Participants: Shelley Quinn (Host), Bob
Series Code: IAA
Program Code: IAA000459A
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00:01 Do you know anyone who is self-medicating,
00:05 perhaps their drug of choice is alcohol, maybe it's you. 00:09 Well, we want you to know that God gives you a way out, 00:14 and today we're going to be talking on Issues and Answers 00:17 about turning that problem over to God 00:21 and letting Him be in control of your recovery, join us. 00:56 Hello, I'm Shelley Quinn and we welcome you once again 01:00 to Issues and Answers. 01:01 We are talking about a topic 01:04 that is in my opinion very important, 01:07 because 10 to 20 percent of the world's population 01:11 suffers from this disease 01:13 and the disease is called alcoholism. 01:16 This is something that we're very grateful 01:19 to our guest who is here, 01:20 who is a member of Alcoholics Anonymous, 01:23 and to, according to their tradition, 01:26 they do not want anyone to go forward 01:29 trying to bring attention to themselves 01:32 so they believe in anonymity and we are going to keep him 01:37 out of the spotlight so to speak he'll be shadowed. 01:40 So there's nothing wrong with our lights 01:43 or nothing wrong with your eyes. 01:44 We're just honoring his anonymity. 01:47 But please help me to welcome our special guest Bob. 01:52 Bob, thank you for returning. 01:53 Last time we were talking about your 11 year journey 01:58 as an alcoholic. 02:00 How far it had taken you 02:02 into just really you were getting into a pit, 02:06 and I know a little bit more about your testimony 02:10 that we're not talking about here. 02:12 But we were talking about how you got involved with AA. 02:18 Coming from a Christian family, 02:20 you already knew about the Lord. 02:23 But even though you were calling on the Lord, 02:25 you weren't educated enough to know the steps 02:29 to really surrender to God or you weren't ready I guess, 02:32 because I think it takes an alcoholic to minister 02:36 to another alcoholic. 02:37 You're right. 02:38 So we believe you've convinced me 02:41 at least that the 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous 02:46 are filled with Christian principles, 02:49 based on biblical principles if you will. 02:52 So how did you, just jump in here and tell us, 02:55 how did you get from the first meeting 02:58 that you went to where there was a disconnect 03:00 because it was young people telling about traumatic stories 03:02 and that didn't fit your model. 03:04 How did you then end up in another AA meeting? 03:07 Well, Shelley, first of all, it's great to be back, 03:08 and I'm happy to be here. 03:11 I also want to add just a little caveat 03:13 that I should have said the last time and that is, 03:15 I do not speak for Alcoholics Anonymous. 03:17 Okay. 03:18 I'm sharing with you my experience with AA... 03:19 Absolutely. 03:21 No one actually speaks for AA. 03:23 We don't have spokespeople, we don't have a president, 03:26 we don't operate that way. 03:28 It's a very loosely knit group of groups if you will 03:34 who get together to share their experience, 03:36 strength and hope with each other. 03:38 But none of us is a spokesperson for AA. 03:40 My story basically, what I share the last time 03:43 is I managed to find my way to a young people's meeting 03:47 where I couldn't relate to the events in their lives. 03:51 But I left that meeting and I told my friend 03:54 that took me actually tied the monkey ass. 03:57 He told me where he was going 03:59 and I asked if I could go with him 04:01 which to me is God working in my life 04:03 because normally 04:04 I wouldn't have any interest in that. 04:06 But on the way home, I said, "You know, 04:08 I'm really glad you took me to this meeting." 04:10 And he says, "Why is that?" 04:12 I said, "Well, I know I drink too much, 04:14 but at least I know I'm not an alcoholic." 04:15 Wow. 04:17 And he got real quiet, you know, it's funny. 