Life or Death

Everyone has a life or death decision to make.  

Each of us has been given the supreme privilege of free will, the ability to choose.

Today, everyone will choose a path to follow.

If you are in the bondage of your addiction, you still have choices confronting you. 

If you are on the journey of recovery, you will still have that nagging urge to choose

the path back to your addiction. 

The freedom to choose carries with it the burden of the results of our choices. 

And those results affect our lives and the lives of those we love. 

Free will is our blessing and responsibility. 

Moses put it this way:

“Today I have given you the choice

between life and death, between blessings and curses.

Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live! You can make this choice by loving the LORD your God, obeying him, and committing yourself firmly to him.

This is the key to your life.”  (Dt. 30.19&20)

 Although we may feel out of control to our addiction,

we can choose to set our hearts in the direction of life. 

We can choose to love God and begin to follow His path to life! 

The Girl with the Empty Eyes - a true story

Once a week, as a Spiritual Advisor for Keystone Rehabilitation Center, I would speak at a session on spirituality stressing its importance in the recovery process.  One day I was early, so I decided to wander through the halls and visit with some of the patients. 

As I walked down a long corridor, I met a young lady slowly making her way back to her room – obviously to take a nap!  I said hello and invited her to spirituality.  Her response to me was simple and to the point. 

“F**K   OFF!”

Her response was not what caught my attention.  If Google images could direct you to a picture of just one meth addict, it would take you to her picture! 

Her hair was “unkempt” (did I say that politely enough?) with dark roots showing through the medium length that was blond, silver, and red with a streak or two of green.  What skin was exposed was covered with tattoos and she had more body piercing than I had ever seen! Her eyebrows, ears, lips, and nose had multiple rings and pins!   Now, I'M NOT judging; just saying!  When I looked beyond the hair, tattoos, and piercings, the thing that shocked me was her –

EMPTY EYES. 

If the eyes are a window to the soul, then her soul was empty.

I wasn’t offended by her response to my invitation to spirituality.  I simply said, “Well, ok, have a nice day” and continued on my way knowing I would never see her in spirituality!

To my complete surprise, she attended the River of Life Community Church the next Sunday!  After attending a few times, she acknowledged Jesus as her personal Lord and Savior and was baptized. 

After an extended stay at Keystone, she returned home and sought out a church.  At the end of the message during the first time she and her family attended, the pastor asked if anyone would like to share what God had done in their lives.  Before she could contain her, her daughter jumped up and shouted, much to mom’s embarrassment, “My mom is a meth addict!”  The young daughter went on to tell what a difference God had made in her Mom’s life and, consequently, in their family! 

After the service, a couple of people approached this “former-meth-addict” and confessed they, too, had a problem and needed help.  It was then that God used her to start a support group for addicts in that church and community!

The last I knew she was still clean and God was continuing to use her to make a difference in her family, church, and community! 

1.        God loved her

2.       God had a plan for her life

3.       God is using her to change the world

Amazing grace; amazing love!   

The pig is dead!

Love this quote of Al Simpson’s I found in his biography, “Shooting from the Lip.”

For years, Al said, people had sent their representatives to Washington to do one thing: bring home the bacon: “Go get the money. Get money for the YMCA, the airport terminal, the dam, the road, the VA hospital. They worshiped the great God of reelection.

They brought home the bacon—and now the pig is dead.”

a map for everyone

LIFE.

YOUR life.

A plan? 

A purpose? 

A reason? 

A map? 

God has it! 

 That's all.  For now.

Breaking News for AA'ers

Breaking news to all who revere AA’s Big Book and AA’s co-founder, Bill W. 

Bill W. is NOT God and the Big Book is not divinely inspired! 

 
I am convinced that most who attend AA view the Big Book as “divinely inspired” (a direct quote from three individuals active in AA) and the final authority on spirituality.

Yes.  I have read the Big Book.  I have also spent fifteen years reading and studying the Good Book, aka The Bible.  What I have discovered is that the spiritual principles for life found in the Big Book come from the Bible.  In fact, there are many direct quotes from the Bible in the Big Book. 

