Latest / The Daily Ripples Podcast / April 5 – Among Not Above

Transcript

April 5 – Among Not Above · The Daily Ripples Podcast

• 0:02
  Hey everybody, this is the Daily Ripple and it's April the 5th, Among Not Above.
• 0:08
  The Stone.
• 0:09
  Isolation often hides behind ambition or withdrawal.
• 0:13
  I either try to rise above everyone or disappear beneath them.
• 0:17
  Both postures keep me from real connection.
• 0:20
  Ripple One Practical.
• 0:21
  Today I will choose to stand among others, not compete with them or retreat from them.
• 0:27
  I will listen more than I perform.
• 0:29
  I will serve without trying to dominate.
• 0:32
  I will allow myself to belong without needing it to impress.
• 0:37
  Ripple to spiritual.
• 0:38
  As I follow the example of Christ, who came not to be served, but to serve,
• 0:45
  the Holy Spirit forms humility and fellowship in me.
• 0:48
  True brotherhood grows when pride loosens and comparison fades.
• 0:53
  Over time, I learned that strength is not found at the top of the heap,
• 0:57
  but in shared life under the Father's care.
• 1:01
  I have a friend of mine I talk to quite a bit,
• 1:04
  Pastor Michael,
• 1:07
  and he'll call me with these problems
• 1:10
  and it's always everybody else.
• 1:12
  It's always everybody else.
• 1:16
  And, you know, it's so crazy, this pride thing,
• 1:20
  especially people that have kind of like-minded like us.
• 1:24
  And you can kind of go through,
• 1:25
  in the book of Alcox Anonymous, Bill Wilson, the guy that wrote it, the chapter one is his story.
• 1:32
  And you can see the pride level in him at the very depth of his bottoms. He still had that pride
• 1:39
  and ego. And, you know, I can be in a jail cell thinking about ways that, hey, I'm still up. I still
• 1:46
  got it. But, you know, when I hear people just completely ignore the fact that all they're doing
• 1:54
  is talking about other people.
• 1:56
  And it sucks because I know that
• 1:59
  that's kind of who I used to be.
• 2:02
  I don't even think I had the intelligence
• 2:04
  to have a conversation
• 2:05
  that was a building conversation.
• 2:08
  I thought it was an icebreaker
• 2:09
  just to talk crap about somebody, right?
• 2:12
  Right, right.
• 2:14
  And so, but what I've learned in this life
• 2:16
  is it's not about that.
• 2:18
  It's about love.
• 2:20
  How can I bring love into this?
• 2:23
  And what we talked about, we talk about this quite a bit right now we are, but it says both posture, it's at the end of the stone, both postures keep me from real connection.
• 2:34
  And that's been my whole life, right?
• 2:35
  I've had a problem making real connections with other people because I've always wanted something from them or they wanted something from me.
• 2:43
  Or, you know, that was the give and take of this relationship.
• 2:46
  Either I'm getting something from you or however this is going to work.
• 2:50
  But for some reason, I find in this same person,
• 2:53
  maybe he's had some problems connecting with people.
• 2:55
  And I hope he listens to this because it's very important.
• 2:59
  Because it talks about in this big book on page 164,
• 3:04
  and it's a promise.
• 3:05
  And so when I start giving my life freely to other people,
• 3:10
  I have found that God puts this fellowship around me
• 3:14
  of people like yourself, man.
• 3:16
  I love talking to you like, man, you're a friend of me today.
• 3:20
  Without the book study and without all these things, you know, that would have never happened.
• 3:24
  But it says on page 164 in the big book, it says, God will create the fellowship and crave.
• 3:33
  Where is it at, buddy?
• 3:38
  It says, God will determine that.
• 3:41
  So you must remember that real reliance is always upon him.
• 3:45
  He will show you how to create the fellowship you crave.
• 3:50
  And it's been through love.
• 3:52
  It's been through the service of others and loving people that God's created a fellowship around me.
• 3:58
  And we got to see that at the baby girl's birthday, right?
