Working With Others to Stay Sober – Big Book Workshop – Montgomery – Part 7 of 8 – Local AA Speakers

He's so rigid. Just a few minutes with you guys and we'll get through this. I spent... The spiritual warfare that I talked about earlier really culminates in this stuff called the 12th step. This is where everybody wants to get let off the hook. And I heard a lady not long ago, She said, well, I do my 12-step every time I go to a meeting. And I'm, no. You know, I goto a meeting because I gototo a meeting, they're my buds there, I get to hear some cool things, I get visit and all that. 12-Step stuff is being of service, and I spent a whole bunch of time out there, 70 years in and out of the program not being able to stay sober. In 1987, these old guys got around me and they said, Chris, you've been a taker all your life, which hurt my feelings. Y'all follow? It did. And I said, okay, okay. So you've got to start helping us do some things. And they started real simple with me. It was, you know, could you help us vacuum the floor? Could you help unset up the room? Could you just be of service somehow and get out of your head? But real quickly, they got me with a clear understanding that I needed to go work with some drunks in order to stay sober. And again, I had the out because everybody was in there. Well, you can't sponsor anybody. We have a fellowship out there that we want to spend most of our time telling newcomers what they can't do. And I've got to tell you, if we had enough people in the trench working, y'all know what I mean by in the trenches, right? I've told this story a thousand times. It was in Houston and a big old rainstorm got lost and making a turn on there and there's a bunch of people working and the windows are all fogged up and I turned the windows down a little bit so I could see out and see where I was turning and there was a bunch OF guys in rain slickers and there'S a little Mexican guy who's in the ditch, he's digging, and he's just as wet as any human being could get wet. Y'all follow? It's one of those tropical storms coming through, and he is in there digging his butt off, and there are seven guys in these yellow rain slickers all with clipboards looking very important standing around the ditch. One little guy in the ditch digging. And I think, welcome to Alcoholics Anonymous. I just... You know, you get on a committee, you get a volunteer, and you have 15 people taking your inventory. Well, they should have done this. Well, they should've done that. It's like, you know, jump in the trench with us and help us. That's what we're supposed to be doing. The entire program is based on the idea that one drunk can help another drunk. Y'all are all clear on that. We don't need a bunch of education. We don'T need a lot of All we need is our story, which is so important, our experience, and the absolute love, the willingness to carry the solution to the alcoholic and if we can do that. Dr. Bob said, supposedly said, stop being the patient as soon as possible and become the doctor. And it's heresy in certain parts of the country. I can't tell you, I bet you right now you could go into a dozen meetings in Montgomery right now and there will be a sign someplace or somebody will be there to tell you you can't chair a meeting until you're a year sober. You can't sponsor until you are two years sober. You can not do... The guy that brought Alcoholics Anonymous to Texas had never been to a single meeting. He was dying of alcoholism. They detoxed him, got him sober. where the doctor said, you've got to get out of this climate. You've gotto get someplace warmer. He had a job, a newspaper job in Houston. Got on a van. They gave him a big book and said, let's go get them, buddy. Get down there and start kicking some butt. He got down there and started writing some articles and started opening meetings like little Johnny Appleseed. Y'all follow? I mean, every meeting in Texas came from that meeting in Houston, Texas that started from a little guy that had never been to a meeting. I mean the arrogance of us to think that we could just rewrite the solution to this. We read it last night on bottom page 14 and 15. You must work with others. If you plan on growing spiritually, you can't do that without working self-sacrifice for others. So sitting in the meeting, you're not working in self-Sacrificing for anybody. You're just doing what you're supposed to be doing. I'm not knocking meetings. I'm saying you've got to go find you a project. You find a job in AA, you'll stay. Get on one of these committees. My hat's off. Thank you so much to the committees that did this. How cool is this to be able to come and do this? I mean, it's absolutely been organized to the T. I mean that service, the tapers, the people, they're not getting rich back there. They do it. This is the love, the service. They're trying to help. When's the last time you did anything for anybody? That ought to piss you off. No, because some of you believe you're doing everything for everybody. And there are some of YOU that are. I guarantee you. But again, I just, I got a couple things I want to go over with you. I've got a little form, a little deal, this little handout. I've Got Them Over Here. I didn't pass them out because I didn'T want you all reading them while I talk about it. It's kind of quick and fast. This is the little willing to go to any lengths, and this won't take