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June 9 – Living This Day · The Daily Ripples Podcast

• 0:04
  Welcome back, everybody, to the Daily Ripples podcast.
• 0:07
  Today is June the 9th, and our devotional today is titled Living This Day.
• 0:12
  But speaking of living this day, Corey, I got to say, I would not be living this day
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  if it were not for my mother.
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  And today is my mother's birthday.
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  So happy birthday, Mom, on June the 9th.
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  Happy birthday, Mom.
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  Yeah, absolutely.
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  Happy birthday?
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  Want to do what?
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  Do you want to sing her happy birthday?
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  Are you volunteering to sing?
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  No, you're just going to have to call her and sing her happy birthday.
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  I am going to have to call her.
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  But I wonder, though, whenever you think of the happy birthday song,
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  Corey, do you think of the traditional one or do you think of the hip-hop version?
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  I haven't heard the hip-hop one.
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  You haven't heard that?
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  Well, I mean, obviously, I'm somewhat, I have one foot in the culture here.
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  And so I know that the cool version is happy birthday to you.
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  Happy birthday.
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  Happy birthday to you.
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  You know that one?
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  No.
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  That's kind of the hip hop or the cool version.
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  It's not just the ABC song with happy birthday attached to it.
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  But anyway.
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  Yeah.
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  Yeah.
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  But we digress.
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  Today's daily devotional is titled Living This Day.
• 1:24
  The Stone.
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  Peace is found in the present.
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  When I focus too far ahead or dwell too long behind, I lose the clarity and strength available today.
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  Ripple 1, practical.
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  Today I will give my attention to what is in front of me.
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  I will not rush ahead or carry yesterday's weight.
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  I will handle what this day brings one step at a time with patience and care.
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  Ripple 2, spiritual.
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  Jesus taught us to trust the Father for today.
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  As I follow Him, the Holy Spirit anchors me in the present moment.
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  Life unfolds in its proper time, and as I release control and accept each stage,
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  I begin to experience a deeper sense of peace.
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  And as always, we'll save our prayer for the end.
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  Thinking about this one today, Corey, I think about, you know,
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  when I focus too far ahead or dwell too long behind, you know,
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  I lose the clarity and strength available today.
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  And that, of course, is tied directly into our, you know, recovery principle, AA principle, 12-step principle, whatever you want to call it, of taking everything one day at a time.
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  You know, and that principle of one day at a time has been important to me in my life of recovery because especially early on, you know, I came into this program, you know, 13 plus years ago.
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  and I had my, well, lots of aspects of my life were falling apart. You know, I was having financial
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  struggles, you know, I was in separation, going through a divorce, trying to figure all that out.
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  I was paying a mortgage on the family home as well as paying rent for where I was currently living.
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  So I didn't have any money ever any time. And so, you know, and all of those worries were happening.
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  And then I come into the program and they would tell me, well, you just got to take it one day at a time, which was extremely unhelpful to me at the time because I, of course, was sitting here thinking about all the financial troubles that I had, especially, you know, and they were weighing me down.
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  And people kept telling me, well, what can you do to fix that today?
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  And nine times out of 10, there wasn't anything specific I could do to fix that that day other
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  than, you know, watching and controlling my spending, you know, trying to be a good steward
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  of the financial gifts that I had.
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  But that I never was homeless during those months and years early in recovery.
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  I never got put out.
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  I ended up having to kind of swallow the pride and go through a couple of the chapters as they were in our legal and financial system.
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  You got your standard chapter sevens and chapter 13s, and so it was kind of a take your pick of which chapter you want.
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  And I had to go through the leveling of pride that was involved in going through that whole thing,
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  which with my former life of being a certified public accountant was a little bit shame-inducing at the time.
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  But at the time, I kept thinking about, and I kept being reminded and coming back to in Exodus, you know, in the Old Testament, you know, Exodus 16.
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  And that's where, you know, God promised, and then he did, said, I will rain down bread from heaven for you.
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  The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day.
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  And, of course, this is the, you know, as the Israelites had escaped their Egyptian masters, you know, Moses had parted the Red Sea.
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  They escaped.
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  They were in the wilderness on the way to the promised land.
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  And during their time in the wilderness, God provided manna from heaven.
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  And they were supposed to just gather enough for themselves and their family for that day.
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  And, Corey, do you know what happened if they took in too much?
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  What?
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  It spoiled.
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  And so if they didn't follow God's instruction, everything that they hoarded up would spoil the next day.
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  And it would turn in their stomachs.
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  And so they had a lesson being provided day after day while they're in the wilderness that
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  God is providing for you just for today.
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  And to trust that what God provides for you for today is good, and that if you try to hoard
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  it and use it for the future, it's not going to be good.
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  It's going to spoil.
