It’s been quite a while since I posted anything for my Newsletter List. I hope your holidays went well. Thanks to all that have joined my List. I love you. Pass It On!
When I initially set up my website, I decided to put "Walking on Water" on the Landing Page. When a Christian friend of mine saw it, "Walking on Water" was challenged as sounding arrogant.
My Old Landing Page.
Indeed, when I contemplated what the Landing Page would look like, the possibility of it being perceived as arrogant crossed my mind. I decided to put it up anyway. My answer to the challenge was easy to answer because I had already given it much contemplation. Most people in recovery survived impossible odds and are Walking Miracles. They had no idea that they had been walking on water for years. They should have been dead, been put in an insane asylum, or at least been locked away in prison.
Personally, I already saw my life as a series of miracles. I believe I was also walking on water long before I realized it. The night I sobered up, I looked back on the preceding hours and saw it as a miracle that I didn’t get tossed back into prison. No matter how much I tried to sell my freedom for a drink, I didn’t get arrested, beat up, or end up in a hospital for alcohol poisoning. It seemed I was saved from myself and was protected from the normal consequences of my insane behavior. I literally remembered how Jesus walked through the crowds of people who wanted to kill him, but he was invisible. I felt like I walked through a minefield unscathed.
I survived some rough patches in life, including a couple of manmade prisons (an ugly childhood of abuse). I even survived the prison of my own thinking, and that’s a real miracle! Seriously, I should have been dead a long time ago, many times over. It’s like a cat having ‘Nine Lives’, I guess.
Brace yourself for a Reality Check that is probably out of most people’s comfort zone, but I could have been raped in prison, killed someone in self-defense, and spent the rest of my life locked down for a myriad of reasons. People often wanted to kill me in prison, including a few ‘cliques’ of prisoners, but God protected me.
I was walking on water. God had a plan for my life. Jeremiah 29:11 was something my Spiritual Advisor (AKA Sponsor) in the 12-step Program reminded me of many times when I struggled with emotions and difficult circumstances.
I had a sense of humor in prison. It’s a useful tool in recovery to have; I don’t know how any of us would make it through life without it. It was one of the few things that couldn’t be taken from me in life, even in prison. Someone jokingly said that I was too dumb to be unhappy (I added “for long” to the end of that sentence. ‘Never Take Yourself Too Seriously’ is a Sobriety/Recovery Maxim that helped me a lot. This Too Shall Pass was a lifesaver for me, too.
So, in the Christian Tradition, we have all heard about Jesus ‘walking on water.’ Christ’s Apostle Peter also walked on water until he became fearful. Pertaining to God, Scripture reads that ‘fear is not of me.’ Being human has its seeming drawbacks, and experiencing fear is one of them.
MLK said to keep our eye on the prize. If we keep our gaze single to the Glory of God, we stand in whole or Holy Light. If we see shadows, our backs are getting tanned; we are casting our own shadows. TURN AROUND. When we don’t feel close to God, WHO MOVED? We might think God isn't there when we have taken our eyes off the prize. We turned our sensitivity off, or at least turned it down. Sometimes, God speaks in a still, small voice, and we must be ‘sensitive human seismographs’ to discern quiet truths.
LET GO, LET GOD is a Recovery Slogan that has served me well when I used it. And the magnificent 25 WRODS in the Serenity Prayer is a definite Gift from God. When we take our eyes off the prize, that's the real problem. And I know not everyone reads the Bible, but I remembered reading that greater miracles would ye do than what I have done. It takes ego to notice ego. For me, EGO Is Edging God Out. But maybe it could also mean Egging God On. I also heard that ‘Impossible is God's favorite word.’
IF YOU WANT TO HEAR ME TALK TONIGHT IN ROSEMOUNT, MINNESOTA AT THE ALANO CLUB, HERE’S A CHANCE TO DO SO. FOLLOWS IS MY SPEECH PLAN.
This might drive people away rather than attract them, but after prayer, I decided that tonight, I'm talking about a Night Vision I had about the 12 Steps when I was 19 years old before I knew anything about The Program. In that Night Vision, I saw colors raining down from the sky that looked like water that was little droplets of fire in every color imaginable.
1/20/2024 speech at the Rosemount Alano Club, 8:00 PM. ADDRESS: 14680 South Robert Trail · Rosemount, MN 55068
After I was sober for maybe 8 or 10 years, my Sponsor and I meet with someone that hurt me as a child. Before actually meeting with him, I was filled with dread and was praying up a storm. When the guy showed up, I saw those same colors raining down from heaven and they went straight into my heart, filling me with love. God did for me what I couldn't do for myself.
Lastly, if there's time, I might talk about a prayer session I had with a friend who had many health problem. As I prayed for her healing, those same colors rained down again and flowed through my right hand into her, and I heard the words, "My love rain down upon thee."
It's going to be nippy tonight, like -6. Chase recovery as hard as you chased the bar hours or drug dealer.
There is One that has all power. That One is God. May you find God now.