04:19 He started letting my phone calls 04:21 go to voicemail after that 04:23 and I couldn't seem to get him to go out drinking with me 04:26 and it kind of made me mad. 04:27 A few months later, I walk into a bar 04:30 on a Sunday afternoon drunk out of my mind. 04:32 I've been drinking all day at home 04:34 and I'm not one of those drinkers 04:37 that can just sit at the bar and drink quietly. 04:40 I have to talk to people. I'm that kind of a drunk. 04:42 And so I looked around the bar and I found some people 04:44 I thought I knew and I went, and I sat down at the table. 04:48 There was a couple that I thought I knew 04:50 and the guy that I didn't know 04:52 and suddenly as I'm joining their conversation 04:55 or trying to I realize, I don't know these people 04:59 but already being in a drunken state, 05:01 I didn't care. 05:03 And they were polite enough not to tell me to get lost 05:06 but within a couple of minutes 05:07 they decided it was time for them to go 05:10 and I was left face to face with the man I didn't know. 05:13 And of course the polite thing to do in drinking circles 05:17 is to offer that person a drink and the waitress was coming by, 05:20 and I asked her to get him anything he wanted, 05:23 I was going to pay for him to have a drink and he says, 05:26 "I don't drink" and I said, "What is wrong with you." 05:29 Do you know where you are, you're in a bar. 05:32 And I ordered several shots of something 05:34 and he finally accepted a cola. 05:38 And we sat there 05:39 and I started talking to this total stranger about everything 05:43 and I don't even know what I was saying. 05:45 But I do remember that at some point, 05:47 I ran out of conversation and suddenly I said, 05:50 "You'll never guess what I did the other day." 05:52 And he says, ''What's that?" 05:53 And I said, 05:55 "I went to a meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous. 05:56 And his head just snapped to attention he said, "Really?" 06:00 And suddenly I had his interest 06:02 and I did not understand anybody else's anonymity. 06:05 So I proceeded to tell him everything that I heard 06:08 in that meeting. 06:09 And he was very polite. He listened with interest. 06:13 But as the conversation went on, 06:16 I started telling him about my miserable life. 06:19 And I'm one of those crying drunks. 06:22 That's just not very fun to go out drinking with 06:25 because, at some point 06:26 I get very model and very weepy and whatever you know 06:30 crying in your beer kind of thing 06:31 and I just told them out and look at me. 06:33 I don't even know you. 06:34 I don't know why I'm talking to you. 06:37 I'm just so drunk, 06:38 I've been drunk all day and I did, 06:41 you know, I'm sorry man, I just, 06:42 I don't know what's wrong. 06:44 I don't know what's wrong. I can't stop drinking. 06:48 And that man looked at me and he says, "You know, Bob, 06:51 I want to tell you a story." 06:53 He proceeds to tell me his story 06:54 about how his drinking almost killed him 06:58 and how he found recovery in Alcoholics Anonymous. 07:01 And that surprised me, 07:03 and then he pulled out a medallion, 07:05 it was a seven year medallion. 07:07 And he gave it to me and insisted that I keep it 07:09 and he said, "I want you to have this, 07:11 it means that I've stayed sober a day at a time for seven years 07:16 but I want you to have it 07:17 because I think if you ever want help 07:19 that Alcoholics Anonymous can help you too. 07:22 And he gave me his phone number 07:24 which I thought was a little strange. 07:25 And he got up and he walked out sober. 07:28 And if that wasn't weird enough, 07:29 I walk over to the bartender and I said, 07:31 "Man you don't believe what just, what just happened? 07:35 I knew the bartender 07:37 so we had been drinking buddies for years 07:39 and he threw some really wild parties. 07:42 And so I showed him the seven year coin 07:44 and he looked at it and he says, 07:46 "Where did you get this." 07:47 And I told him the other guy's story of course, 07:50 still don't understand anonymity. 