 I just finished reading The Spirituality of Imperfection by Kurtz and Ketcham and found that the spiritual principles the authors claim are unique to Bill W and AA are found in the Bible.  The authors quote from every source imaginable – Buddhism to Zen to the philosophy of William James – to state the basic spiritual principles for recovery.  Every source, that is, except the Bible.  However, every spiritual principle they state is found in the Bible!!

I’m also convinced that the authors of The Spirituality of Imperfection – as well as most of the individuals I know who attend AA – view Bill W. as some sort of god!  The good news is that he is NOT God! 

It seems to be a forgotten fact that Bill W. is the CO-FOUNDER of AA.  The other founder is Dr. Bob.  Dr. Bob and Bill W. had a difference of opinion on the future direction of AA because of their differing views on spirituality.  Bill W. insisted that any direct reference to God be replaced with “higher power” as to be more inclusive.  He also insisted that the wording of several of the steps be worded differently as to “not offend Catholics.”  I think Bill W. was PC before PC was cool! 

Dr. Bob, on the other hand, remained on the original path of AA and his meetings were basically a Bible study.  I find it interesting that I have not seen a coffee mug with “Dr. Bob rode a Harley” or an editorial or on-line comment signed “a friend of Dr. Bob.”  I HAVE seen just the opposite… “Bill W rode a Harley” and “a friend of Bill W”.  

If you Google “founders of AA,” what you will see is “Bill W.”  What happened to Dr. Bob?  Why is he so obscure?  I have seen several pamphlets about AA with Bill W’s name included but I have yet to see one with Dr. Bob.  I wonder why?  Is it because he stayed true to his conviction that holistic recovery included a personal relationship with Jesus Christ?  That it was foolish to consider your dog or a door knob as a “higher power”?    

My point:  If we really want to understand the spiritual principles of life, let’s return to the origin.

                              Read the Good Book.

Study the Good Book.  

Live the Good Book. 

I’m not saying throw out the Big Book.  I am saying read it like you would any other reference or self-help book.  But make the Good Book your primary source!!    

High Winds Are Forecast

The winds of change constantly blow. 

I embrace change.  I accept change. 

I encourage change.  I question change for change’s sake. 

I experienced an example of change as Dawn and I traveled the backroads of Wyoming and Montana last December.  The old adage that “every town – no matter how small – has a bar,” seems to have changed to “every town – no matter how small – has a psychologist’s office.”    (Ok.  I didn’t see one in Bill, Wyoming, population- 4!) 

The ancients [like me J] believed that there was a transcendent moral order outside of the self, built into the fabric of the universe.  If you violated that order, there were consequences just as severe as if you violated the physical reality by placing your hand in a fire.  The path of wisdom was to learn to live in conformity with this moral order.  That wisdom came largely from the development of character qualities like humility, compassion, courage, forgiveness, purity, and faithfulness.

Things have changed.  The ancients looked at an anxious person and prescribed spiritual character change.  Today, the anxious person is encouraged to learn about stress management techniques by visiting a website, reading a self-help book, or spending endless hours with a counselor!  (adapted from Reason for God by T. Keller, p. 73)

Noting these changes, author Dallas Willard writes,

 “Amid a flood of techniques for self-fulfillment, there is an epidemic of depression, suicide, personal emptiness, and escapism … all combined with the inability to sustain deep and enduring personal relationships.  So obviously, the problem is a spiritual one.  And so must be the cure.” (The Spirit of Disciplines: Understanding How God Changes Lives)

2 Timothy 3.16 gives us great counsel about change:

All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true

and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives.

It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right.

May the winds of change continue to blow in your life as you learn to grow spiritually and “do what is right” in Him. 

MT

How does it feel to be 66?  Are you enjoying retirement? 

Do you miss preaching?  Do you miss the River? 

Questions from loved ones and friends. 

My response: 

MT, Sucks,

Yes, Sometimes.