like 15 minutes to go through. But basically these are some steps. Mark and I used to laugh about it, what Myers was talking about. We asked the newcomer, Are you willing to Go To Any Length? And he'd go, Yes. I've never once started working with somebody and asked them that question that they didn't say yes. Y'all follow? They always say yes, Yes, I'm willing to go to any length. But we never tell them what that looks like. It's like an ambush. And I'm going to tell them so that we know downstream two weeks from now when you start crapping out, two months from now when you stop balking on those amends, I'm gonna come back to you and I'ma remind you that we talked about this. It's pretty good stuff. And again, you don't have to write it down. I've got these things in handouts and I'll be more than glad. I'm gunna ask them initially going in the door, I'm going to ask them point blank some of these questions. Are you willing to be qualified? I'm gonna sit down and I'm gonna ask you, you're gonna sit with me and you're going to let me help you figure out what you are. You'll follow? You may have one illness, you may have two illnesses, you mayhave a whole bunch of illnesses. You may be just in the wrong damn room altogether and I am going to be able to help you do that. Are you with us? My job is to be of service and if I let you sit in a room that you don't belong in, I am not being of service. You'll falla? I don't want to hurt anybody's feelings. Yeah, okay. I don't mind watching you die. Do y'all understand this? I'm going to ask you not to raise your hand here, but I know we've got some heroin addicts in here. Let me ask you a question. How long do you think I would have to talk to you before you realize that I didn't know a thing about heroin? About ten seconds? Yeah. But I'm gonna sit there and talk to it. I'm not going to talk about something I know nothing about. Buddy, I gotta tell you, if you know anything about heroin or opiates, we need you. There's some other fellowships that we need your help in, desperately. They're dying by the thousands. You're welcome at AA. I want you to be where you can be most helpful. That's the bottom line. That's my job. Folks do get here by mistake. Don't assume anything. Just because they've come to treatment, don't assume that they know this. I can't tell you how many people we've treated with this multiple times and still don't understand what it means to be an alcoholic. That information we covered this morning about first step, they don't understand. I wantyou to be willing to take the steps quickly. I'm not on a slow glide plane here. Guys, I don't want to sound real rigid. Everybody's a little bit different. You'll follow? Your detox may affect how fast you work the steps. Your intelligence, your work schedule, your family. I mean, there's nothing to say you've got to do it in a week or a month. But what we've got try to do is get you through the work as quick as possible. You'll fallow? It is absolutely a race. I'm going to tell you, I'm 26 years sober, guys. If the obsession to use comes back to me, I'm gonna use. That's been my experience. So will you. We've got to get these cats to the work. I've got them connected to God. I can't fix you. If I could fix you, can you imagine how rich I would be? Oh my God. I think I can fix some of you. Well, never mind. Not about this. Willing to attend specific meetings. Guys, I want you early on, if I'm working with you, I wantyou to come to some specific meetings Meeting makers make it. It gets us in a lot of trouble. Because a lot people end up in halfway houses. They don't have a job. They don' t do anything. All they're doing is going to meetings 24-7. I want them to go to some literature-based meetings with me. And if they're going to lit meetings with me, and then I got a guy at the new meeting tomorrow contradicting everything we just talked to him about today, we're in trouble. Y'all follow? After we get him through the work, I want him to go to as many meetings as he can go to, anywhere he wants to go, if he's free to do anything but up. It's just simple. But I want Him to try to go to some lecture-based meeting so that we can at least talk about the solution and not the problem. Get a home group. What a concept. Willing to focus on just the big book until we do the steps. Guys, I'm a thumper and the message is here in the book and this is what we're trying to get them to do. I love the 12 and 12, but I don't want them playing with the 12 at the same time they're doing the steps Some of y'all are free to disagree, but it will confuse the daylights out of you. It was written 11 years after the big book was written. It's a bunch of great thoughts. I love the 12 and 12 But if you start especially if you get to the four step stuff that we're talking about it will confuse the daylights out of you. I'm just saying. Let's just all stay on the same page until we can get you through the steps. And then I want you to read everything about recovery. Conference approved, unconference approved, I wantyou to readeverythingyoucan. That stupid Living Sober book, I wantyoutoreadit. After I get you on some good spiritual ground, then you can read it. And then you could use it as a coffee coaster. Okay. I wantyo to be completely honest. Guys, I've got to tell you, it's a prerequisite. Bill Wilson talks about it and how it works. He says it two times on the front. If