Take off your shoes… Years ago when I was on staff at Salvation Army as a counselor, I taught a class for the men in the Adult Recovery Center in Sacramento. One of the more popular lessons I taught was called “Take off your shoes” I would post a sign outside of the chapel that served as our classroom asking all who entered to. take off their shoes. Everyone complied and no one ever had a serious problem with the request. I would then share with the men how we are always will

Power Aid… Power is the thing that we all crave and seek in one another. The problem is our minds get twisted by the illusions of the material world and lead us to seek the wrong type of power. We have the willpower that is part of our human makeup. It will never go away, but we can learn to harness our willpower and align it with a Power greater than ourselves. Hopefully, we have learned that the best Power to align our will with is the power of God, and not s

Some loaves and a few fish... Sometimes when worldly needs and demands pile up we can begin to feel overwhelmed with responsibilities and requests that our minds have a hard time wrapping our heads around. When our heads do the math, it doesn’t always add up causing fear and anxiety. Just remember, if it is God’s will, it will happen, perhaps not the way we imagine, but it will happen. Just look at the 4000 Jesus fed with 7 loaves and few fish! … "Our ideas did not work, but

Another type of "Book Learnin'"... We go to school for 12 or more years to get our education. Most of us get some sort of on-the-job training from our employers. A lot of us get many educational lessons from the school of hard knocks. And a few of us get ongoing education from our Big Book and its daily 12 Step practices. But what about Spiritual learning? I have yet to see it on any applications in the working world. The lessons I am finally learning in life come from the Bi

Hang on help is on the way….. One of the most freeing experiences for me is to help another person. It frees me from the burden of self and puts perspective onto my self-centered perceptions of my challenges and problems. Now maybe it’s different for you, but when I can place my focus on helping another, my heart gets filled with not only a refreshing humility from the service, but also, I gain a fresh perspective when I re-visit my issue or challenge and it no longer appears

Maybe it's different for you, but I can honestly say that I do not enjoy pain of any kind in any form. I don't intentionally go looking for it but I have learned that when I do find myself in pain, there is either a lesson to be learned or an experience to grow from, IF I LOOK with a willing heart and open mind. Staying spiritually fit is hard work but the benefits are immense. Sobriety and Abstinence is not easy but the pains from gaining and maintaining it have brought me b

Don't drink the Kool-Aid, just drink the water... We buy products based on our experience. I have learned the hard way that a pretty package can be misleading. It's what's inside that counts. We look for the quick fix and instant gratification because that is our cultural norm these days, but do we get the long term and permanent results? Perhaps it’s different for you, but I have only found that through seeking spiritual growth daily and working on me and my attitudes and ha

Hearing check… Our hearing comes in all forms. Did you know that along with the ears attached to our head we also have other ears? We have mental ears that allow our human instincts to silently hear the world around us. We also have spiritual ears that allow our hearts to hear the Holy Spirit. While we use the ears attached to our heads to hear the normal everyday stuff life brings along with our “selective hearing” of only what we want to hear, our instinctual ears hear that

How many "memberships" do you have? I have a few. There’s my Amazon Prime, PayPal, AARP, (hold the wise cracks, I have a point to make) Triple A, AA, SCAA, my church, the gym, and... oh yeah ... the SPIRITUAL GYM! I hope you have a membership to the last one too. It's free, but the dues are paid daily through being in the Word, prayer, and service. Are you an active member? Check your experience. ... "What we really have is a daily reprieve contingent on the maintenance of ou

Have you ever noticed that you are drawn to certain types of people naturally? Maybe it's different for you but I tend to gravitate towards folks who are naturally positive and open. I have learned over the years that this is a subconscious act we have within us. In my case it's because I want the positivity that they have. I am seeking the Holy Spirit that is shining through them. What type of person do you find yourself drawn to? ... Check your experience… "... for deep dow

It ain't about the stuff we gain... Whoever dies with the most toys DOES NOT win. It is common practice for us to try to measure our success in ourselves and others by the size and amount of stuff we have. The problem with this standard is that it's an illusion of the truth. Whenever I find myself slipping back into this type of thinking, I tend to become less satisfied with what I already have as well as falsely base my happiness on the need to gain more stuff. Perhaps it's

When the going gets rough... There are times when we are faced with a difficult decision or situation, it seems to be a part of being human. Perhaps you are healthier mentally and spiritually than me, but my initial gut reaction is to feel alone, isolate, and let my self-generated fears turn the difficult moment into a bad choice. Over the years I have learned to expect this reaction in me and to not act on it. I turn to prayer and invite the Holy Spirit to guide my words, ac

What book you are you reading from?!?... In today’s world we can get books in many forms. From the standard printed book form to kindle, books are available to us in whatever media we choose. On top of that, we have books available on every subject and just about every situation that will tell us many different ways to try to accomplish the thing we are working toward or trying to learn. Now maybe it’s different for you, but for me, my experience has taught me and continues t

It’s not about what you’ve got…it’s about what you do with it… Every one of us, whether we realize it or not, has special talents, unique gifts, and blessings. We were each designed for a purpose and it is human nature to have these unique natural abilities. Spiritually speaking, it’s not about having these gifts and keeping them for our own sole advantage, rather it’s about what we do with them to help others… Check your experience… “He often possesses special abilities, ski

"Render to Caesar what is Caesar's" .... It's tax day. I am sure it is a very busy day for my friend Karl Schwab and others who help us math deficient, procrastinating Americans to do our legal requirements by the deadline! This is a condition of being free and a citizen but in no way should we perceive our government as our Master. One quick look in the mirror of our lives will reveal what we choose to be our Master. Some of us through our habits choose the almighty dollar,