Step 3: Giving Up the Whoopee Blanket

Posted on June 2, 2026 by jwfisch

Step 3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.

In the 1983 movie, “Mr. Mom,” Jack (Michael Keaton) losses his job requiring him to take over staying at home with the kids while his wife (Terry Garr) goes back to work. In a touching scene, Jack has to talk their son, Kenny, into giving up his whoopee blanket. When I think of this scene, it always reminds me of Step 3, when we all must turn over to the care of the Lord whatever we used as our own security blanket, whether it’s alcohol, drugs, sex, power, money or something else. Jack even warned Kenny that pretty soon he would be out on the street trying to score a quilt or an electric blanket and before you know it, he’ll be strung out on bedspreads!

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We Came to Believe

Posted on June 1, 2026 by jwfisch

2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.

There is an oral tradition in AA that is a play on the first three words of this step: “Came to believe.…” It turns it into a three-part unfolding.

First, we came. We showed up. Let us not downplay the significance of this first fact: we got ourselves in the door. Now this is more largely felt in Alcoholics Anonymous than it is in church, but the parallel is still there.

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Step One: Stepping Down

Posted on May 29, 2026 by jwfisch

Return of the Prodigal by Rembrandt

Step 1: We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable.

It has been estimated that over two million people worldwide are currently partaking in the assistance provided by an Alcoholics Anonymous group, and AA has been in existence for 83 years. That alone should tell us that the twelve step principles are connecting with something common to us all. As Christina, one of our readers wrote last week, “I have come to believe that everyone should embrace a 12-step program and just adapt it to the areas of life that are particular to you.”

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12-Step Christians

Posted on May 29, 2026 by jwfisch

I am firmly convinced, now, more than ever, that the 12-step program as originally adopted by Alcoholics Anonymous, is closer to capturing the true essence of a Christian’s attitude and relationship to God and to others than anything taught or modeled in our Christian churches at least in my lifetime. If all Christians were 12-step Christians, all of the ugly traits that have wrapped themselves around Christianity in this culture in the last 40 years would never have come about.

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Only Believe

Posted on May 27, 2026 by jwfisch

You’ve heard the question many times: “If you died today would you go to heaven?”

What’s your answer? The answer is another question: “Do you believe in Jesus?” If the answer to the second question is “Yes,” then the answer to the first is the same. Jesus promised.

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Memorial Day, 2026

Posted on May 25, 2026 by jwfisch

“Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.” (John 12:24)

 

 

[From an earlier Memorial Day comes this comment from Andy Parker.]

Born in July 1939, while growing up, the adult male parent was often missing in our lives. Many of my friends had step-fathers because of the sacrifice of service. We knew why. Even at a young age it was deeply embedded in our lives. I have read much, history of the wars is important, too important to be ignored today. “Never again!”

While traveling once in the Netherlands I visi/ted the most eastern cemetery for American burials. Most of those fell during “Operation Market Garden.” As I walked reading the names on white crosses I noticed one gold in color. I walked over to it—a “Medal of Honor” awarded a young solider, I think last name was Cole, 18 years old. I dropped to my knees as a middle age man and wept.

Then in the distance I saw a “Star of David.” That battle continues. Please remember to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. The hatred continues and we are the “peace makers.” Do well to remember, but speak out to stop the insanity of hatred.

Love one another!

[Thank you, Andy.]

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Remember Libraries?

Posted on May 22, 2026 by jwfisch

I passed our town library the other day and felt a pang of nostalgia. I used to spend a lot of time writing in libraries. There’s a certain feeling you have walking into a library that you don’t get anywhere else. There’s an immediate hush that comes over you like the hush that insulates a neighborhood after a snowfall. You suddenly feel smarter, like all the books that surround you are accessible to your brain even though you haven’t read them. It’s a disappearing feeling now in this digital age.

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From Born to Born Again

Posted on May 20, 2026 by jwfisch

This will probably be the shortest “Catch” ever. But there is a reason for that. Shorter time to read leaves more time to think. And I want you all to think a lot about this.

OK, I’m going to ask you two questions…

Question 1: What did you have to do with your first birth?

Nothing?

Question 2: What did you have to do with your second birth?

Nothing?

You played no more part in being born again than you did being born. Nor can anyone make themselves born again any more than they could have made themselves born.

What is the significance of this? Your salvation and mine was New Covenant generated from the beginning. God did everything to start you off (and He will do everything to complete your new life). Or as we have come to say, “Everything from God; nothing from me.”

How is that for a new understanding of Grace?

I’d like you to spend some time thinking about this, and I would love to hear from you what you discover as you reflect on this amazing truth.

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Last Days’ Message

Posted on May 19, 2026 by jwfisch

After Marti surprised me with her tribute on my birthday, I thought it would be good to tell you what this watchman sees from the tower. There is plenty of bad news to report out there, but in the end, where does that get us? Besides telling us that we are getting nearer the end, there is not a lot we can do about the bad news. We are not here to make the bad news better, but to step up our efforts to spread the good news while there still is time.

I am personally not in favor of the popular Christian notion that we should be excited about the end times because that means the Lord is coming back soon to rescue us from this mess. No, I believe we need to opt for the Lord’s attitude about this as expressed by Peter in 2 Peter 3:9, “The Lord is not slow about His promise [to return], as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not willing for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance.”

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The Watchman I Have Known

Posted on May 19, 2026 by jwfisch

A Tribute to John on his Birthday
by Marti Fischer

There are people who build platforms.
There are people who build audiences.
And then there are rare souls who stand on the wall and refuse to stop watching while everyone else falls asleep.

John is one of those people.

For most of the world, a prophet is someone who predicts the future. But that is not how I have experienced John after walking beside him through decades of life, ministry, hardship, disappointment, sacrifice, faithfulness, and grace. A prophet is someone who sees beneath the surface of things. Someone who hears the tremble before the earthquake. Someone who notices what everyone else has learned to ignore.

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