Latest / The Daily Ripples Podcast / September 23 – I Belong Here

Transcript

September 23 – I Belong Here · The Daily Ripples Podcast

• 0:03
  Hey guys, this is the Daily Ripples, and we got a website if you want to go on there.
• 0:11
  And I think there's a link if you're on there, we have a big book study as well, which is pretty cool.
• 0:15
  Um, It's not really like that interesting.
• 0:19
  It's just like listening to this voice that you're hearing.
• 0:21
  Read the big book and kind of try to break it down a little bit.
• 0:24
  But I don't know. I enjoy it.
• 0:27
  You know, you couldn't knocking yourself down.
• 0:30
  good stuff.
• 0:31
  I mean, I'd like, I mean, not a lot of people view the big book like I do.
• 0:36
  I guess.
• 0:36
  Right.
• 0:37
  Yeah, yeah, you know, I just have it all connected and we thought it'd be cool, but anyways, today is September 23rd, I belong here.
• 0:45
  The stone.
• 0:46
  Healing begins when I stop believing I'm the exception, and except that I belong among God's people.
• 0:53
  Original.
• 0:55
  Oh, practical.
• 0:56
  Today I will let go of the belief that I'm uniquely broken or beyond help.
• 1:01
  The struggles may be personal, but they are not mine alone.
• 1:05
  There's freedom freedom in admitting that I need others and allowing them to walk beside me.
• 1:11
  As I follow Christ's invitation to walk with him and his people, the Holy Spirit remind me that I'm not defined by my past or separated by my failures.
• 1:22
  The Father receives me as his child and his family.
• 1:26
  I discovered that I truly belong.
• 1:28
  And I like how you put in here.
• 1:32
  Stop believing I am the exception because ever since I can ever remember, and I don't know how you, like how you operated when you were a young kid, buddy, but I thought I've been the exception to every rule, every suggestion.
• 1:49
  My mama always said I was exceptional, sir.
• 1:51
  Corey.
• 1:51
  Did you not have this problem
• 1:52
  talking about here?
• 1:53
  Oh yeah, the rules were fine.
• 1:56
  just didn't apply to me.
• 1:57
  Right.
• 1:57
  Yeah, not every, no, so we were talking about it yesterday.
• 2:01
  everybody think that way, though?
• 2:03
  No.
• 2:03
  Wow.
• 2:04
  So I want you to know something we were talking about something yesterday and you were like, no, it was 2 days ago and you said, these steps are completely against our nature.
• 2:17
  And I believe that but I don't believe that now.
• 2:21
  So, let's look at a person that, like we talked about the firstborns, right?
• 2:28
  The people that wake, you know, that wake up, that come into this world, they're good people, they their, even their family, their family doesn't have to go to church.
• 2:36
  They don't even have to go to church.
• 2:38
  They're just good people, right?
• 2:39
  They're good people that have a moral compass about them.
• 2:44
  And when they mess up, they don't need 12 steps to tell them to go make amends at someone.
• 2:51
  Right?
• 2:52
  They don't need to go do write it now because they're not self-delusional about what they did.
• 2:58
  They know exactly what they did.
• 3:00
  They go make it right and go about their day.
• 3:02
  And I'm not, that's not unnormal in the grand scheme of the world.
• 3:08
  It's unnormal.
• 3:10
  And that's like, you know, what I was thinking about.
• 3:12
  like, you know, so most people do live on self-propulsion, right?
• 3:16
  You know, and on page 30, take on they get by with it.
• 3:20
  Well, and some of them do very well.
• 3:22
  Oh yeah, absolutely.
• 3:23
  Absolutely.
• 3:24
  But the delusion that I'm like those people or presently maybe has to be smutched, right?
• 3:29
  Yeah.
• 3:30
  And so when I come into that thing and I see people like I talked yesterday about living in, you know, impunity, impunity and living their life and, you know, or even good, I'm like, man, that'd be cool to be like that.
• 3:44
  That'd be cool to just know that I should wake up and open my Bible and read some scripture and do that because I didn't just walk into that, right?
• 3:53
  Right.
• 3:54
  I got disciplined and that it wasn't easy.
• 3:58
  And maybe on Monday, you know, what I should have said was for us that are alcoholics, addicts, what have you doing this program.
• 4:07
  I mean, you're doing the things that God teaches us are against our nature because our natures have been changed so much by years and years and years of drinking and abuse and, you know, all that kind of stuff, right?
• 4:17
  But then on the flip side of that, you've got some people.
• 4:20
  We'll call them normies, you know, normal folks out there outside of the recovery rooms that have problems similar to, um, you know, something we're talking about on Monday made me think of this too, is that, you know, there are some people that the concept of making an amends or apologizing is just so foreign to them because of their pride, ego or what have you.
• 4:42
  You've got those people out there.
• 4:43
  They're like, I'm not apologizing to anybody for anything.
• 4:45
  You know, and then you got people like kind of like your friend, you were mentioning who rationalize all their bad behavior, you know, because they're smart enough to figure out the rules that don't apply to them, you know, and things of that nature.
• 4:57
  So it, the bottom line is, whether work in this program is in our nature or against our nature.
