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June 14 - Steady in the Storm · The Daily Ripples Podcast

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  Hey guys this is the daily ripples this is cory we got passion mike as the co-host,
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  i'm reading it um june 14th study of the storm the stone life will life will
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  not always be smooth strength is revealed not in calm moments but in how i respond
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  when everything feels uncertain,
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  Ripple 1 practical Today I will not let difficulty overwhelm me,
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  I will take things one step at a time and focus on what I can control,
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  When pressure builds, I will rely on what I have learned instead of reacting in panic,
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  Ripple 2 spiritual Christ never promised an easy path But he showed how to walk
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  through hardship with trust As I lean on the Father, the Holy Spirit gives strength
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  to endure and clarity to move forward,
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  over time I learned that I'm not alone in the storm,
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  I can remain steady even when life is not and you had a lot of good stuff in here,
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  you know when I first think when I first was reading this earlier you know I
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  was thinking about page 53 to where it talks about you know God is either everything or he is nothing.
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  And you know today I found out he is everything and so when I'm in these parts
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  of I think about storm when I'm reading this you know call moments and when I'm in the storm,
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  you know, is God in that?
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  What's all, like, you know, and God's been in it so far, and it's been great.
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  You know, the outcome's always been better than I've ever been able to believe,
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  you know, when I'm living this life.
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  So, you know, and if I can trust in that and remain calm and.
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  I used to, when I was, man, I used to be crazy. I mean, I still am a little
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  crazy, but when I was first coming to end this deal, right, my sponsor,
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  Doug, man, he had his hands full with me.
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  I mean, you know, because my head was going crazy. I'd never felt all these feelings.
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  He was constantly telling me, like, go on a walk, Corey. And I was like,
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  I want to go on a walk, Doug.
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  But anyways, he would tell me, like, you know, take a piece of paper out,
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  write your thoughts in it, fold it up, put it in your dresser,
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  let your dresser deal with these thoughts for tonight and don't call me.
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  And, but you know, what he would all, like what I started doing,
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  cause I was so crazy, man, is, you know, that there's a principle behind each of the steps, right?
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  And I don't know who came up with it, but anyways, so as I was walking,
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  I would go honesty, hope, faith, courage, integrity, willingness,
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  humility, brotherly love, justice, perseverance, of spirituality and service.
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  I would say that in my head every step.
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  And like, I'll find today, I'll still do that just out of habit.
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  But I'll start thinking like, you know, the word hope comes up in my head.
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  The word faith comes up in my head. The word perseverance came up in my head
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  today. You know, I had some things going on and man, you know,
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  those little bitty things, it's a form of meditation. That's what it is.
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  But, you know, it puts my head in a place of ease and comfort during those times
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  of my storms. What do you think?
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  Well, I think it's pretty amazing how you just rattled off the 12,
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  you know, spiritual principles behind the 12 steps like they were nothing right there.
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  And just for those who were listening and didn't pick up on that,
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  that's exactly what Corey was just doing.
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  Each of the steps and the traditions is associated with the spiritual principle
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  or value. And those were the words that you were saying that you recite.
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  You know, it took me to about step 10 of your recitation there to figure out
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  what you were doing, just to...
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  Just to catch everybody up. But that was pretty impressive. I got to say,
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  I got to give you props on that.
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  But that's exactly what, you know, the point of this is, is that,
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  you know, what you're, what you're talking about is the fact that,
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  you know, this recovery program, it gives us tools to use.
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  But how do we use those tools, you know, in a moment of, you know,
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  crisis or, you know, when things get tough and, you know, as, as,
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  reading through this one again and, you know, hearing you share and talk about
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  a little bit, it kind of reminds me of,
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  I had an experience back, it was probably a year and a half ago, or maybe two years ago.
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  I was working for, you know, the city of Lakeland, one of the places where I used to work.
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  And we had my executive administrative assistant was going through some health
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  issues and what have you. And there was one day that I was in,
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  I was in a meeting with some other, you know, my staff and what have you.
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  And all of a sudden, I heard somebody calling out my name from the hallway,
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  like, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael.
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  And so I went out there to see what was going on. I said, yeah,
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  I'm here. What's going on?