• 4:01
  And what a cool thing to watch because it's not out of me needing ever from anybody else.
• 4:09
  It's been about, and you too, right, about us giving to people.
• 4:13
  And then God creates this fellowship around us of a loving fellowship, not like a give and take or, you know, he's got a cool lake house, got to be friends with him kind of deal.
• 4:23
  You know, it's just a mutual thing where we get to hang out, talk, I can call you about my problems.
• 4:29
  You know, we were just talking before this thing started.
• 4:31
  You're like, hey, remember, I'm a clergy, right?
• 4:33
  So, like, you can tell me things if you need it.
• 4:36
  And I forget about that relationship because I just, you know, we're just friends.
• 4:39
  Exactly.
• 4:40
  Yeah.
• 4:41
  That's funny.
• 4:42
  And it got me to thinking about it.
• 4:42
  I'm glad that you mentioned and brought in about the baby girl's, you know, birthday that
• 4:47
  was fairly recently.
• 4:49
  And because I was thinking about as you were talking that, you know, some people listening
• 4:54
  may think, well, how, you know, how does Pastor Mike and Corey even know each other, right?
• 4:58
  Well, obviously we met in the rooms of recovery, but I actually met and probably spoke to your
• 5:04
  fiance, you know, with baby girl, you know, before you and I started developing this friendship,
• 5:10
  you know, kind of late last year, earlier this year kind of thing. But then once we connected
• 5:17
  and I started going to a book study that you were putting on, you know, on Wednesday nights here in
• 5:22
  the Memphis area that you were putting on with your sponsor, Bill, then, you know, I started to see kind
• 5:27
  of the knowledge and the drive, you know, behind the way that you kind of dive into the big book and
• 5:33
  kind of apply it in your life. And it was around the time, and it's totally a God thing, around the
• 5:38
  time when I started even writing the Daily Ripples, you know, when I was feeling the inspiration to
• 5:44
  start writing those. And then as we had multiple conversations is where, and that's why we are
• 5:49
  co-host and not host and co-host, by the way, because this was born out of you and I having a
• 5:56
  brief conversation about that we had both at various times in the past thought about doing
• 6:00
  a podcast about things related to either faith or recovery. And here we are today. But, you know,
• 6:06
  with all that being said, you know, I think about, you know, from this ripple in particular,
• 6:13
  you know, where it says in the practical one, I will choose to stand among others and not compete
• 6:18
  with them or retreat from them. And that is a choice. And we're not going to go down the whole
• 6:23
  rabbit hole about whether we have a choice today or not. Again, we've covered that already, Corey,
• 6:27
  so calm down. But, you know, and it's in how I interact with others, you know, and I think about
• 6:36
  Now, you know, in the Gospel of Mark, in the 10th chapter, and this is beginning in verse 43,
• 6:44
  and it said, you know, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever
• 6:49
  wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to
• 6:55
  serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. And that, if we're being honest, that is hard.
• 7:04
  It is hard to lay aside my life, my will, my desires, my needs for somebody else.
• 7:13
  It's hard to do that for people that sometimes I don't even like.
• 7:17
  But that's what, I mean, that's what Jesus calls me to do.
• 7:20
  That's what all of the Gospels calls me to do.
• 7:22
  Throughout the Gospel, it says things like, no greater love has any man than this to lay
• 7:26
  down his life for his friends.
• 7:28
  And throughout the Gospels, it says that we're to take up our cross and follow him.
• 7:33
  That means that this life is a life of sacrificial love.
• 7:36
  It is a life where we sacrifice our own needs, our own desires for somebody else.
• 7:42
  If I'm worried about my own needs and my own desires, then I am doing what the stone said.
• 7:48
  I'm trying to rise above everybody.
• 7:50
  And then when that doesn't work and I feel the shame or the humiliation, then I'm trying
• 7:55
  to disappear beneath everybody, right?
• 7:57
  But both of those are two sides of ego.
• 7:59
  And humility calls me to just not worry about any of that crap and just worry about, am I trying to be of service?
• 8:07
  You know, am I trying to serve my fellow human being without looking for applause, just being one of the crowd?