you have the ability to be honest, you can get sober. It's the only prerequisite they give you. You don't have to be particularly bright. You don'T have to BE wealthy. You DON'T have TO... If you can be honest with yourself and with the people around you, you can GET SOBER. Y'all follow? Here's the areas I want you to be PARTICULARLY honest in. Y'ALL HEARD THE OLD EXPRESSION AROUND AA? SEX AND CHECKS? I WANT YOU TO BE REALLY, REALLY, VERY HONEST WITH ME AROUNDS YOUR MONEY, YOUR FINANCES. I'm not trying to dig in personal. It's just I want to know. If we're dealing with a bunch of debt here, I need to know if we're doing with a lot of debt. If we deal with a whole bunch of sex stuff, I need to know. You'll follow? The dishonesty around that stuff will get you in trouble. I want to make a real point clear. I know I can think you four or five guys right now that can't stay sober because they won't come out of the closet. Listen, I'm not one way or another about it. I just I'm just saying we're all brothers and sisters on this earth and I got no place to judge and I could care less. You cannot stay sober and lie about something that is that important. You can't. And I watch them go in and out of treatment, in and Out of Treatment, in and Out Of Treatment until they finally get honest and then they can stay sober. But just say it. You've got to be honest. The other thing you've got to be Honest about is medications. And i'm not a doctor. I'm not going to pretend I'm a doctor, I'm telling you point blank. I need to know what medications you're on. The problems that we have with the meds is that we've got a lot of doctors prescribing stuff that they don't need to be prescribing. If you're on benzodiazepine and anxiety medication, I'm going to tell you, you're going to have a tough time staying sober because it triggers the same area of the brain that craving kicks in. Y'all follow? I'm not talking about antidepressants. We're losing thousands of alcoholics. In my 20 years, I've watched thousands upon thousands of relapses around antideressants. I'm knocking antidegressants. I took them most of my adult life. I don't take them anymore. I didn't need to. My problem wasn't depression. It was untreated alcoholism. The problem is that they stop taking it. And I need to know that you're on it so when you get goofy and psychotic crazy, I'll know what's up. You follow? If you've got a wean on them, you've gotta wean off of them. Y'all all good? Did anybody hear me say stop taking your antidepressants? Come on guys. Don't ever go there with me because I'll never say that. If you need those medications, rock on. I love you for it. But if you've taken them, you've gonna keep taking them. Stop playing doctor. Make sense? The saddest thing on earth is to watch somebody that really, really, really wants to stay sober and is doing the work and they sabotage themselves by playing doctor like that. Just keep doing what you've got to be doing. I want you to be willing and open-minded about anonymity. All right, guys? One of the problems that we have in our fellowship, we talked about it earlier, is this idea around stigma. And a lot of us in Alcoholics Anonymous, we can help with this by coming out of the closet a little bit. I'm just telling you, you can be as anonymous as you want around AlcoholicsAnonymous if you want. You don't have to tell anybody you're an AA. I don't care if you do or you don't. But I've got to tell you this, being in recovery is not something to be ashamed of. And if you're being quiet about it, I'm going to tell your doing other people around you a disservice. There's a great little video out there, Anonymous People. Some of y'all have seen it. It's got some pretty good stuff in it. If any of you guys want to come by later, I've Got One of These. This is Operation Understanding. This is in 1976. There's A Bunch of Guys That Got Together. These are movie stars, politicians, astronauts. These are all cats in the early 70s. All of them, every one of them introducing themselves as recovered alcoholics from the podium. They didn't talk about Alcoholics Anonymous. They're not trying to break any traditions. They're trying to brake this idea of stigma. We want people to get comfortable with the idea. We don't sink around, I've got diabetes. We don'T do that. It's like, God, I'm a diabetic. I need some help. Okay, that's great. It's the same thing with alcoholism and drug addiction. We've got to stop walking on eggshells around that nonsense. Y'all follow? One of the reasons that I get to stay so sober and I do a pretty happy life of it is that I'm pretty transparent with my recovery. When I come in from this podium, I understand the level of press, radio, and films. If I go out there and somebody needs an interview, my name is Chris R. from Ingram, Texas. I'm in the room with my family. My name is Krish Raymer. R-A-Y-M-E-R. There's nothing ego about this. If you need me, I want you to be able to track me down. The doctors in my town know that Chris Raymer is in the program. The police know that I'm in the problem. The marshal, the EMS people know I'm on the program and they have a problem with somebody, they call me on the phone. You'll follow? You'll Follow? It's okay to break your anonymity. Nothing drives me crazier than being in a meeting and one of my buddies come up there My name is C.R., Chris R., and it's like, buddy, really? At a group