07:53 And he listened politely and he handed the coin back 07:56 with a smile on his face, 07:58 he stuck his hand into his pocket 08:00 and pulled out a three year coin 08:02 and says, Bob he says, 08:03 "I've been sober for three and a half years of day 08:06 at a time in AA, it works." 08:07 Yes, that blows my mind that if somebody or a pedophile. 08:13 You wouldn't put them to work in a nursery. 08:15 It blows my mind that someone who is an alcoholic 08:20 could be a bartender. 08:23 But it goes to the power of true recovery. 08:29 Let's talk about well, you've got into AA then, 08:33 and that's an amazing story. 08:35 I love that story. 08:37 And I believe God had somebody there for you. 08:40 Exactly. You know it's just amazing. 08:44 Tell us about the first step to recovery 08:49 and how you reacted to learning that first step? 08:53 Okay, let me just finish the story 08:54 with a little, little tiny detail. 08:57 The next day, I was at another meeting 08:59 this time with the bartender. 09:01 Praise God. 09:02 And eventually, the bartender lost his job, 09:04 he was accused of stealing money from the bar 09:07 when he was not. 09:09 And he told me years later he says, 09:11 "You know God did for me what I could not do for myself. 09:13 The money was too good in that bar 09:15 for me to quit that job. 09:17 But he made sure that I got out of it 09:19 before I was in trouble myself." 09:21 So, you know, 09:23 I've wondered out loud one time. 09:25 What were those two guys doing in a bar? 09:27 Sober members of Alcoholics Anonymous 09:29 and I'm gonna say had no business in that bar. 09:31 And I said this one time 09:32 as I told my story in an old timer 09:34 and they had been sober many years stood up 09:37 in the back of the room 09:38 and interrupted me which never happens, 09:41 when somebody is telling their story 09:42 and he says, "Son. 09:43 I can tell you why they were there." 09:45 He says, "They were there to save your life." 09:47 Amen. 09:48 And I have to tell you that's the power. 09:51 That's the lengths 09:53 that God goes to find one of His kids, 09:55 He knew that that day in particular, I'd be ready. 09:59 And He made sure not just once but twice. 10:02 So I live that reality every day. 10:06 How do I get to step one? I hit bottom. 10:09 That's a term, we use in AA all the time. 10:12 And really my bottom was much higher 10:14 maybe than a lot of other people. 10:17 There are high bottoms and low bottoms in AA. 10:19 There are people who still have their families, their car, 10:22 their homes, their jobs, 10:25 but yet it's a spiritual and mental bottom. 10:28 You know the stress of that life. 10:31 The longing, the hole in our hearts 10:33 is so bad that we can't live another day 10:36 and that's when we hit bottom. 10:38 There are others who take it so much further, 10:40 they lose family, friends, jobs, 10:43 live on the streets, live in the parks, 10:45 and unfortunately that was the concept 10:47 that I had of what a true alcoholic was, 10:49 was the person living on the park bench 10:51 covering themselves with newspapers. 10:53 Now let me ask a quick question. 10:56 So yours, you didn't lose your family? 10:59 You didn't, you didn't hit that bottom there, 11:01 I know you were having a lot of physical problems... 11:04 Yes. 11:05 More mental emotional and, 11:07 and of course the spiritual problem. 11:08 But were you at all aware 11:11 even though your family never said to you, 11:14 enough of you out of our, 11:15 you know we washed our hands if you... 11:18 Were you aware of how badly you were hurting your family? 11:23 Yes, and that caused more drinking. 11:25 Okay. So the guilt. 11:27 The guilt and the shame was just awful. 11:30 My family never brought up alcoholism to me. 11:33 They never did for whatever reasons 11:37 and it wouldn't have mattered if they had 11:39 because the one key earmark of an alcoholic 11:45 is called denial. 11:48 As far as I know, alcoholism is the only disease 11:51 that affects you physically, mentally, spiritually, 11:55 hurts you so bad every bit of evidence 11:57 and then large liver cirrhosis. 12:00 You know loss of jobs, 12:02 car wrecks, police, prison time, 12:05 the one thing that every alcoholic 12:07 suffers from is denial. 