Latest / The Daily Ripples Podcast / October 16 – Faithfulness Throughout the Day

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October 16 – Faithfulness Throughout the Day · The Daily Ripples Podcast

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  Hey guys today is october 16th faithfulness throughout the day,
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  The sun, spiritual growth is not an occasional practice. It is a way of living every day.
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  Ripple one practical. Today I'll pay attention to my thoughts,
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  words, and actions as they happen.
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  Not just when the day is over. Small course corrections made throughout the
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  day keep small problems from becoming large ones.
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  Faithfulness is built one moment at a time.
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  Ripple two spiritual. As I walk with Christ throughout the day,
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  the Holy Spirit gently redirects me wherever I begin to drift.
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  The Father's presence is not limited to my focused time, but remains with me
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  in every conversation, decision, and challenge, patiently shaping my life through
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  one faithful step to the next.
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  That's all to a dude twice a week in the mornings.
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  This good friend of mine is, You know, he talks about how, like,
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  you know, this program is kind of like his bumpers at the bowling alley,
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  you know? Yeah. You see him in the lane.
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  And, you know, I get that. You know, it does for me because,
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  like, you know, because I'm not perfect at it, right?
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  I'm like, you know, I think, like, you know, like a kid, you know,
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  just throwing the ball. Sometimes I go down the middle. Sometimes I'm bouncing
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  back and forth, you know, like a crazy person. And, you know,
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  but, you know, I think, you know, where it comes into this thing is practice.
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  You know, it says in so many different ways in this book, you know,
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  practicing and practical and this and this, you know, because I have to do this.
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  And I find that, you know, on page 84, it talks about, you know,
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  my next function is to grow in understanding and effectiveness.
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  And what am I growing and understanding in? Well, I'm growing in my conscious
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  contact with God and understanding that, right? And understanding how to live.
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  And my effectiveness, I believe, is helping other people.
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  Because, you know, I kind of didn't understand it at first, right?
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  I was kind of just going at the wind, you know, trying to do whatever I could.
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  But I came into a place where I'm more effective with the time I have and with
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  the time I have with them and to make it the most valuable time I have with them for both of us.
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  And in that reaction, what I really think is cool,
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  is in the big book it talks about what's vital right for me to stay sober for
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  permanent sobriety and it says that in the four to the second edition,
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  it has also indicated that strenuous.
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  Work with one alcohol with another was vital to permanent recovery but you know
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  the cool thing is usually there's like a that kind of interaction there's like
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  a talker and a receiver right,
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  it doesn't tell me which one's talking, which one's receiving.
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  And I come to that good point. And, you know, because it talks about this,
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  like, when I'll call talking with another.
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  Right. These things, right. That, it doesn't specify which one.
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  Yeah, your sponsor is helping you just as much as you're helping.
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  So when I listen, like you said at the beginning of this week,
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  you said, you know, that's something that's like, you know, really, you know, helped you.
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  I find myself today on both sides of it sometimes. Yeah, yeah.
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  Over talking listening sometimes over talking over listening i go back and forth
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  right it's like it's like that bowl it's like on this podcast i mean these people know how i talk,
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  i rant it's only been like about 250 episodes so far so yeah but it's like a
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  bowler ball man like you know i can,
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  i got the guards up and i kind of hit back and forth and i don't know that's
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  kind of what i was thinking originally about some of this my my main thing you
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  know with this one you know as you were as you were reading this devotional just now.
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  I started thinking about how it really is about progress and not perfection for me.
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  You know, it's about practicing these principles. I mean, this concept of,
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  you know, remaining faithful throughout the day. And it says,
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  you know, in the practical that I'll pay attention to my thoughts,
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  words, and actions as they happen, not just when the day is over.
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  And my immediate thought was how you had just the other day pointed out about
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  on page 86, the section about when we retire at night was added in a later,
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  you know, version and what have you.