level? Dr. Bob was really clear about it. You can practice above the tradition or below the tradition. Just suggesting, okay? The guys I sponsor, they're going to stop walking on eggshells about being this. They'll follow? Because if you're too afraid to tell people around it, it's going to be tough. What happens when you're at work and somebody calls and needs some help, but your boss doesn't know you're in the program? You're going to be a nervous wreck that somebody finds out. Nobody gives a shit. No, and I'm sorry for the cussing. Do you all understand it? Nobody cares anymore. This is 2014. This is not 1935 when we got this thing. I understand back in the day everybody tiptoeing around. But today, y'all follow? I'm not saying break your hand on anybody about being an AA. If you don't want to do that, you don'T have to. But tell somebody you're in recovery. Share some hope. I want you to be willing to take a service commitment now. The bottom of page 129, if you've got your book. If you don't, that's cool. But at the very bottom it says, even if he displays a certain amount of neglect and irresponsibility towards the family, it's well to let him go as far as he likes in helping other alcoholics. During those first days of convalescence, that's got to be a typo, this will do more to ensure his sobriety than anything else. So get it? during those first days of convalescence. I just told you a beautiful story about a guy just off the bus sober two days helping somebody. It didn't say you've got to go lead a workshop or sponsor him, but you've gotta get up your butt and go help somebody. I'll repeat it one more time. You get a job in AA, you'll stay. If all you're doing is coming to a meeting and sitting there, you're not gonna stay around. By God, we need your help. I'm just telling you. We need your health. I'm going to be willing to be accountable in all three parts. Circle, triangle, I'm gonna explain that to you and every time I see you, I'm Gonna ask you where you are in all three parts after we do this. I'm Going to ask you to be absolutely clear about the traditions and other a literature. We're going to get down and we're going to read with us if I'm sponsoring it. We're Going to read our butts off. I want you guys to know what this is about. I'm Going to ask you to Be Willing To Follow Guidance About Meeting Etiquette. We Could Do An Hour On That Y'all Follow Guys. Come On Guys If You're Walking Into A Meeting and every head in the place looks at you, you're dressing inappropriately. And I ain't talking about the girls. I've got guys, it's just unbelievable. Etiquette. Thank the speaker. Even if you don't agree with him, thank the speaker, thank the chairperson, thank the coffee people that made the coffee. You didn't have to do anything, okay? It's etiquette. You drop a dollar in the basket. That's part of it. It's the nature of the beast. Punctuality. Y'all have been so good today. Good God Almighty. and we're preaching to the choir. Y'all understand it? It'll drive you crazy though sometime when you're sitting there doing a talk from the podium like this and somebody gets up four or five times during a talk, clump, clump clump big old clod lopper shoes get a cup of coffee come back go out and smoke come back go back to the bathroom buddy just go it's just respect I've got to tell you guys all of us in Alcoholics Anonymous at the end of the day what are we? We're teachers That's what we're supposed to be doing. We're teaching. How does the newcomer know? If a newcomer comes into a meeting, that's one of my deals on here, is introduce yourself with one illness. If I'm an Alcoholics Anonymous, I introduce myself as an alcoholic. I happen to also be a drug addict. When I go to Drug Addicts Anonymous I introduce my self as a drug addict. Period. It's about respect for the group. I'm and alcoholic and an addict. Holy shit. Mark asked me one time, he said, Chris, are you a good sign painter? I said, no, my hands shake all the time. I'm a terrible sign painter. So why don't you introduce yourself as a shitty sign painter then? Do y'all understand? We used to watch it back in the 80s and 90s when the little guys would come in and treatment centers were grinding them out by the time. My name is Chris, and I'm an alcoholic and an addict and a sex addict and a gambler and a... Shit, there was one more. Let me think. I don't understand why nobody wants to go to dinner with me. I don't want to say anything that's going to separate me from you in this room we're all the same you can be both but that's what we've got to do I'm going to ask you one last time here I'm gonna ask you to be really willing about health and exercise guys I gotta tell you I've watched so many people come into this fellowship and they get in these rooms and they're just going to meetings every day but they're not taking care of their health and they eat like pigs and I don't know why I just feel so terrible. Maybe I need to do another four-step. No, buddy, you need to get off the damn couch and turn the TV away. Let's go rake the leaves. You don't have to go get around in a marathon, but you've got to start exercising. You need to take a little vitamin. You little dope fiends in here. Fish oil. I've gotto tell you, there's some great studies out there that talk about fish oils connecting the dots again for you a little bit. Go to the dentist. Let me help you with this a