• 5:05
  We all, if we struggle with alcoholism, if we struggle with addictions, there is a program, there's a way out that works for,
• 5:15
  You know, uh, rare, what I'll say is rarely have we seen the person fail, in other words, who has thoroughly followed our path.
• 5:21
  That was regular.
• 5:22
  That's exactly what the book teaches me.
• 5:25
  But yeah, I mean, I could find myself as, to get back to, we started with in the stone, to stop believing
• 5:31
  I'm the exception.
• 5:31
  Man, I was always the exception.
• 5:33
  I kind of jokingly say, well, mama always told me I was exceptional.
• 5:36
  and I wasn't kidding.
• 5:37
  I mean, because my mother, I was her only son.
• 5:39
  You know, I got 3 sisters.
• 5:40
  Oh, you know, a child.
• 5:42
  Not only child.
• 5:43
  No, I have 3 sisters, but I'm the only son.
• 5:45
  So I'm the favorite child.
• 5:46
  Now, that's not what mother always says.
• 5:48
  Mother always says I'm her favorite son.
• 5:49
  But I tell my sister, she tells me I'm her favorite shot.
• 5:52
  Because that's just the way I'm built.
• 5:54
  But anyway, I hope they're listening.
• 5:55
  I don't have to send them today's episode just for that reason because I always, you know, needle that in anytime I can.
• 6:01
  anyway.
• 6:02
  But from the time that I can remember, Mama had me standing up in front of the church singing, you know, for other people because I was exception.
• 6:13
  You know, from the time I can remember, I didn't fit in with other people at school, because all my friends played sports, and I never could, because I had a heartner.
• 6:23
  So I could not exercise the way they did.
• 6:26
  I could not work out the way they did.
• 6:28
  I couldn't have the bodily stress because I was born with a hole in my heart, a hole between the 4 chambers.
• 6:33
  Now over time, it was growing up and closed.
• 6:35
  But so there was always a reason why I was something different, you know, growing up.
• 6:40
  And so that just affirmed for me that by the time I got old enough in adolescence and you start thinking and questioning things.
• 6:47
  It's like, oh, none of those rules apply to me and take it to extreme, which, by the way, I did, it became, well, the rules of faith don't apply to me either.
• 6:57
  The rules of God don't apply to me either.
• 6:59
  I can do fine on my own.
• 7:01
  I can go out here and I can live this life of atheism.
• 7:04
  I don't need to rely on any type of higher power, and I can go and argue with people about how I'm right and you're wrong because I'm smarter than you are because growing up, everybody always told me I was smart too.
• 7:12
  Why do they tell me I was smart?
• 7:14
  Because they couldn't tell me I was great at sports? Because I didn't play sports.
• 7:17
  You know?
• 7:17
  So it's just, it was one of those things, right?
• 7:19
  But if I take it all the way back, All that was just fake, you know, that wasn't the reality of the situation, and I could see that now, it's only taken me 50 years to get here, but I can see it now that, you know, that was just me rationalizing my way out of anything that I didn't want to do.
• 7:40
  It was that selfish and self seeking behavior that came about all grown up before I ever took a sip of any alcohol because I didn't drink anything till I got to college, Corey.
• 7:49
  I was a good little Christian boy.
• 7:50
  You knew growing up until I was 18 and then I wasn't.
• 7:53
  But thank God that God, that he watched over me through all of that and brought me back to the place where I can accept that I belong among God's people.
• 8:05
  You know, like, uh, well, you know, I was thinking about, you know, you growing up in that aspect of like feeling less than, and, um, you know, I mean, I, uh, it's kind of weird.
• 8:20
  Like, I, uh, I, when I was growing up, I had curly hair, glasses, and what's funny is, uh, man, I can't say that because it's going to say my last name.
• 8:29
  Anyways, it rhymes with my last name and, uh, they, my mom would dress me with long white socks.
• 8:38
  Anyways, um, those tall ones are coming, chickneys.
• 8:42
  It was like you're wearing a compression socks anyway.
• 8:45
  Yeah.
• 8:45
  So, uh, but yeah, curly hair glasses and, but man, like, you know, I was funny.
• 8:50
  I was funny and I played soccer.
• 8:54
  I wasn't, I wasn't, but like, so I really, like that wasn't like the sport to be cool at, though.
• 8:58
  No, it's only recently become cool.
• 9:01
  Right.
• 9:01
  Yeah, like football and baseball were the cool things.
• 9:04
  But man, like, you know, I'll tell you like, and I was thinking about when I was listening to Utah, and, you know, really what it is for me, I don't know about you, but it was ego.
• 9:14
  And my ego doesn't have to be more than, it can be less than.
• 9:18
  And then I can twist it to be more than. And my ego's always separated me from you.
• 9:22
  Always.
• 9:24
  It didn't matter.
• 9:25
  It didn't matter about background.
• 9:26
  Well, if you had a brother and a sister, man, I wish I had that. And, well, I don't have that. How cool would it be?
• 9:33
  Or same for me.
• 9:34
  I wish I had a brother.
• 9:36
  You know, I had 3 sisters.