• 8:15
  One of my first, well, my first real sponsor was a gentleman who's gone on now as well.
• 8:20
  He passed away in the early days of COVID-19 back in March of 2020.
• 8:25
  But he was a gentleman whose name was Steve Davis.
• 8:28
  And he always said that he was just another bozo on the bus.
• 8:33
  In other words, he was just one of the crowd in recovery.
• 8:36
  And that's definitely one thing that I still strive for even to this day.
• 8:40
  So, you know, we were, man, you know, we were, I mean, because, you know, we talk about this and how it works, right?
• 8:47
  What we used to be like and what it's like now.
• 8:51
  And who I used to be like was this.
• 8:55
  And maybe some of your audience will understand this.
• 8:57
  Maybe not.
• 8:58
  It's okay.
• 8:59
  But because drugs were a part of my deal, too.
• 9:03
  And I like the cocaine.
• 9:06
  And, you know, cocaine's an upper, right?
• 9:07
  The nose candy.
• 9:09
  So I would talk badly about the people that smoked weed, you know, because, man, they're lazy, right?
• 9:16
  Yeah.
• 9:16
  And so, you know, but that's how, because I can't even judge to that degree.
• 9:22
  But it takes me back to the same Matthew chapter 7, first verse.
• 9:28
  It says, do not judge or you too will be judged.
• 9:32
  For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged.
• 9:36
  And with that measure you use, it will be measured to you.
• 9:40
  And that's strong to me, right?
• 9:42
  Because my whole life I've judged and judged and judged.
• 9:45
  But when we talk of intolerance, well, we were intolerant ourselves, right?
• 9:50
  I judge the people.
• 9:51
  We talked about this before.
• 9:52
  I judge the people in the church because you've got a couple bad apples,
• 9:56
  or maybe they're not even bad apples,
• 9:58
  but I don't even have the discipline to even make it to church,
• 10:00
  and I'm judging them.
• 10:03
  But, you know, I think when we come closer and closer,
• 10:06
  because in the big book of Alcoholics Anonymous, it says we are blocked.
• 10:10
  And when I become unblocked from this source of power
• 10:13
  and become closer to that, I become more awake, right?
• 10:16
  more weight to what God has done and is doing throughout my life day to day.
• 10:21
  And that's the beautiful thing, right, to me.
• 10:23
  Yeah, absolutely.
• 10:25
  And I think that when we're playing the comparison game where we're either trying to be above everybody
• 10:34
  or we feel as though based upon shame that we're beneath everybody,
• 10:39
  then we're too busy looking to the side, looking to either side of us,
• 10:43
  instead of looking at what is the need right in front of us.
• 10:46
  And if we're looking ahead, because our vision, our life, our heart and soul are grounded,
• 10:51
  you know, in our faith and in our higher power, if we're looking ahead, then we can see, you
• 10:56
  know, the need that's right in front of us and we can be of service in that way.
• 11:00
  And I'm glad that there were people in my life and in my past who saw the need in front of
• 11:07
  them when I showed up in my time of deepest need, you know, whenever I was at my rock bottom
• 11:12
  and I needed a solution, you know, for that.
• 11:15
  And I needed guidance and I needed wisdom
• 11:17
  that I just didn't have those 13 years ago.
• 11:20
  And I'm just so thankful today
• 11:23
  that there were people there that had my back,
• 11:25
  you know, when I couldn't even feel like
• 11:27
  I could stand up off the ground myself.
• 11:29
  Well, are you ready to end this, buddy?
• 11:31
  Yes, sir.
• 11:33
  I'm going to end it with a verse as well.
• 11:35
  So it is Matthew 6, verse 34.
• 11:41
  It says, therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.
• 11:46
  Each day has enough trouble of its own.
• 11:49
  And so the prayer is, Father, free me from pride and isolation.
• 11:54
  Shape me through the example of your Son and build in me a heart that values connection, humility, and true fellowship.
• 12:01
  Amen.
• 12:01
  Amen.
• 12:02
  Amen.