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  And I recently had a reminder of that again all these years later, because as you know,
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  until the beginning of last November, I had probably one of the most prominent, high-profile,
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  one of the best paid jobs that I ever had outside of ministry. And that was as a city manager for
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  a local suburban city here in Shelby County. And when that job ended, I got a payout because I
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  wasn't terminated through any fault of my own. It was just some changes in direction that the
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  leadership wanted to make. And so I had all these thoughts and plans about, you know, what I would
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  do with this payout and all these savings. And yeah, it's going to allow me to do this, that,
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  and the other. And then here we are, you know, six months later, and one thing after another kept
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  coming up, you know, unexpected repairs to the house would come up, you know, because the moment
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  that I start thinking that I've got a financial nest egg or security, God gives me more and more
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  reminders to trust. And so that, you know, payout went more quickly than I expected it to. But at
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  the same time, I haven't missed a utility payment. I haven't had utilities cut off. I haven't missed
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  a mortgage payment. I haven't gone skinny from starving. You know, God has still been providing
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  day after day, no matter what life throws at me. And so it's been a lesson again in trust. And so
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  that's the first just examples from my own life of where I think about with today.
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  so it says uh i will give my attention to what is in front of me i will not rush ahead or carry
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  yesterday's weight and um you know i'm going through some things and i think about you know
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  the fears you know the future like a fear is like a future resentment right and i've kind of like i'll
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  play those out you know i'll play the movie the movie credits out like 18 different ways the movie's
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  going to end or probably more than that. And, you know, it's going to end this way, this way, this
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  way. And, um, the thing is mostly the most of the time we're dealing with people in the world and,
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  you know, outcomes that I could never ever predict first, cause this is God's world, not mine. And
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  I have no idea what anybody else in this world is going to do act, say any of that. But I tried
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  to in my own head. I try to play it over
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  and over and over, just like I
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  play it over and over and over
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  what that person did to me
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  because they wronged me, Michael.
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  And don't they know what they did to
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  me? Don't they
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  know who I am?
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  You know what I mean?
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  You know,
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  I was talking to my parents
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  the other day, and he said
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  something. He was mad about something
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  and I hope he listens to this.
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  He said, man, you know, I believe
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  what they said to me because I said, because your name is Paris and they don't, nobody messes
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  with you, right?
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  He said, well, you know what I mean.
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  But, you know, because I can get that, man.
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  And I had that mentality for a long time, especially to a very high extreme when I was
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  out there running and doing all the things I was doing.
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  Don't they know who I am?
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  And, but today, you know, it's so cool because like when I do bring it to the present, because
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  it does take a discipline to do that as well, I think.
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  I can't just say, I'm going to just stay in the present.
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  And I didn't like, you know, I don't like, you know, I mean, I agree with the day at a
• 9:04
  time and that's all we have.
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  But I think we have over, over shot that whole deal of people because, you know, we talk about,
• 9:14
  well, you just don't have to drink today.
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  Well, to say I had a choice in the matter, they all said I was powerless.
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  But, you know, anyways, to me, that took it overboard with the spiritually fit condition thing.
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  Today, you know, where it says in the book on page 85, it is easy to let up on the spiritual program of action and rest on our laurels, which is past achievements, which means the past things that I did yesterday.
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  Not just a year ago, not just a month ago, yesterday.
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  We are headed for trouble if we do, for alcohol is a sublifo.
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  We are not curative alcohol.
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  What we really have is a daily reprieve contingent on the maintenance of the spiritual condition.
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  And we've talked a little bit about condition and spiritually fit condition, too.
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  I don't pop into a fit, like a well-conditioned man, either.
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  This took years of working and training and not being happy about being at the gym.
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  Like, you know, I tell people that, man, I'm like, you know, it is not a fun deal going to the gyms, putting your head down three, two.
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  I used to sit in the gym for three hours a day.
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  And, uh, but, you know, putting your head down day in, day out when you're sick, cause I need to work out harder when I'm sick.
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  So I sweat it out, you know, not thinking about other people at all getting them sick.
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  Right.
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  Yeah.
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  Yeah.
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  But, you know, it's just, you know, the consistency when I do that.
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  And I like, real quick, it says I will give my attention to what is in front of me.
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  And I think about page 86 in that matter because on page 86 of the big book, it says,
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  let us, well, kind of thinking about our day before, I think it's important that we don't
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  drift because it says don't drift into morbid reflection because that would diminish our
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  usefulness to others. Because if I am going in my past and then that tornado starts roaring,
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  man, I'm not of use to my family when I'm like that. I'm not even used to God or I'm probably
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  used to God because God's using me in some way that I could never see. But at the same time,
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  I don't like that person. But that was my original thought, which kind of went on for a minute.
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  You know, I think about one of the phrases that I say a lot in recovery meetings, you know,
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  whenever I'm sharing is that, especially when we're talking about learning from or working
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  with others, I always say that I have something to learn from every single person that I come
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  into contact with.
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  Some people, you know, teach me what to do and some people teach me what not to do.
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  But sometimes I have to turn that question around and think about what kind of teacher
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  am I today?
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  Am I today the example for someone of what to do, or am I being the example today for someone of what not to do?
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  And so that becomes a point of self-reflection for me, you know, thinking about those things.
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  Jesus also tells us in the Bible, you know, in Matthew 6, 34, it says,
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  Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.
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  Each day has enough trouble of its own.
