What if I told you ... would you believe it? How could you? How many times do we hear in the Rooms about lives that are second to none, lives worth celebrating, when, at one time, all was lost? Do we believe them? Have we ever heard the converse? Of course not. Rarely have we seen a person fail ... So why are we so stubborn, why don't we believe? We need to see for ourselves, and we few, we proud few who are lucky enough to stick around until the miracle happens, well, we truly "came to believe."

LUCKY SEVEN. Today marks seven years of continuous, uninterrupted sobriety. On Father’s Day 2015, I wrote a letter to God petitioning Him, begging Him to save me. I needed an angel, in a bad way. My Higher Power didn’t send me one angel, He sent me a program of angels in the earthly form of a group of drunks just trying to stay sober and stay alive called Alcoholics Anonymous.

The Judgment of Paris: Discordia throws the golden apple into the banquet (to which she was not invited), and the rest, as they say is history. Unprecedented carnage, an Odyssey, the fall of Troy, death of Gods and Mortals alike, a stolen bride, and of course, the death of Paris himself. All because of one bad apple. Like the Waylon Jennings song goes, "there's one in every crowd, for cryin' out loud, why was it always turning out to be me?"

Why indeed?

Recovery and the Twelve Steps are both living breathing organisms, institutions, theories, and principles, but they are solid and fundamental at the same time. That is the beauty and the mystery of our Program.

This episode begins our study of the work The Homely Virtues, focusing on the Prelude or "Introductory," called "Ordinary People," and the intersection with programs of recovery.  I find it fascinating that a book that predates the 12 & 12 by almost fifty years or more could so eloquently and exactly mirror the last paragraphs in Step 12 of that seminal work.  My Disease "wants" me to think I am special, wants me to constantly compare myself to others in an effort to be "extraordinary."  My Higher Power wants me to have profound happiness, found only when I rest easy knowing that I have done my duty, held that small patch of ground in a sensible, responsible, "ordinary" way.

This episode focuses on my journey over the past twelve months, why I stopped podcasting for a bit, and how I stayed sober and strengthened my program of recovery and serenity through the global pandemic.