Be creative with your recovery. Have you ever considered that before? I have embraced the basics of recovery for years, checking every box. Go to meetings? Check. Work the steps? Check. Get a sponsor? Check. Become a sponsor? Check. Pray daily? Check. Make calls? Check. But it can become easy to fall into a rut.…
I share the same birthday with one of baseball’s all-time colorful players – 50 years apart. Dizzy Dean played 13 seasons of Big League ball, with a WW2 mixed in. A four-time all-star, World Series champion, and league MVP, Dean amassed 150 wins to go along with a career ERA of just 3.02. But it…
It happened on this date in 1964. The British Invasion continued on the Ed Sullivan Show. Following the appearance of the more clean-cut Beatles, the Rolling Stones showed up. Their loud music, heavy beat, and anti-establishment look certainly caught poor Ed off guard. They were not what he was expecting. Life is full of false…
Faith is an indispensable element of successful recovery. Corrie ten Boom said this about faith: “Faith sees the invisible, believes the unbelievable, and receives the impossible.” And Jesus promised, “Whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you ask in faith” (Matthew 21:22). The role of faith in recovery has now been recognized by…
A young boy went into a grocery store and asked for laundry detergent. The grocer asked, “Is this for your clothes?” “No,” said the boy. “It’s for my dog.” The grocer said, “This stuff isn’t made for dogs. It could kill him.” The boy took the detergent anyway. A few days later, he returned to…
A close friend runs the emergency room at a Midwest hospital. He recently told me about a 91-year-old man who came to the ER, not because he was sick, but because his wife was out of town. He didn’t want to spend the weekend alone. Imagine that – a man who would rather spend the…
Let’s talk about secrets. Oswald Chambers wrote, “We are only what we are in the dark; all the rest is reputation.” Dr. Grant Brenner writes about the effects of secrets on our well-being. “Secrecy reduces well-being, while sharing can increase satisfaction. Keeping secrets takes work and is fatiguing. Secrets make us lonely and sad. They…
Before Jesus taught us what to pray, he taught us how to pray. Jesus said, “When you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly” (Matthew 6:6). Let me highlight…
Addicts are funny. We have mastered the science of justification for just about any behavior. Our middle circle behaviors are written mostly in pencil, not ink. And it’s true – there are things we can “get away with” that don’t break our sobriety. They are acceptable. But not smart. G.K. Chesterton said, “We do not…
We choose people based on what they have already done. That’s true with the NFL draft, job openings, and marriage proposals. We don’t hire potential. Imagine a senior pastor telling his leadership team he has found the perfect student pastor. He describes the candidate thusly: “This young man is bright, has great leadership traits, and…