12:09 We believe even as we're dying 12:11 that there's nothing wrong with us, 12:13 that alcohol is actually what's keeping us together 12:15 instead of what's killing us. 12:17 So my denial was so... 12:19 Is it fair to say that you lay blame on everybody else 12:23 and everything else? 12:24 Oh, absolutely, absolutely. 12:26 It's never our fault, 12:27 it's if you had my job, you drink too. 12:30 If you had my boss, if you had my wife, 12:32 if you had my conditions you, you, you would have to drink. 12:36 You know in our mind that's the only logical thing 12:38 and it's a form of insanity, there's no doubt. 12:42 The first step came 12:43 when I finally put the shovel down 12:45 so to speak, you know, 12:46 they have this thing in AA that says, 12:47 "You hit bottom when you stop digging." 12:50 I've dug a deep hole 12:52 and the sides have not caved in on me yet, 12:54 but it was only a matter of time, 12:57 I came into AA, I hadn't had a DUI, 12:59 I hadn't been in trouble with the police. 13:00 I hadn't lost a job and they said, "Yet." 13:03 Yeah. 13:04 You haven't had these things happen yet, 13:06 but I could connect the dots and I saw where it was going, 13:10 I saw where it was headed. 13:12 And it was not only headed for all those troubles, 13:14 it was headed for death, and when I was convinced 13:17 that I was going to die, if I didn't do something else, 13:21 then I reached out for help. 13:23 My particular step one experience came 13:25 after I had been dry for a few months 13:28 and I had one more drink. 13:30 And that led to a blackout. 13:33 And I came out of a blackout. 13:37 This is kind of not fun to talk about 13:39 but I was throwing up blood, copious amounts of blood, 13:43 and I thought I'm dying of esophageal hemorrhaging 13:46 or something I'm going to die. 13:48 And in the middle of that blackout, 13:49 which really you don't remember at all. 13:51 I had a period of time where I was stone cold sober 13:54 in my mind. 13:56 We call it a moment of clarity. I saw myself in the mirror. 14:00 The wreck of a human being I had become. 14:02 I had blood and vomit all over me. 14:04 It was just an awful sight, but it is, 14:07 it was as if I was stone cold sober 14:09 staring myself in the face, 14:11 and I cried out to God for help. 14:13 I said, "God help me. 14:15 Don't let me die like this, any other way God, 14:18 but please not like this." 14:19 The most sincere honest humble prayer of my life, 14:23 "God help me." 14:25 I believe that our Father in heaven 14:27 has a prayer that He cannot resist 14:29 and that is one of us saying God help me. 14:31 So recap what is step one? 14:35 Step one is we admitted 14:38 that we were powerless over alcohol 14:40 that our lives have become unmanageable. 14:42 Okay, so and that's a huge step because somebody... 14:46 Once again, I just want to say this 14:48 that being clean and sober, 14:50 quitting drinking for a period of time 14:52 is only one half of the first step 14:54 because if you don't get to that point 14:57 where you come out of denial. 14:58 I mean some people can be clean and sober and think, 15:01 "Hey, I'm handling this okay." 15:02 That's right. 15:03 But you got to get to that point 15:05 where you're out of denial, 15:07 and once you're out of denial and recognize you need help. 15:11 So you, you had that moment of clarity, 15:14 you reached out. 15:16 What was step two? 15:19 Well, after admitting that I could do nothing for myself, 15:24 which really is biblical as well. 15:26 You know, we cannot help ourselves, 15:27 we need a savior. 15:30 I came to a meeting 15:31 and I remember it was on step two. 15:33 And I read the step and I got really suspicious. 15:38 I thought, oh, oh, 15:40 they're going to talk about God, you know. 15:42 Step two is came to believe 15:44 that a power greater than ourselves 15:45 could restore us the sanity, and I thought, 15:48 you're not fooling me, you're talking about God, 15:50 I know you are even though it wasn't mentioned. 