On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther – an obscure Augustinian monk – nailed a document protesting the teachings and practices of the Church to the main door of Castle Church in Wittenberg. His actions sparked the flames of the Protestant Reformation. In 1939, Nicholas Winton – an ordinary 39-year-old stockbroker from London – managed to…
Before we begin, for the sake of transparency, let me say that I’m from Texas and will always consider myself a proud Texan. Maybe that’s why I can recognize the wisdom of these laws that are still on the books in Texas. For the first 55 years of my life, I lived in Texas. Today,…
“The end of the matter is better than its beginning” (Ecclesiastes 7:8). The Book of Exodus gives us the account of God’s children making their way from Egypt to the Promised Land. Had they taken the most direct route, it would have been a 200-mile trek. But God led them on the long route, which…
One of the great threats to our sobriety is the comparison trap. We want to be like someone else. But the truth is, God created you just right, in order to do the things no one else can do. Catherine of Siena said, “Be who God meant for you to be and you will set…
Setting goals is not the problem. The problem is setting the right goals, and then sticking with them. Make no mistake. God wants you to set goals and he wants you to be successful. We read, “May God give you the desire of your heart and make your plans succeed” (Psalm 20:4). So why do…
The secret sauce of recovery is community. You cannot find recovery without it. You were made for community. To try to stay sober on your own is to mock the God who said to “be perfectly united [with others] in mind and thought” (1 Corinthians 1:10). Daniel Siegel wrote, in Aware, “Relationships are not icing…
“Some of you chaps should go home and take naps.” – Dr. Seuss There are five primary triggers that make us want to act out. You can remember them with the acronym “B.L.A.S.T.” We tend to relapse when we are . . . Let’s talk about that last one – tired. One of the worst…
Psalm 137:2 “There on the willows we hung our harps.” The children of God had passed from the uttermost to the gutter most. Once proud inhabitants of the land that flowed with milk and honey, they were now enslaved in the land of Babylon. Their response was understandable: “By the rivers of Babylon we sat…
Life is short. Let me give you just a few examples. Why do I share these horrifying stories? Because I want to reinforce the fact that life is fragile and life is short. So what’s my point? My point is that each of us would be wise to measure the state of our sobriety, recovery,…
A 2020 study of 184 participants found that we have an average of 6,000 thoughts per day. Other studies take this number to 60,000 or 70,000. Another study found that 80 percent of our daily thoughts are negative. Our minds tend to run to the worst case scenario. We are consumed with thoughts about all…