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May 31 – Ready to Serve · The Daily Ripples Podcast

• 0:04
  Well, welcome everybody back to the Daily Ripples podcast.
• 0:08
  Today is May the 31st and our devotional of the day is titled Ready to Serve.
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  But again, we are blessed to have our regular co-host Corey here with us, as well as our
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  guest Kevin, who has been on here with us for the past couple of days.
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  And we're actually going to listen to Kevin read our Daily Ripples entry for today.
• 0:28
  The stone, a life that turns outward finds purpose.
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  When I focus only on myself, I become stagnant.
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  When I serve, I come alive.
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  Ripple one, practical.
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  Today, I will look for opportunities to help without waiting to be asked.
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  A word of encouragement, a listening ear, or a simple act of kindness can make a difference.
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  Readiness begins with awareness.
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  Ripple two, spiritual.
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  Christ came to serve, not to be served.
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  As I follow his example, the Holy Spirit forms a willing and responsive heart within me.
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  The Father uses even small acts of service to bring light and hope to others.
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  Over time, serving becomes not an obligation, but a natural expression of a transformed life.
• 1:21
  Oh, yeah, I can definitely identify with this.
• 1:24
  I mean, you know, there's nothing that will put you on fire faster than working with a new alcoholic.
• 1:33
  I mean, whenever I'm, you know, if I'm just, if life's just kind of going and I've worked with a guy and we're about to the end and I don't really have much going on and, you know, a week goes by and it's just like, I've even called court.
• 1:47
  I'm like, man, I just don't have anything going on right now.
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  You know, I need a sponsee.
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  And man, you know, as soon as I get one, it's just like, you know, instantaneously, everything just lights up.
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  And, you know, especially if, you know, the guy's really getting fired up for this and you can see the lights coming on in him.
• 2:05
  And he's he's wanting this, you know, and wants to work the whole, you know, 12 step program instead of, you know, just kind of trying to get what he can out of it and roll out.
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  But, yeah, I've definitely felt the aliveness from working with others in that respect.
• 2:25
  And I think, you know, like it says in the practical, you know, even those small things can be, you know, something that makes a difference in somebody's life.
• 2:40
  You know, just having a listening ear or, you know, checking on somebody, you know, on a regular basis.
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  I learned that from my friend Corey, as a matter of fact, just making calls and seeing how somebody's doing, that goes a long ways.
• 2:53
  He calls me just to see what I'm doing or how I'm doing sometimes, and I think that's pretty awesome.
• 3:02
  You know, it's such an interesting deal because our book tells me what the root of our troubles is,
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  it's selfish and self-centeredness, and I don't think that's just alcoholics.
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  I think that's people in general.
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  But it also tells me most people live off self-propulsion as well.
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  And it tells me that I can't be like most people,
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  and that idea, the illusion that I am like them has to be smashed.
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  So all these different things and these warnings here, this here, and this here.
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  Man, you know, it's a sad thing to me today.
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  I mean, you guys both have probably heard me rant about this,
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  But I, you know, my son, he's 12 years old, and he is the spitting image of me.
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  You know, class clown, you know, just everything that I was, he is.
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  And, man, you know, I just want, you know, programs like we're in and different programs to be effective for people that aren't there yet.
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  like my son. And in the big book, you know, because, you know, you go into places and people
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  are like, you know, I, you know, I did this, but I'm not going to help anybody. You know, I'm just,
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  you know, I'm not going to do that. Well, doing that is the whole thing. You know, that's not a,
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  hey, come in here and get fixed. And, you know, because it doesn't say that that's going to ever
• 4:35
  work. It tells me where immunity is with extensive work with another person. And it also tells me
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  me that I don't just get to sit back and talk about some cool stuff on this thing or when I go
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  speak or in a meeting. It tells me on page 153 that in the chapter, working with others, you
• 4:54
  gathered an idea of how we approach and aid others to help health. So it tells me, you know, Pastor
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  Mike's heard me in the book study every time it says the word approach or it references a way I
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  approach somebody, you know, because that's the biggest thing. Because I'll tell you, man,
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  if I was a kid looking for my parent, I wouldn't know how to ask somebody that I needed help.
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  If I was a little baby, right, somebody needs to come up to a kid that doesn't know anything
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  and say, hey, are you looking for your parents? So when I come in sick and broken into these rooms,
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  people are like, well, you know, he didn't ask for this. He didn't ask for help. You know,
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  wasn't ready, man, I get lit up, like, especially on this topic right here, I'm pretty passionate.
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  I'm in it right now. So it's okay. Just give me a second. I know you are. But, you know,
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  the thing is, if I'm broken, well, we can go to the herpes. I like the herpes analogy. So,
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  you know, and that's okay. But, you know, if I had herpes and I went into an anonymous room that
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  they had the cure for that, and I sat in there and nobody helped me out,
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  or they did help me out, and then a new person came in,
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  and everybody just kept their mouth shut.
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  Like, they got this secret sauce, and they're not going to give it up.
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  And we're, you know, it is, you know.
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  But the thing is, man, it's like, what is going on here?
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  Because, you know, for people to say, you know,
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  hey, you know, I've got faith in this God and this and this,
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  but I'm not going to help nobody because I've got my own stuff to do.
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  You know, Kevin and you know Michael, we spend a lot of time with people.
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  And people spend a lot of time with us on their own time, free of charge, by the way, because this is not a – there's no money involved.
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  This is just time.
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  And if someone did that for me, why would I not do it for somebody else?