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  Well, they said that this young lady, you know, my administrative assistant
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  had passed out in the boardroom.
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  And so I didn't freak out. You know, I didn't start yelling or going,
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  oh my gosh, what are we going to do? You know, kind of thing.
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  Because the tools that I had available through training through experience had
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  taught me that a couple of things need to happen. You know, number one,
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  you don't want to move somebody that passed out because you don't know what might be hurt.
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  Number two, you know, I had been, you know, CPR trained and what have you.
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  And so, and, but the first thing that I did was I asked the young lady,
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  I said, well, while you were yelling at me, have you bothered to call 911 yet?
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  And she had not because she, you know, freaked out.
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  And so she did that. And I said, and bring me the AED, you know,
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  the automatic external defibrillator, and let's find out what's going on here. Well.
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  But my point being that in those times of crisis, just like when something happens
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  in our life, we're either the person running down the hall yelling or we're
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  the person calling 911 and trying to find the AED.
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  And the difference is, have we taken in and have we learned from and used the
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  tools that we have, you know, at our disposal?
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  Because as, you know, page 15 of the big book says, you know,
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  it is a design for living that works in rough going, it says.
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  You know, it's not, it does have steps, of course, but the steps are part of
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  the broader design and how we live this way of life.
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  And it gives us the power to react in life, you know, no matter what comes up,
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  to react out of faith instead of reacting out of fear.
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  Because reacting out of fear is, I mean, that's how I got in all my trouble to begin with.
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  You know, I think it's cool. I don't know, man. And it's cool sitting here with
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  you the last couple episodes we've sat because you have been reciting out of
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  the big book. You have been talking. And it is it's a cool thing to watch.
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  But, you know, I like how you put, and I know that's talking about God here,
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  but, you know, it says, over time I learned that I'm not alone in the storm.
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  You know, I think about that, you know, because, you know, it's kind of like
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  AA, right? Or it's kind of like the recovery rooms. And, you know,
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  on page 17, it says, we're like.
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  Passengers of a great liner the moment the after rescue from shipwreck.
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  Well, camaraderie, joyousness, and democracy pervade the vessel from stairs to captain's table.
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  Unlike the feeling of the ship's passengers however our joint escape from disaster
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  does not subside as we go our individual ways.
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  That feeling of having shared in common peril common peril is common problem and is the one element,
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  in the powerful cement which binds us and that's talking about it's one element
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  in the powerful cement it's not both elements yet but then it goes but that
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  in itself would never hold us together for we are now joined and that's kind
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  of like a, that's kind of like a warning, right?
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  But that in itself would not hold it together. Yeah, yeah. Need something else.
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  Then it goes on to say the tremendous fact for every one of us is that we have
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  had a, we have discovered a common solution. So common problem, common solution.
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  And we've talked about it before, but on page 75, it talks about,
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  you know, did we try to make mortar without sand?
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  And that's what it's talking about. So what, you know, and I think it's,
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  you know, I, man, And I'll get a rant about the big book and,
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  you know, this and that and everything else.
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  But, you know, I think it's an amazing deal, this fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous,
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  to be able to come together, to have a place where everybody,
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  you know, most people understand me.
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  Not everybody, but most people in that room, they've been where I've been.
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  And to have a place where I can do that and to be able to help somebody.
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  And the whole, you know, the whole deal of it, because, you know,
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  I'll get, you know, I find myself sometimes, you know, I'll go on these, you know.
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  Well, I, you know, that there, you got the triangle, right? Yeah.
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  You got the recovery part, you got the unity part and you got the service.
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  Yeah. So I'll go, I'll go really hard on the recovery end. And that,
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  to me, that was the book, big book of Alcoholics and Autism program.
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  And, you know, but I'll find myself in other places, you know,
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  I'll be really hard on the service. You know, I got service commitments, this and this and this.
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  Then I'll find myself, you know, in the fellowship, but you know,
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  when it's all, and you've heard this before, but the three-legged stool, right?
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  You know, you can have, if you got three legs planted, which I do,
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  I have a service position.
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  I have unity within the deal, and I work a program of recovery.