littlebit. Y'all understand where we're at? Yeah. Brush your teeth. I know. I know, one of the things that we talk about guys is we just don't chase these little knuckleheads. We get them, we offer them what we got and if they want it, great. If they don't, that's fine too. You don't take it personal. I sponsor lots of guys, buddies and every time I turn around about once a month or two somebody comes and fires me. They fire me for one reason because I don't live in town all the time. I travel so much. You're just not available. I told you going in, I wasn't going to be there 24-7. But bye-bye. If you need to go, go. That's okay. I love you. If I can ever help you, I'll see you. You'll follow? Some of you guys, you marry into this sponsorship deal. You've got sponsors that you hate, that you don't want to be around, but you don' t have the cojones to say, excuse me, this ain't working out. I need to find somebody else to help me. This is life and death. I want to get married and I want people to be pulled with a vision. I want to be around somebody in the program that's doing more than I am y'all follow somebody that's going to hold me accountable and it's just not personal it's just life and death let me wrap this up we could talk all day long about sponsorship and do sometimes but I got to tell you remember last night when we were talking about perspective. We were talking about being around the rooms. I get to see so many people. My experience is this, 20 years working in the treatment center business, and of course I've been in AA longer than that, but my experience is watching these guys come out of treatment. The ones that get connected with people like y'all, little busted down big books we've been stamping all day long. I mean, good gosh. Some of you guys are actually reading that book. Oh my God. And doing the steps. This has been a delight get to share with a room full of like-minded people and I know we're not all there but most of us are there. This has been an absolute pleasure for Myers and I to do this talk. Some of these things we get to do are absolute torture because you're fighting upstream the whole time and you guys have just been absolutely great but I've got to tell you, if I can get a guy that leaves my facility, and I think I've got a good facility, there's other great ones out there, if we can get them from those facilities to get them connected to you guys, they stay sober. See, treatment centers can do a great job drying you out and giving you some information and getting you healthy and getting your push towards the light. But if we've got nobody out there to catch them, to finish the work, to hold them accountable, they don't stay sober. I've got to say this again, guys, because I don't think you're hearing what I'm saying. This is 100% of the cases that are real alcoholics and addicts. If they don'T get reconnected once they leave treatment, they DO NOT stay sober! They coast for a little while. I did the statistical work for years, folks, at the facility I worked at before and I know the ones that fell on their ass. If we can get them connected. The problem is, we were talking to somebody earlier, guys, here's what's coming down the pike. We've got this little thing called the Affordable Care Act which has changed in the landscape. I'm not even going to begin to get into it. Whether it's good or bad, who knows? All I know is this. The insurance companies that used to pay for treatment ain't paying for treatment. And some of them that are, they're paying for outpatient and halfway houses. They're not paying for 30 day, 90 day, inpatient country club settings. And I don't have a problem in the world with any of that. But what's going to happen is the same thing that happened with some of you old guys that were here in the 80s and 90s when we had all of these people coming into treatment when the insurance companies were paying like slot machines. What they would do is they'd bring buses up every night at 6 o'clock and at 8 o' clock to our meetings and they would unload and all of those people and all these guys would come into the rooms and here we are. They're coming, right? They ain't getting their sheet signed. They're Coming In. They're drinking their coffee. They're looking around. They're Looking for the Solution. And we didn't have enough people. I'm telling you, in Dallas, Texas, we didn't have enough people there to help them carry the message. There was little handfuls of us that were trying hard to do it. It's coming again. They're not going to be able to go to treatment to get well. They're going to have to walk right back into Alcoholics Anonymous just like I did, just like so many of you all did. And we've got to be there to catch them. And we can't do this if we're putting all these parameters on the newcomer about what they can do. My job is to teach you how to chair a meeting so that you can go chair a meet. My job is to show you how to sponsor so that you can do the same thing and get the results. This ridiculousness, you sit on your butt for years and years and finally... Let me read something to you. That's my favorite pen, but lose it. I'm going to do this without crying. I promise. I was at a men's retreat and this guy handed it to me. This young man had been to treatment at a place where I worked and he was a good kid. He was one of these guys who'd been to multiple treatments. He's a rock solid