Be quick to listen... Slow to speak... And slow to become angry."

Rusty is back this week with words to live by! It's part 2 of Cornerstone's Book of James series.

Learned quite a bit about listening, communication, and putting what we learn to use in our everyday lives to become better people. I'm not really in a position to be a foster parent, but there are a couple of touching videos later in the sermon about it.

At my 12 and 12 meeting we discussed step 5, who we went to with our life stories, and the differences between the Little Red Book and the 12 Steps, 12 Traditions book. I told my life story to my sponsor, but some choose fellow members or people completely outside of AA. Strangers, clergy, counselors...

Got work bright and early (ok... not so bright and early). Gonna get ready to turn in anyway. Have a great night and God Bless!

Sausage Dogs and the Mustard Seed

It was a very interesting walk to work. They were setting up for the Krewe of Carrollton parade on my street. Got to see the bands practicing in the park, the floats were all lined up, people were getting into costume... Then I stopped on St. Charles and got a hot sausage dog from a carnival stand. Tried to eat it while walking, but it was too full of stuff. Mushrooms, marinara, green peppers, onions and all on a hoagie roll. I guess I was being a bit of a grump in a previous post. I do love Mardi Gras. It would be my luck, though, that there are no parades on my days off. :(

I guess my Blackberry takes better

pics during the day...

Not much else of interest. Worked all day. Came back here. Going to eat some pizza rolls and watch a movie.

Talked to my sponsor a few minutes ago. We're going to meet up Tues. and go to the men's group. Going to the 12 step study tomorrow night and hopefully the Mustard Seed on both days.

Well. I guess that's about it for tonight... Going to enjoy my days off and try to get some things done!

Goodnight, world...

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.