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  But I mean, those are in the pages talking about step 11 anyway,
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  and we're mostly talking about step 10 this month.
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  And step 10 suggests that we continue to take personal inventory and continue
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  to set right any new mistakes as we go along. That's on page 84.
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  But it also says this continues for a lifetime. It also says this is not an overnight matter.
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  It also says that our next function is to grow in understanding and effectiveness.
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  You know, these are all things that are not going to happen for me one day when
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  I wake up and say a prayer, right?
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  These are things that have happened to me over time.
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  It says in that same paragraph to continue to watch for certain things,
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  you know, the selfishness, dishonesty, resentment, and fear. And when they crop up.
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  When they crop up, this is step 10. When they crop up, we ask God to remove them.
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  Not when we retire at night. Not waiting to do, you know, that inventory at the end of the day.
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  That's in the next step. That's in part of our prayer and meditation time.
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  And we're asking God to, you know, correct and whatever thinking we've had for
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  the day. And then in the morning, we ask Him to direct our lives for the day.
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  We'll talk about that a lot next month, y'all. But for this month,
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  we're talking about, you know, when I realized that I have messed up my job
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  now that I'm on step 10, it's to try to make it right right away.
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  Right. And to realize it right away. And it even relates to some of those daily
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  spiritual routines that we were talking about the other day about how you're
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  really good in the morning, not great at night.
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  I'm usually a lot better at night than I am in the morning in terms of those
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  things that are suggested on pages 86, 87, and 88.
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  You know, those are the practices, you know, in the big book that it says,
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  and that's beginning the day in prayer, you know, continuing to reflect and
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  maintaining. It's all about maintaining that conscious contact with God.
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  Because as, not only just as an alcoholic, but as a human being.
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  I am like our friend that we know always says, I'm a slow learner and a fast
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  forgetter. I know you've heard that one.
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  And it happens with me. You know, I will forget that.
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  In a moment, you know, when living life, I'll forget, oh, hey.
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  God is right here with me. He's with us.
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  And when I forget is when I'm being driven by fear, resentment,
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  anger, things of that nature. That's when I forget that God's right there with me.
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  And that is when I need to be reminded and need to have that aware the most.
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  Right. But I believe that 10 and 11 are like an infinity thing, right? Oh, yeah.
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  As a conjoined— I had 12 in there, too. Well— To me, I think of it as a cycle.
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  And— Sorry. Yeah, no, I think like, you know, yeah, it is. Because it's—you
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  know, like, well, we're going to kind of jump around for a second. Sure.
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  Because 85 says, you know, the next page over, we're still in step 10.
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  Every day is a day we must carry the vision of God's will to all our activities, right?
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  Well, when I flip over to page 88, it says, humbly saying, like, well, as you how to do it.
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  Well, yeah, because 87, bottom of 87 into 88, we constantly remind ourselves
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  we are no longer running the show. Humbly saying to ourselves, thy will be done, right?
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  Well, on page 66, right, it says, for the alcoholic whose hope is the growth
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  and maintenance. And you said the word maintenance, which made me think about this.
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  Growth and maintenance of a spiritual experience. Well, how do I get a spiritual
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  experience, Michael? Well, I'm going to tell you how.
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  Well, because when I go to page 79 of this book, 79 or 80, I can't remember,
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  but it's somewhere over in that area.
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  It says on 79, reminding ourselves that we have decided to go to any link to
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  find a spiritual experience.
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  Well, they're talking about a mend right there.
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  They're talking about amends. Where I started the amends process was on page
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  75 because it says that. It's part of the promise of the fifth step.
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  It says, let's just read it word for word.
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  Since my sponsor says I jump around on page numbers too much,
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  but he can write these down as I go through it. It says on page 75,
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  it says, we may have had certain spiritual beliefs, but now we begin to have
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  a spiritual experience.
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  So this book tells me that a spiritual experience starts on page 75.
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  So when I'm thinking about how this is all related to that is on page 84.
