You turn off of highway 77 and start down that road. If you've never been here before, you'd think that you were going to edge of the earth. As you come around the bend in the road.....there it is, the cross. Illuminated and at the edge of the pond, it's reflection stretches out across the water.
Time and time again I hear the men speak of what a comfort it is to see that cross after being gone for the weekend on pass. It is a welcoming symbol that lets you know that you are entering a safe place...a place where you can rest. It is a "welcome home".
I've kind of been stuck in STEP # 2 and, in fact, was going to teach on it this past Saturday night before I had the flare up of physical ailments. Even though I wasn't able to teach, I'm holding on the message and hope to give it next Saturday (Sept. 22).
You may be asking, "What is Step #2?" It states that we've "Come to believe in a Power greater than ourselves who could restore us to sanity."
Of course to make such a statement, there has to be some truth that you run into.
1.) to be restored to sanity, you must admit that you've been living with insane thinking. The funny part about addiction is that your insane thinking usually comes when your sober, not when you're using. The insanity is that given the awareness of the destruction that using is bringing to your life, you still do it. If that isn't insane thinking, I don't know what is.
2.) The evidence or proof in my life that I need to be restored should cause me to look beyond my own abilities for help. As I tell the guys in the program...."Your best thinking has got you sitting in yellow chairs at white folding tables."
The idea of "Coming to believe" is more than a mental ascent. It is a conviction by God's Holy Spirit of my sin...my destruction...my selfishness and the fact that if I am not changed, I will die in this state and face an eternal separation from God. I cannot save myself from such a fate, I am in need of a Power greater than myself to accomplish such a feat. That Power has a name and that name is Jesus Christ! Hate Him, love Him, believe in Him or don't believe in Him, no matter....truth is truth. Jesus is the Power and the only Power that is capable of setting me free from sin/addiction.
John 14:6 - Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through Me."
Isn't that a wild statement? Are you looking for a way out of not just addiction but sin? Jesus says that He is the way. He didn't say that He was 'A" way or one of many ways....
That Jesus...you gotta love Him. He says unequivocally "I----AM-----THE----Way!
If you're looking for Power that you lack to walk out recovery....Look to Jesus.
I rest in this understanding that no matter what comes my way today...
no matter what situation I may face....
no matter what circumstance I may find myself in....
Jesus will be there. Not as some unconcerned bystander, but as Lord and Savior over my life.
Jesus, being the way, will lead me into all truth and from there, I will find real life.
May you find Him today...
God on you....
mb
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