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  And I was thinking about that and the concept of one day at a time as well.
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  Every day that I am living is a collection of individual decisions and choices.
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  Even when I have a routine, right?
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  You talk a lot about your morning routine, waking up extremely early, spending time, you know, studying, reflecting, making notes.
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  But when that alarm goes off for you in the morning, you have to decide to hit the button to stop it.
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  You have to decide to get out of bed.
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  You have to decide to go to the other room, pick up the book.
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  You know, when I wake up, I have to decide to say my prayers before I do anything else.
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  You know, I have to make these decisions and these choices every day.
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  And even right now, as we're talking from the time that I just said all of that, I can't
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  change what I've already said.
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  It's now the past.
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  And so it's always what is the next right thing in front of me.
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  And, you know, for us, as we've talked about on here before, Tuesday nights, the next right
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  thing is we get together and we record a run of several episodes for our podcast because
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  that's what we're feeling like is the right thing for us to be doing at this time.
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  And once it's done, we're moving on to the next thing.
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  And what I'm doing today is not going to keep me sober tomorrow.
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  It gives me a toolkit and it strengthens me and God strengthens me through the work to
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  face tomorrow.
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  But I have to do the same work tomorrow when I wake up as I did today where I'm going to
• 14:02
  have a different kind of day tomorrow.
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  I like, and maybe you can clear this up because in Matthew 6, 33, right before that, right before 34, it says, but seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well. And when it says kingdom, I'm just like, you know, because I'd like to understand and righteousness. What is that exactly? What's the meaning right there by, by kingdom and righteousness?
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  Well, that's a whole probably 45-minute episode in sermon, but Jesus talked a lot about, depending on which gospel you're reading, he either talked about the kingdom of heaven or the kingdom of God.
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  Okay.
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  And in his teachings about the kingdom of heaven or the kingdom of God, he would talk about the type of kingdom that he had come to usher in.
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  And he said, and one of the reasons why they killed him is that he said that this kingdom, the fulfillment of the kingdom of God is with you today in your presence.
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  Meaning he himself was ushering in the kingdom of heaven.
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  And what that kingdom of heaven looked like is it looked like a kingdom where everybody faithfully was loving God and loving one another.
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  It was a kingdom of community.
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  And that's why, you know, taking it back to the Lord's Prayer, you know, that we pray at the end of just about every, you know, AA meeting that you and I go to in our home group, at least.
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  And the end of that is that for yours is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever.
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  And we pray at the beginning of that, thy will be done, thy kingdom come, and we say on earth as it is in heaven.
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  Because the kingdom of heaven is twofold.
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  He's referring to the kingdom of heaven or the kingdom of God that we experience today when we are being of service to others, as well as the eternal home that our soul will return to upon our physical death, that kingdom of heaven.
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  So, in other words, we can experience heaven and we can also experience heaven on earth, whereas the big book calls it, we're rocketed into the fourth dimension of existence by doing this work.
• 16:09
  Well, yeah, it says on page 16, and that's why I said it, because I was thinking about that, because it says on 16, it says, most of us feel we need look no further for utopia. And they just put utopia there because they had to take the religion out of it, but they had heaven.
• 16:26
  Yeah, for the same reason why they say higher power a lot of times, as opposed to God.
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  But they originally had heaven in the original manuscript.
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  It says, so most of us feel we need no further for utopia.
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  We have it with us right here and now.
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  Each day, my friend's simple talk in our kitchen multiplies itself in a widening circle of peace on earth and goodwill to men.
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  I think I said something to you the other night.
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  It was so cool because some people came up to me and was talking about this podcast that we do.
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  Normally, man, I don't do too well with the compliments and that.
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  But it was people that I had no idea.
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  Because I don't know how many.
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  I know how many listen to it now because I'm on the website too now.
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  There you go.
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  Had to recruit the big guns for help.
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  but I uh but I just thought that was cool man and like you know that it is you know this is
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  like how much further can you get to utopia than right here right now and if I don't see it that
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  way and if I see it some other way and this is just a chore for me and it had been and it had like
• 17:44
  you know I mean some days you know I mean it's just not as we've talked about this about too long
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  ago but you know some days it's not right but you know after the first or after we first start talking
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  bit. Man, like all that stuff always goes away, and I don't know of a better solution than what
• 18:04
  I have today for any of my problems. God and being of service to others. I don't know anything else
• 18:11
  that I can do that I've found in my life to be anything better than that. Well, we were just
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  saying on our episode last Sunday, Romans 5, verse 4 and 5, perseverance produces character and
• 18:22
  character, hope, and hope does not put us to shame. And that's just what you just described.
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  I mean, even in the moments whenever it is more of a chore doing the work, that's the perseverance,
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  where you keep showing up and keep doing it anyway, and then it forms and reshapes our character and
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  gives us hope over time. Well, our prayer for today, Father, help me live fully in this day.
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  Through your Spirit, keep me grounded, patient, and trusting in your care as I follow the path of
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  your son.
• 18:51
  Amen.
• 18:52
  Amen.
• 18:53
  Amen.