15:52 This is so interesting because, I know that the organization 15:57 if you will, the structure of AA is such that they don't 16:02 specifically call on Jesus Christ 16:04 because they want to welcome people 16:07 who are agnostics, people who are Hindus, 16:10 people who are Buddhists whatever. 16:13 But then what we talked about last time, 16:17 so many of these people doing that finding... 16:19 Absolutely. 16:20 The God, Jesus Christ as well, but here you called out on God. 16:24 Yes. 16:25 When you had that moment of clarity, 16:27 but now you're at a meeting 16:28 and it's you're putting the brakes on. 16:31 So was it because even though you came 16:35 from a sincere Christian family, 16:38 did you feel pressure to be "religious" or...? 16:43 None. 16:44 Never, so why do you have the breaks on? 16:47 Because I'm used to running the show. 16:50 Oh, oh. I was my own God. 16:52 As an alcoholic, every alcoholic feels like 16:55 they have to be in control 16:57 and to start believing in a God... 17:02 Well, for some people 17:03 it's the whole business of a personal God. 17:05 They have suffered horribly at the hands of others, 17:09 many times at the hands of Christians. 17:12 They have joined churches and been kicked out of churches 17:15 or rejected because they can't seem 17:17 to get their handle on alcoholism 17:20 and they feel worthless to start with, 17:23 and then of course, if it's reinforced by 17:25 even well meaning Christians 17:27 that say, "You know, you need to get this under control." 17:29 If I had any power to control my alcoholism, 17:32 I wouldn't need to go to church, 17:33 I wouldn't need God. 17:35 But I had to be beaten down to the point, 17:37 where I couldn't, I couldn't wiggle out of it. 17:40 I had to find a solution 17:41 because I could not live my life 17:43 one more day the way I was living. 17:45 Well, probably, you know, I have to just laugh 17:47 because you just got through saying, 17:49 step two was hard for you because now you're saying 17:52 that there is a power higher than you, 17:57 who will bring you out of your insanity 17:59 and you're sitting here saying 18:00 "Well, I like to be in control." 18:01 And I'm thinking that's hysterical 18:03 because you were totally out of control, 18:06 but you thought you were in control. 18:08 Anything you try to control is out of control already. 18:11 Okay, that's good. Okay. 18:13 Well, what happened was 18:14 that it wasn't a question of whether I believed in God. 18:17 The problem was I had tried God on my alcoholism 18:21 and they had failed me miserably. 18:22 I had been to church, even drunk before 18:26 many, many times hung over in church 18:29 begging and pleading for God for help 18:31 and the help never came. 18:33 The problem I found out later was because 18:35 I refused to humble myself. 18:36 I refused to say, "God, 18:38 You are the only way I'm going to get over this." 18:42 I thought I needed His help. 18:45 No, I needed to surrender and there's a big difference 18:49 between God help me and God help me do this. 18:54 You know when I said, "God help me. 18:56 Don't let me die like this." 18:57 I surrendered completely and that's when I got sober, 19:01 but now there was another step. 19:02 I came in believing there was God. 19:04 There was a God. 19:06 But I was sure that He did not believe in me. 19:08 Why? 19:09 Because how many times have I said, "God, 19:11 if you get me out of this mess, I will never drink again." 19:14 Could I possibly keep that promise? 19:16 Of course not. 19:17 You know, I was in the throes of alcoholism. 19:19 I did not understand 19:21 that every single area of my life 19:23 needs to be surrendered for me to stay sober. 19:26 I didn't realize how much I needed him, 19:28 I knew I needed Him, but not how much. 19:31 And that same day and at the end of the meeting 19:36 started talking to me 19:38 and somehow or another we got on this topic 19:40 of the second step and I said, "Well, you know, I just... 19:43 If this is how it's going to be, 19:45 I don't think I can do AA." 19:47 He says, "Why not?" 19:48 I said, "Well, I already have my beliefs about God." 19:52 He said, "That's not a problem. 