The Message still works...

I was reading in the Foreword to the Second Edition the other day... Don't ask me why, I just hadn't read it in awhile and some stuff leaped off the page at me. "Sixteen years have elapsed between our first printing of this book and the presentation of our second edition.  In that brief space, Alcoholics Anonymous has mushroomed into nearly 6,000 groups whose membership is far above 150,000 recovered alcoholics".

I immediately checked and in foreword to the 3rd edition it no longer mentions recovered alcoholics and starts to mention the diversity of the fellowship, more of the same in the 4th edition.

Now I am all about diversity, I love diversity, but it has very little to do with alcoholism.  The stories in the back of the book changed as well.  We started to celebrate the differences in the members and their different experiences.  I was taught what brings us together is a common problem and what keeps us joined is a common solution.

I hear it in meetings all the time, I will always be recovering, meeting makers make it, tell us about your problems...

I tell my guys, I am sorry you are experiencing the problems you are going through.  But if you work these steps and get connected to God, He will solve all your problems, and you will recover from this disease...

I get the feeling some people think that it is arrogant or prideful to identify your self as a recovered alcoholic.  They are missing the point.  I am recovered and I didn't do it.  God did it.  And as long as I take the actions that are the maintenance of my spiritual condition, He will continue to do it...

But it is not my opinion, it is what the book says...  The only thing we have to offer the newcomer is Hope...  I can't fix their marriage, or their legal problems, or any of the other outside issues... But what I can do is show them how I got connected to this Power that can fix all that stuff...

Guess what else that Foreword to the Second Edition said.... It said that the New York stock broker realized that in order to save himself he must carry his message to another alcoholic...

Sounds a little different than just showing up at another meeting to tell my war story one more time, or gripe about my day...

The last thing I have to say is this.  That same section of the book describes a 75% recovery rate... How is the watered down message being carried in so many groups today working? 

The real message of AA has not stopped working it is changing lives...  The problem is so many of our members either don't know the message or refuse to carry it...

See you in the trenches... I love you all...

Old Ideas

I just returned from a business trip in Villahermosa Mexico.  I had some wrong ideas about the place.  But I have been in the program long enough to know I should at least try to attempt to have an open mind.  I was in a little fear and was kind of dreading it, but I went anyway.

What happened was I met some wonderful people who I am sure will be my friends for along time.  I was amazed at the culture, at the happiness of these people, but most of all at the humility and the kindness shown to me.

I left there with a sense of how powerful God really is and how He works miracles in each and everyone of our lives, if only we allow Him to. "The Realm of the Spirit is broad, roomy, all inclusive; never exclusive or forbidding to those who earnestly seek.  It is open we believe to all men."

Yet again I am amazed at the Power of my Creator when I open my mind and depend on Him.

Tomorrow, I have been blessed with this precious way of life for 4 years.  I take no credit for that.  All I did was take the only choice available when alcohol had beat me down to the point of no return.  I did a few simple things and my life has been changed forever.  Not by me, but by you guys showing me how to get connected to God.

Now I simply try to help other folks get the same connection.  I traveled through Mexico City on my trip and it was pointed out to me there are 22 million people that live there.  My mind instantly went to; that means there are 2.2 million alcoholics.

What can I do about that? I can carry this message of hope to the next person that wants it.  They in turn will carry it.  Will it help the folks in Mexico?  I have no idea, that is none of my business.  But it is God's will for me to do and I will continue to do it as long as there is breath in my body.

I live my life one day at a time, but the deal I made in the 3rd step was that I decided to turn my will and my life over to the care of God. It's there and it will stay there.  Never say never they say... But the same they told me not to get my sobriety date tattooed on my arm, they told me not to sponsor anyone till I was sober at least 6 months, they told me just come to meetings, and they tell me I will never be recovered.

Thank God showed me how to let go of all of the old ideas, even theirs.

I love my God today, along with His children, and I love you guys, all of you even the theys...