little guy and he'd catch fire and then he'd sputter out. He'd leave treatment and he just would stop. He'd just blah, blah, bla. A little dope fiend is what he was. A little joke fiend from hell. And he's a little crackhead in a little opiate addict and he's an alcoholic too. But anyway, he was good little guy. He left this little letter. I just need to tell you, he committed suicide. And he left this Little Letter. He'd written it after coming out of one more treatment center. And as I'm reading this thing, it dawns on me. I highlight it. I'm not going to read the whole thing. There's just one little piece that always got me. And it explained what happened to me. I don't know if I can do it. It says, I hope to one day make you all proud of me. Maybe someday down the line I can freely give to others that which has been given to me. A little glimmer of hope and the prospect of never having to feel or live this way again. He signed his little name. I hope that one day, down the line, later, I can help you. This is why we die in Alcoholics Anonymous. Bill Wilson understood the foundation stone of our program is working with drunks. Not going to a meeting, sponsoring, helping people, digging them out of the ditch, helping them, showing them what to do. Everybody sponsored in early days. Everybody within the first few weeks after they detoxed, they were working with drunk. But not today. We have to wait because somebody thought it was a better idea. And I've got to tell you, someday those people need to start paying the price for their crap and sharing their opinions in meetings that don't have any basis, not any basis at all in the spiritual program of action that we've committed to. Maybe one day down the line. Know by God now. I'm sorry to sound like a preacher I just I'm winding this down folks when one of these days you're soon we're not going to be speaking from the podiums anymore I've done this for 20 years and I just the message has got to get out there we've got to stop walking on eggshells around this one piece this absolutely crazy idea that if I stay sober for a period of time then I can sponsor somebody I got to tell you guys the only way you're going to learn how to sponsor is sponsor and you don't have to do it by yourself this is why we pass cards out this is why we network this is what we this is what we do you get out there and start working with a drunk and you get in over your head call courtesy he'll help you out man i don't know this guy's got some trauma i don'T KNOW WHAT TO DO buddy let me connect you with her she knows exactly what to do let me collect the dots this is a fellowship we're all in this thing together trying to help one drunk at a time that's how we're going to change this thing but we gotta we gotta push back to It's some of these people that are spouting this middle-of-the-road crap. At the group I sobered up in, there was a sign on the top that said, you can't sponsor until you're sober two years. Show me in the book where it says that. Make sense? Are you going to do it perfect? No. Are you gonna make mistakes? Absolutely. Guys, this is a train wreck already. Bless your heart. He's not gonna do it. And if you don't feel comfortable doing that, at least do something to support us and help us. I've got to say it and go. You guys, everybody needs to, you know, a lot of you little guys, you've gotto pick up these CDs, you listen to this stuff online. Guys, we don't need any more Chris Ramers. We come across talking like this on the podium. This is what we do. If you see me in an AA meeting, I may share out of the book, I may show you some of my experience. It's a very quiet and very direct and loving way, and I'm not preaching from the podium in an AAA meeting. Y'all follow? I'm not there to beat anybody up because they misquoted a step or got a page number wrong. We're not bullies. We're nicht doing that nonsense. It looks bad. Shame on us for doing that. Make sense? Don't want to do that. But you see, the book says each of us in our own way are going to carry the message. And you see that's what makes this thing so powerful. People go, Chris, I wish I could carry a message like you. Buddy, we don't need any more Chris Ramers. We got one. We got another Myers. We got Another Larry. We got Amanda. We got those bases covered. How about you? How about you? Be who you're supposed to be. You think this is all willy-nilly? You think you're in this room by mistake? You Think you got sober when you got over it? You think the person you got sober by mistake, you think the person you're set next to is... Guys, I've just seen it too many times. The guy that I couldn't crack in a million years. This nice little lady comes up, Like she hadn't said three words in ten years. Y'all follow? And all of a sudden, she slides up next to this guy that can't and all of the sudden she says something like that just in the way she approaches this cat. It cracks him like an egg. I wouldn't have handled him that way. Just because she used discernment just like I use discernment. We pay attention. We're awake to what might work. Some people need me in their face. Some people needs aggressive people. Some people need absolute loving kindness. Some of the people that we come across need your intellect. They need the fact that you've been to the war and have suffered from PTSD. They need to know that you're a man They need that fact that you