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  It's a crazy deal.
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  But anyways, I'm off my rant.
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  Thank you for listening.
• 6:56
  Well, and Corey, I was chuckling when you brought back the herpes example.
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  You know, you've shared that before.
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  And I was thinking that how thankful I am that through AA, I can be of more service to
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  others than just teaching them how to have sex without getting an STD.
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  But anyway, I just had to say that officially for the record.
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  But I was thinking about, to bring it back to more of a spiritual lane here, as it were,
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  And in the Old Testament, you know, the Bible, the prophet Isaiah, you know, he was, and Isaiah was very important.
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  You know, it's a very large book of, you know, teachings and writings in the Old Testament, one of the prophets, the books of the prophets.
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  And in fact, you know, in the Gospel of Luke, it's the first prophet that Jesus read from when he read in the synagogue, you know, in his hometown of Nazareth.
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  But Isaiah in chapter 6 and verse 8, it says, you know,
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  Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, whom shall I send and who will go for us?
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  And I said, here I am, send me.
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  Now, Isaiah in this is a volunteer.
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  He hasn't been drafted, but he, it's like, it's kind of like if you're sitting in one
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  of those, you know, group, corporate group meetings, you know, at work, and you got some
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  kind of guest speaker coming in trying to motivate the team.
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  And at the very beginning, he stands up and says, can I get a volunteer?
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  well, who of us is going to be the first to raise your hand?
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  Not without knowing what he wants you to do, right?
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  And so, Corey, I know I saw you shaking your head immediately.
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  You're like, heck no, I'm not volunteering for something I don't know.
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  But that's exactly what Isaiah was done,
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  is that he was saying yes to God before he even knew where God was taking him.
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  And that's kind of like what we do when we come into the program.
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  We say yes to following the guidance of a sponsor.
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  You know, when we ask for a sponsor, we're saying, yes, I will do what you, Mr. Sponsor,
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  because we're all men here on here today, or Mrs. Sponsor, I'll do what you want me to do.
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  I have the willingness to do that. And we're saying yes before we even know what the full
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  assignment is. And the full assignment is to get to the point to where we're at the 12th step.
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  And the 12th step is that we continue to carry this message to other alcoholics,
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  right? And so you're right, Corey, what you said, serving others is the whole point of the thing.
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  It's not to get sober so that I don't have to have misery. It's not to come to meetings every day,
• 9:28
  sometimes two or three times a day, and have a good time socializing with all my buddies that I
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  used to hang out at the bar BSing with. Now I can hang out in the recovery rooms BSing with.
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  No, the whole point is to carry this message to another person who's suffering. And to me,
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  that's the whole point of the Gospels as well, to go and make disciples, teaching them to keep
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  my commandments, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. That's the
• 9:52
  great commission that Jesus gave us as well. The whole point of our life of faith and our life of
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  recovery is carrying the message to somebody who needs it, somebody who's sick and suffering. And
• 10:01
  spoiler alert, everybody is sick and suffering in some way. You know, I don't want to steal anybody.
• 10:07
  I don't want to steal your thunder, Kevin, but I'm going to go back onto my spill.
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  I don't think people should have to go looking for a sponsor.
• 10:18
  I don't think people that are broken should have to go around the rooms and go, you know, go ask somebody to be their sponsor.
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  If our primary purpose to carry this message to people who still suffer, that doesn't mean I go sit on the, you know, there's a club by a three, six mafia.
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  that says in the club, posted up, got my arm folded.
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  I don't get to do that.
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  I don't get to sit in the back of the club for people to come approach me.
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  Because who do I think I am?
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  Man, my ego's through the roof.
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  Y'all know that.
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  I mean, by the way, I talk.
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  But it's balanced.
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  God's helped me out with that a lot.
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  But I don't get to sit in the back and just say, hey, man, I'm just going to wait for them
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  to come up to me.
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  Who do I think I am?
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  I'm not special.
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  I'm a spiritually sick person that's trying to help others so I can stay alive as well.
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  And that's the baseline of it.
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  I get the experience.
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  I mean, you guys get to as well.
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  Get the experience like an unbelievable feeling, especially when you work through the steps and
• 11:27
  see that change in somebody, just like you were saying, Kevin.
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  But the baseline of it is how many people have I read the book with to page 30?
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  And they go back out.
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  And, you know, it's another one.
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  It's another one.
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  Listen to their fifth step.
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  Man, I've listened to so many great fifth steps.
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  I mean, you know, when I say great, very in-depth fifth steps,
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  two, three weeks later, they're out.
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  And, you know, I used to take it personal.
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  I used to take that personal, like I wasn't doing a good job.
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  And, you know, it goes back to that angel, right?
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  I'm just a messenger.
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  I'm not an angel either.
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  But I'm just a messenger, you know, of carrying this message to another person.
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  And that took a while for me to come to terms with because I thought I was putting my self-worth involved in the results.
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  And I'm not in the results business.
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  I'm just in the reading and helping another person business.
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  Yeah.
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  There's no purpose like it, though.
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  You know, I mean, there's nothing else that's given me more purpose in this life.
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  You know, obviously my kids are right up there, but I mean, to help another man that's, you know, staring at a hopelessness and you're able to help somebody, you know, get out of that cage, you know, it's pretty profound.
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  Well, Kevin, if you would go ahead and close us out with our prayer for today.
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  Father, make me ready to serve.
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  Through Your Spirit, open my eyes to the needs around me
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  and help me reflect the love and compassion of Your Son.
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  Amen.
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  Amen.