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  But, you know, man, I've not done that, too. And I've been on two,
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  I've been on two boy stools.
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  I've been on one, just barely. Trow, keep your balance. And,
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  you know, some people can do that for a long time. Go into an intergroup business
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  meeting or go into a business meeting. You'll see a lot of that.
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  But, you know, I mean, people, you know, and that's another thing that this
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  was talking about, right?
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  I thought about basketball because I thought about pivoting.
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  You know, it was like when pressure builds, I will, what does it say?
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  I will not let, that's just what I kind of got out of it. But,
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  you know, I will not let difficulty overwhelm me. I will take things one step
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  at a time because things are going to come.
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  And I talk about it to dudes I talk to, like, you know, pivoting.
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  You know, are you good at pivoting? Because you're going to pivot a lot in this
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  life. You know what I mean? It's, you know, I got to pivot and I got it,
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  but am I going to fight the pivot or am I just going to do it smoothly?
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  And that's where it goes into, you know, life will not always be smooth,
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  but am I going to move smoothly? Am I going to fight life? Am I going to fight people?
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  Am I going to embrace them? And I'll, I try to embrace them,
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  but I don't do perfect that.
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  Yeah. And the recovery, unity and service side of that triangle,
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  you know, the three-legged stool that you mentioned about.
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  You know, the recovery or the forgiveness or the salvation, you know.
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  I'm trying to relate those concepts to, you know, our Christian life of faith, right?
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  And so recovery, I would equate that to our salvation, you know,
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  that and the unity, you know, is obviously unity is the body of Christ.
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  You know, the Bible talks about that a lot.
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  And the Bible has a lot to say about how we're to be of service to others and help them as well.
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  But the reason why this whole thing works and why the recovery program works, why the 12 steps work,
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  is because they are a method and a mechanism by which we develop,
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  maintain, and grow our conscious contact with God, with our higher power.
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  Because without God, I couldn't do this on my own.
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  I wouldn't have the strength. I wouldn't have the endurance.
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  I wouldn't have the will or the drive, you know, to do all these things.
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  And that the three-legged stool is what keeps me steady, you know,
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  whether it's in my life of faith of whether it's in recovery, because
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  if I'm only trying to rest on two of those, then I'm not going to be steady
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  and it's going to fall over eventually, much less, good Lord,
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  if I try to get down to just one, you know, of those of those legs.
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  And I see that happening so many times, both in the rooms of recovery and in
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  rooms of faith that you brought up about the, if you want to see that in action,
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  just go to a business meeting of a group.
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  Last business meeting I was at, there was somebody in there yelling a name call
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  so much, I thought I was in a church council meeting for a second. But anyway, I digress.
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  No, I've not had that dynamic at a church council meeting, but it reminds me
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  to bring it back to scripture, you know, for today.
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  I don't know if either of us have thrown out a scripture. We've been too busy
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  quoting big book passages back and forth. But John 16 and verse 33,
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  you know, Jesus says, in this world, you will have trouble, but take heart.
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  I have overcome the world.
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  So, and that's a good reminder to me that no matter what fears pop up,
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  no matter what storms arise. Yeah.
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  My God is the God who calms the waves, stops the winds, and steadies the storms.
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  And my God is the God who is always with me, no matter where I go,
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  no matter what storms may provide as well. So if God is for us,
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  who can be against us, as we like to say?
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  Well, you know, in the church, it also gives...
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  I would look at it like this, and I imagine you would look at it like this,
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  too, because, like, you know, the baseline without the church, right?
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  There's no Bible. Is there a church? And I don't know. But, you know,
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  so, you know, to me, that's kind of like the Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, right?
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  So you have the Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, and you have the Bible.
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  And I'm not trying to relate it to the church, but I am.
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  Because I talk to a lot of dudes that are like, you know, I'm just going to go to church.
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  Like, you know, right when they first get sober, too. Yeah. And this becomes
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  a thing where, you know, they, because they hear about God and they're like,
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  I'm going to go straight to the source.
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  Forget this AA thing. And, you know, because I like to go the easier,
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  softer way anyways. Yeah, sure. The book talks about that.