19:53 We don't care what you believe or don't believe, 19:55 that's up to you." 19:56 And I said, "Well, I've tried church before 19:59 and it didn't work." 20:00 And he says, "Bobby, let me ask you a question. 20:02 Do you think that maybe somewhere along the way, 20:06 you might have gotten 20:07 the wrong impression about God." 20:10 And I said, "Oh, no, no, no you don't understand, 20:12 I was raised with the God of the New 20:13 and the Old Testament, I know all those stories. 20:16 I know God." 20:17 And there is my arrogance speaking, right? 20:19 He says, "Do you think 20:21 that your God would be too upset 20:23 if you chose to tell Him, 20:25 we're going to wipe the slate clean 20:27 and we're going to start over. 20:28 I'm putting everything I think I know about you out the door, 20:32 and I dare you to show me who you really are." 20:34 And I thought, of course he wouldn't be upset 20:37 but why would I do that. 20:38 I know who God is, I have godly parents. 20:41 I have been raised in a Christian home 20:43 and that arrogance was about to keep me stuck. 20:47 You had information about God, 20:49 you just didn't have relationship with God. 20:50 Exactly. 20:52 So what I did it out of desperation 20:54 not too many weeks later, 20:56 as I got on my knees and I said, "God, 21:00 please put aside everything I think I know about You, 21:04 and about AA, and about everything else in my life, 21:07 and about myself, 21:08 and please show me who You really are." 21:10 And that changed my life, because at that point 21:15 I started learning about Him from people in AA, 21:20 not people in my church, not my parents, 21:23 from people in AA that I barely knew. 21:25 What I learned from them was that they had 21:29 a childlike faith that I had never had. 21:32 They knew Him as their father that loved them, 21:36 that was patient, that was always forgiving. 21:40 That was not demanding perfection out of them 21:42 which is what I had somehow acquired 21:45 not from my parents by the way, 21:47 but from other well meaning Christians 21:49 so-called Christians in church 21:50 who had all the rules laid out for me 21:53 and if I failed on any of them, 21:54 I might as well just give up because it's all a failure. 21:57 I did not understand the concept of grace. 22:00 Not at all. 22:01 I found grace and mercy in AA. 22:05 People put up with me in my crazy thoughts, 22:08 in my crazy actions, my crazy words 22:10 and they loved me unconditionally, 22:11 they showed me who God was. 22:14 And from them I was finally able to say, 22:17 maybe I don't know everything about God. 22:19 And maybe we can build a different concept of God 22:23 which of course today is vastly different than the God 22:26 that I believed in at that point. 22:28 Bobby, I have to tell you something. 22:30 I just want to encourage everyone at home 22:33 who just heard this testimony. 22:35 Please listen to what he is saying, 22:37 because the Lord also reached me 22:39 and changed my life when he... 22:43 as I am deep in prayer to several hours every day, 22:47 and one day the Lord just impressed this thought 22:49 upon my mind. 22:51 He called me to full time ministry 22:53 but He impressed this thought upon my mind 22:55 he said, "Forget what you think you know, 22:57 come sit at my feet, I will teach you who I am, 23:01 I will teach you about Me." 23:03 And sometimes, even though we've had truths preached 23:09 or taught to us. 23:11 There are people who put a spin on those truths 23:15 and it leaves a wrong perception with us. 23:18 I didn't know a God of grace. 23:20 I mean I grew up in a completely different 23:23 denomination than I belong to now. 23:25 I had studied my way out of that 23:27 into non-denominational and it was God who, 23:31 when he told me forget what I thought 23:33 I know, He changed my perspective 23:37 of who He was. 23:39 I knew a lot about God, I felt 23:41 I had a relationship with Christ, 23:44 none with the Father, somewhat with the Holy Spirit. 