were abused as a child. They need it. The fact that your broker eating off the street, they need the fact that you're living in a half million dollar home and have never wanted for anything. They need to know that they're not alone. But I can't share that with them because I've got no experience with that. Does that make sense, folks? There was an old guy at the meeting at the end of the deal back in the 80's after a deal. I did a little talk and he looked at me one time. I've talked about it from every podium and I'll end with it. And he's crying at the ending of the meeting. I thought he was just the moisture on his glasses from washing the coffee pots. And he says, Chris, I just heard you in that meeting. I was so grateful that you were in there. I've just got to tell you, buddy, we need you. but I've been asked a lot we need you to leave we need you to quit calling here we need you to nobody's ever asked me to y'all understand now this old guy 30 years sober he's long dead we need you guys every one of you you can roll your eyes at this I'm sorry I got so emotional today. I don't know what it is. It may be something in the water. It's them damn Krispy Kreme donuts. I do not know. We could blame it on the sugar. I got to tell you, I see our fellowship and I see the truth. There is no pill coming down the pipe with the pharmaceuticals. There is no new therapeutic treatment for alcoholism and drug addiction. For the real McCoy, there is only one solution. That's the spiritual program of action that was outlined for us 80 years ago. That's it. Our problem is that we see it as we just don't have enough people in the trench carrying that message. Every old person, black person, gay person, straight person, everybody, young people, tattoos from head. We need you in the trenches helping us carry the message. Stop listening to the people that tell you that you can't do that. Only game in town. I walk into a room at the outpost and I'm making coffee and I look around the corner and I see one of my guys in there. And I've seen this a hundred times. And we've got this old concrete floor in there and he's in there and he has his book open, right? They're talking. I can hear him talking. He didn't see me back there. And I'm listening around the corners and he says, now listen, okay, We've got this third step prayer now, right? You ready? Because I brought it up and I can hear him. He's talking. Now remember, this obligates you to bear witness to God's power. And we're going to read this third set of prayer and then we're gonna get cranking on this fourth step. So where's your highlighter? I want to show you something. No, listen, buddy. Every time we talk, you've got to bring... He's eating this guy's ass just like I ate his ass. Three months ago about the highlighters. Y'all understand the deal, you know? And they're laughing like that. He says, okay, you ready to go? Yeah, yeah. The guy says yes. And I hear the concrete and I look around the corner again and I hear a lot of people I hear the chairs back up. They're at a little desk there in the outpost. And he's got his book. He says, buddy, you can read it. You don't have to have it memorized. We're going to do the third step prayer together. Can we hold hands? Okay. All right. You on your knees and let's go. And we got on our knees like that and we're holding hands across the table and he does a little third step pray. Just like I did with him three months ago. I get to see what it's about. The building, Dr. Bob on the wall. I get think, yep, yep. See the lineage? You see where it comes from? These guys got together. People died putting this thing together. People died trying to figure out what would work for alcoholics. And we finally came up with a solution, and now nobody wants to do it. Everybody's too afraid they're going to offend somebody. I get to sit there and watch my little guy do a third-step prayer with his little guy. You know what I'm saying? It's pretty. They got up and hugged. And I said, y'all ready for some coffee? And they got up there and they got some. God dang, guys, to be a part of that, to get to participate in somebody else's life. I'll end with it. I'll say it. We spend so much time in meetings talking about the damage we've done. We spend it in treatment until the cows come home. All the harm we did and all this damage. Just think about it for a second. Y'all ever drop that little ring? Drop that little pebble in the water and little rings come out like that? Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob get together at that little meeting in Henrietta Cyberlin's gatehouse and they got together and the one thing they came to was one alcoholic by himself couldn't stay sober but two, together we could kick ass and take names and number three and number four just think this room right here because we're not drinking a day at a time how many lives have been positively affected how many companies have been started, how many songs have been written, how many fortunes have been made, how many families have been put back together simply because we took a stand to do the things we were supposed to do. It ain't easy and it's scary. You get backed into a corner, you call us and we're going to encourage you just like you encourage us. Guys, we can't back up. It's the only game in town. I sure appreciate y'all being here. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you.