John Fischer The Catch

12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

The world is populated with friends. This is because we are all sinners, and most people, deep down in their spiritual sensibilities, know this. So if we think of the Twelve Steps as applying to sinners instead of just alcoholics, then the whole world is a potential AA meeting, or in this case, it would be an SA meeting: Sinners Anonymous.

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Step 11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.

The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is the only reason there can be steps that lead us anywhere. Without Christ going through the cross there can be no forgiveness of sins. Without Christ going through the cross there can be no resurrection from the dead. Without Christ going through the cross there can be no hope for a future. Without Christ going through the cross there can be no power to carry out God’s will for our lives.

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10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.

Today we’re going to take the right/wrong discussion to a whole new level. We’re going to give up the whole need to be right and conclude that the only “right” version of what we’re looking at together is what the other person actually sees. In other words, I’m going to give up my need to be right for the more noble cause of taking up the other person’s perspective.

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Prophets and priests alike,
    all practice deceit.
They dress the deep wounds of my people
    as though they were not serious.
          – Jeremiah 6:13-14

Step 9: Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.

Remember the movie, “What About Bob?” where Richard Dreyfuss plays the psychiatrist whose private life is hounded by the neurosis of one of his patients (Bill Murray)? In his attempts to bring Bob out of his multiple personality disorders, he gives him a copy of his newly released book, Baby Steps, which he promises will help Bob make his way towards normalcy.

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Handwritten word Hope in shape heart on misted glass on window flooded with raindrops on blue cloudy background

As we take a break between Step 8 and 9 (a common thing to do, by the way), let me introduce you to our good friend, Robbie Goldman, founder and director of Dry Bones, Denver. Robbie works with unhoused kids in downtown Denver and we talked with him about how when he first started thinking about going through the Twelve Steps he was thinking how good this would be for the kids they work with, many of whom are addicted to drugs and alcohol. But one of the first things he and his staff had to shed was that very kind of thinking that says the steps are for someone else.

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Forget religion. Forget world religions. Forget atheists in foxholes. Forget what’s fair. There are really only two kinds of people in the world. Those who insist on meeting God on their own terms, and those who realize He insists on meeting them on His; and His terms are beyond their ability to perform, so they meet Him on their knees, knowing their sin, and crying out for His mercy. That’s it. It’s all in the attitude of the heart.

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