23:48 But that is the beginning point for everyone 23:51 is to let God teach you keep going. 23:54 One of the strange things for me 23:56 and I know that most people 23:58 come to the Father through Jesus Christ. 24:01 I love Jesus but He loved me in a way that scared me. 24:05 Quite honestly, He terrified me. 24:08 If somebody loves me enough to die for me, 24:10 I'm scared of that. 24:12 In my alcoholism I was terrified of having 24:14 that personal relationship with Jesus. 24:16 And what I found is that 24:19 I could relate to my Heavenly Father 24:21 from what I was learning in AA 24:23 because I have a wonderful Christian father on this earth. 24:26 A humble man that loves me unconditionally 24:29 that is love me with as close to everlasting love 24:33 as you can imagine that I could handle. 24:36 And it was through that that I connected to God, 24:39 the Father, of course, believing in Jesus, 24:43 but still at arm's length. 24:44 And it took years actually 24:46 to be able to weigh Jesus Christ into my life 24:48 because I was truly terrified of what that looks like 24:52 to have somebody so close to you 24:54 that He was ready and willing and had given His life for me. 24:59 I don't know why that scared me but it did. 25:03 I had no problem connecting to God the Father, but I did, 25:07 I did have trouble connecting to Jesus 25:09 and that was something that the Holy Spirit 25:11 had to work with me on that Jesus had that woo me 25:13 and love me until I was ready to embrace Him. 25:17 I'd say for me it was just the opposite. 25:18 Exactly. 25:19 Because I never really had anyone 25:21 who really stood up for me, I felt her or not abandoned me. 25:24 But when it came to God the Father, 25:26 I was taught that he demanded perfection 25:28 and I saw Him as angry and judgmental 25:31 and I had such a crazy view. 25:35 You know Hebrews 1:3 was 25:37 what actually delivered me of that 25:38 when I realized that it says, 25:41 "That Jesus was the exact expression of his being." 25:45 And I thought wow, so God really help me. 25:48 It is just so fascinating to hear how even 25:55 when we were brought up in truths 25:56 or even if you're in the Bible. 25:58 We know as many different denominations as there are, 26:01 we know that people get different ideas 26:06 looking at the same material 26:07 that is so important to go scripture upon scripture, 26:11 precept upon precept which is what I love 26:15 about what you've shared with me 26:18 and we're getting to here, 26:20 is this program called "Alcoholics Anonymous" 26:24 is precept upon precept. 26:27 So you've gone through the first two steps here. 26:30 We're going to have to have you come back to do some more 26:32 'cause we're already out of time. 26:34 But the idea is precept upon precept that, 26:38 there are these stages, these 12 steps, 26:41 I should be going in this direction, 26:42 12 steps to recovery. 26:45 And even to the point of making restitution 26:49 and the accountability. 26:52 So this is something that we would, Bob, 26:55 I'd love to have you for many, many more programs, 26:58 because we'd also like to touch on Al-Anon 27:01 and how powerful the Al-Anon Family Groups are 27:07 for people who are living with alcoholics 27:10 or have an alcoholic in your life to learn 27:14 not to be an enabler, 27:16 to learn how to deal with it so good program. 27:20 Thank you for joining us. 27:22 For those of you at home, I pray if there's anyone 27:27 who is watching right now. 27:29 I pray that if this insanity of alcoholism 27:33 has a grip on you. 27:35 The Bible says, that God is righteous, 27:37 He will cut you free from the cords of the wicked 27:40 that bind you. 27:41 But you have to be like our dear brother Bob here, 27:46 who recognized that he was out of control, 27:51 recognized that it was something 27:54 that he couldn't handle. 27:56 And then got to the point where he realized 27:58 it was only by God's power, 28:01 God working in him to willing to do 28:04 that he could in fact let go and be healed. 28:09 Join us next time on Issues and Answers. |
Revised 2017-09-26