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  So when I'm going throughout my day, which is part of what I read.
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  You know, and I'm making amends quickly through my life, I get to show and be
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  a demonstration of this program and what God can do through me in this program
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  by making amends and making things right.
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  And being a demonstrate through my life of God.
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  So in return, though, where the big loop is, because we talked about this before,
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  it says, as we go through our day, we pause when agitated. What do I do when I pause when agitated?
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  I flip back to page 84, and I go through that process.
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  And man, and to me, that's, I know that was a lot of words for this,
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  but what that is to me is how I live my life.
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  Yeah, well, it's all from what I heard. I mean, it's all, you're talking about
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  pages within the same chapter. So, you know, if somebody is able to read one
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  chapter of the Big Blue, they could follow exactly along with what you just
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  said or should be. Absolutely. And you know what's cool about this chapter?
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  It was written after the chapter working with others.
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  Yeah. And I don't know if you like, if you know what, it's hard to fathom.
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  So what's cool about it working with others, if I think about the chapter into
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  action and what into action has in it. now we got a second but,
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  Into action has the fifth step, right? This starts off with the fifth step.
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  Into action goes all the way to step 11. So six steps it has.
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  And in working with others, it says, where is it? I'm sorry.
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  You can take this little pause out of here.
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  All right. So, all right, let me start it. You know what I mean?
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  On 96 it says in working with others,
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  having had the experience yourself or hold on it says he has read this volume
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  and says he is prepared to go through with the 12 steps,
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  of the program of recovery having had the experience yourself you can give him much practical advice,
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  let him know you're available if he wishes to make a decision that's the third
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  step decision right yeah yeah and tell his story, but do not insist upon if
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  he prefers to consult someone else.
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  So what makes me think about that is like,
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  That chapter, working with others, this has been written before all this breakdown
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  of the fifth step. Right. All this breakdown of everything else.
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  And I think that's cool because, man, they were popping them out left and right. Yeah.
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  Come up, come to this house, 7 a.m., go upstairs, write everything down,
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  go tell this guy this, and go make your amends. Yeah. Because it was vital.
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  And I was talking to one of our friends the other day, and he was saying,
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  like, how do you think he could be more helpful to other people today?
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  And I said, man, I wish I had more time. Yeah. Because I think that I wish I
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  could take a Saturday all day, every Saturday, and just sit down with a dude for 12 hours. Yeah.
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  My family won't allow it, but I do think it would be cool.
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  Yeah. Yeah, I can't, it's hard to imagine what it might have been like in those
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  early days, you know, the program for sure, because it's so different that how things are today.
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  I mean, they, and just not to get too far off track, but I mean,
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  like, they didn't have all these, you know, rehabs and treatment centers on
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  every corner. It seems like the way we do now or us in every city.
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  And so they were definitely relied upon, you know, one person working with another.
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  And I think about how similarly...
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  So it's very home-based, very community-based in those early days.
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  It has grown in some ways, not within the official 12-step programs,
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  but the outside organizations and things have made it into an industry.
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  And getting back to the core concepts is very important. And I think about that
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  related to churches as well.
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  Back 2,000 years ago, they were meeting in people's homes and sharing with each
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  other, and they didn't have appointed and paid priest, pastor, or prophet.
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  You know, they were just people talking to each other about Jesus and reading
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  the letters from Paul, even when they were, you know, fussing about him about
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  stuff, you know. But it was very intimate.
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  Very intimate. Yeah, that's exactly the word for it. And in many places,
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  both recovery and faith have gotten much less intimate these days.
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  So that's our word for the day is to get back to the intimacy of the program. Right.
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  You want to close us out with our prayer? I can't.
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  I thought I fell in between the counts.
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  Father God, help me stay aware of your presence throughout this day.
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  Through your Holy Spirit, keep my heart open to your guidance in every moment.
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  Shape me through the example of Jesus. Amen. Amen.