• 9:37
  I got 3 siblings, but I still wanted something else.
• 9:39
  I'm an only child, right?
• 9:41
  I know.
• 9:41
  But I'm really not an only child because I was adopted it, you know, I hired that on here.
• 9:48
  I have 2 birth sisters. And, you know what?
• 9:52
  When I got those 2 birth sisters, man, it hasn't changed anything in my life.
• 9:57
  having to hell, I have sisters, right?
• 10:01
  Anyways, well, you got a potential kidney donor one day if you need it.
• 10:05
  Right, but like what I'm saying is like, you know, I got what I wanted, siblings, and I, you know, it's not like I, anyways, we have a relationship, but, um, but, man, like, it's kind of weird.
• 10:15
  It's like, you know, because I always get what I want.
• 10:17
  It's like getting the new car, right?
• 10:19
  And after you get the new car after a week.
• 10:21
  It's like, hey, it's just a car.
• 10:23
  Um, but what I was trying to weave it all into is, on 129 of the tradition one, by the 12 and 12.
• 10:33
  It says the unity of Alcoholics Anonymous, the most cherished quality our society has.
• 10:39
  Our lives, the laws of all to con depends squarely upon it.
• 10:45
  And so I was thinking about that unity and what really holds that unity together.
• 10:49
  And the one, the 1st thing is common problem.
• 10:52
  And that was a really cool deal when I came into the rooms and man, there was common problem.
• 10:57
  I finally felt one.
• 10:59
  And that kind of fell off after a little while, right?
• 11:02
  Because I thought found that these people had something I didn't have.
• 11:05
  Those people had some serenity.
• 11:08
  Those people had something about it that they would give to you freely with nothing, not wanting anything in return.
• 11:14
  And I was like, what is going on here?
• 11:16
  And then, like, you know, I would find like little niches in the thing where I'd find, like, read something on Reddit where these people were the California were charging $100 for a 5th step.
• 11:27
  Anyways, I'd be like, they are doing so anyways.
• 11:30
  I'll try to find anything right?
• 11:32
  It says in the daily ripple as I, today I will let go of the belief that I've uniquely broken her beyond health.
• 11:40
  And in Romans 125.
• 11:42
  It says, so in Christ, we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.
• 11:51
  And so, like, when I look at that, man, that, you know, goes confirmed, we're all just God's kids, right?
• 11:55
  Right, right.
• 11:56
  And you're no better than me.
• 11:58
  I'm no better than you, but there's a, there's a thing to that, though.
• 12:03
  And it's, am I willing to give or am I going to take?
• 12:07
  Am I going to feed or am I going to want to get fed?
• 12:11
  And that's it, right?
• 12:13
  Freely, you have received freely, you give.
• 12:15
  And if I don't do that,
• 12:16
  Man, it's almost like back to what we were talking about, the new car thing, right?
• 12:21
  If I'm always just searching for that new car.
• 12:24
  Never going to be fulfilled, but I'm always searching to give you something.
• 12:30
  I like a new car.
• 12:31
  Yeah.
• 12:32
  That would be Oprah.
• 12:34
  Yeah, but you know what I'm saying?
• 12:35
  Anyway, it was interesting.
• 12:38
  Well, and it's funny, you know, because kind of what you were hitting on there, it's funny because I was looking up, you know, while you were sharing, uh, a passage out of Galatians, you know, which is chapter 6 in the beginning of it, is where it's talking about, you know, if you catch, you know, someone else in the church, you know, if you find them in a transgression, it talks about writing, you trust to work to try to restore them to the body.
• 13:00
  But it says right after that, it says to bear one another's burdens, and in this way, you'll fulfill the law of Christ.
• 13:06
  For those who are nothing, think there's something they deceive themselves.
• 13:10
  And it says all must test their own work, then that work, rather than their neighbors work, will become a cause for pride, for all must carry their own lows.
• 13:18
  So within 3 verses, it says bear one another's burden, but then it says for all of us carry their own loads at the end of that.
• 13:25
  And that can be a little confusing, but what that means is that you you just made the point about, am I here to feed God's kids or am I here to be fit?
• 13:32
  And the answer is yes.
• 13:35
  You know, we're in the group together to be fed, all, you know, and to feed others.
• 13:42
  So to receive the free gifts that God has for us, but then also to share those with other people.
• 13:48
  So it's a, I love pointing this out in sermons and stuff because so many times when it comes to these things in the Bible, it's a, either or, am I either here to receive or am I here to give?
• 13:58
  Well, it's not either or it's a both ant.
• 14:00
  I'm both here to receive and here to give, if that makes sense.
• 14:04
  Right.
• 14:05
  I don't know.
• 14:07
  That's what I had for today.
• 14:08
  If you want to click any further thoughts?
• 14:10
  Are you ready to close this out?
• 14:11
  We'll close this out.
• 14:12
  Father God, thank you for welcoming me into your family.
• 14:16
  Though your Holy Spirit.
• 14:18
  Free me from the lie that I am alone or beyond your grace.
• 14:23
  Shape me through the example of Jesus.
• 14:25
  Amen.
• 14:26
  Amen.