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  So I, but, you know, so I talked to a lot of dudes about this conversation right
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  here. And, you know, so I see in the church, you can have fellowship.
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  So you got unity and you have service. You can be of service throughout you
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  all sorts of things. So you have those three parts.
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  But the one thing that it's missing, and I see this as the factor,
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  is that alcohol is just a sin.
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  It's not an illness. And if I looked at it, because that's why I think the doctor's
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  opinion in the book is so important, because if it was just I was a sinner,
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  God will take away my sins and all that stuff, right?
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  Well, yeah, church sounds great, but, you know, to alcohol in the way the book
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  describes and, you know, from modern medicine, alcohol is an illness.
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  It is a disease. And so if I forget that, so if I forget that part, right.
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  Yeah. And I've seen dudes do it, man. They forget that they're even an alcoholic
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  because they, you know, they're so in the big church in the church.
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  And I think church gives you everything besides that one piece.
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  And that's interesting to me. Well, and it's also interesting that you bring that up because.
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  Alcohol in and of itself is not a sin, even from a biblical perspective,
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  because if it were, why is Jesus turning water into wine?
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  But anyway, he who is without sin would not obviously encourage the sin.
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  Now, it does make clear in the Bible that drunkenness reclassifies as sin.
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  Overindulging. Exactly. Overindulging, what have you.
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  But at the same time, it's so funny how people who don't study and get the full
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  message of the Bible will proof text things out and use them to support their
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  own point of view of things, as people do with the big book, too.
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  But one of those things is related to, you know, even the concept of sin,
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  because many modern people always assume that if you sin, it's something that
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  you intentionally did on purpose, knowing the consequence and knowing that it was wrong.
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  Versus if you go back and study, especially into the Old Testament,
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  when they started developing those 613 rules and regulations of the faith.
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  People were sinning left and right without even realizing it.
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  You know, so they were constantly living under, living under the law.
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  You know, they were constantly living under the weight of sin.
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  And it wasn't anything always that they did something to earn it.
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  I mean, there's even a concept of people were being punished,
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  you know, by God because of the sins of their father or their father,
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  you know, things of that nature.
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  And I'm glad that, you know, Jesus came and taught us that, no,
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  God actually operates more on the plane of grace and forgiveness and mercy than
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  on holding people to the letter of a lot of laws that we created to kind of regulate ourselves.
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  But anyway, that may or may not have related to what you just said.
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  No, no, I think it did. But, you know, I think the one piece,
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  and I'll finish it. But, you know, the one piece I give people advice with with
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  this, and we've gone way off topic. Yeah, we're getting back at it.
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  We'll go back at it. But it's all about being steady.
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  But I do give guys this advice, and I believe this. And, you know,
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  I always ask them, like, have you ever had any credit card debt?
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  And there's a lot of people around that we hang out with do.
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  Oh, I'm sure. And I'll be like, right? So I'll be like, so if you got five credit
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  cards, right, and you got to pay, you want to get your debt off,
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  do you pay one of them at a time or do you pay the minimum balance on each of them?
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  Yeah. And, you know, and they're like, well, I say you pay one off at a time
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  because if you're paying the minimum balance on all five, you're never going to pay one off.
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  And, you know, so I kind of relate that to what's coming into the program, right?
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  Let's not, because I think it's crazy, you know, and man, we might get some
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  bad emails from this, but it's okay.
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  But, you know, people are like, you know, man, I'm going to go do this.
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  I'm going to go do this. I'm going to go to this anonymous, this anonymous,
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  this anonymous, this church. Yeah. And then I'm going to go to this thing over here.
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  And, you know, I feel like, you know, when I do stuff in my life and I do it
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  to the fullest ability, I get results from that.
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  But when I just do it halfway, I don't really get anything, and I'm just,
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  you know, kind of dancing around it all.
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  But anyways. Well, that's probably because half measure's veiled us nothing. Right. Nothing.
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  That's the important piece about nothing. Anyways, here's the prayer.
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  Father, steady me in difficult times.
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  Through your Spirit, give me strength, clarity, and peace as I walk through
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  challenges, following the example of your Son. Amen. Amen.