Keep Close to Him and Perform His Work Well — That’s the Entire Contract of Step 3 – Dave A.

About This Speaker Tape

A blind speaker from Houston shares his journey from methamphetamine addiction in the late 1960s through decades of living a double life as a preacher who couldn't stop drinking, and finally into AA where he found the missing piece his religious life never provided. Born legally blind in 1948, he was expelled from the Texas School for the Blind for defiance, proclaimed himself an atheist at 18, and fell hard into speed by 1969. A Christian neighbor helped him find faith and he got clean — but without doing the inventory work outlined in the Big Book, he eventually picked up alcohol and spent 20-plus years preaching with a hangover, cycling through churches the way other alcoholics cycle through geographic cures.

His wife's involvement in AA brought him to meetings, where he heard the reading about the great obsession of every abnormal drinker — that he could control and enjoy his drinking. The line 'if you are controlling your drinking, you're not happy about it' broke through his denial and he joined the fellowship, swallowing the painful pride of admitting his alcoholism to his wife's AA friends. He walks through Steps 2 and 3 in detail, describing how his same Higher Power began speaking through the language of the Big Book and the voices of other alcoholics.

The heart of the talk is his understanding of Step 3 as a contract with Higher Power — keep close to Him and perform His work well, and He provides what you need. He illustrates this with a riveting story about losing $600 a month in disability income right before Christmas, and how he followed the Step 10 instructions his sponsor Ed drilled into him: ask Higher Power to remove the fear, discuss it with someone, make amends if needed, and resolutely turn your thoughts to someone you can help. Month after month the bills got paid through unexplainable means — mysterious checking account surpluses, an anonymous $500 gift after his first speaking engagement, and a roofer in recovery who fixed his destroyed roof for exactly what insurance covered. He closes by tying Steps 10, 11, and 12 together as the maintenance of that contract, urging the audience to abandon themselves to Higher Power and carry the message.

Topics

Timestamps

• 0:00 Introduction and plug for Primary Purpose Group, a Big Book meeting in South Austin on Tuesday nights
• 2:00 Born legally blind in 1948, sent to the Texas School for the Blind, expelled twice for defiance
• 6:00 Proclaimed atheist at 18, armed himself with arguments against Higher Power, high school bathroom confrontations with Baptist boys
• 9:00 Methamphetamine addiction begins in 1969, Grand Funk Railroad concert story, attacking Jesus freaks on the sidewalk
• 13:00 Christian neighbor helps him find faith and get clean, but without inventory work he eventually picks up alcohol
• 17:00 Twenty years preaching with a hangover, living a double life, cycling through churches like geographic cures
• 22:00 Wife in AA brings him to meetings — 'if you are controlling your drinking you're not happy about it' breaks his denial
• 28:00 Step 3 as a contract with Higher Power — keep close to Him and perform His work well, the terms and conditions
• 36:00 Social Security cuts $600/month at Christmas — sponsor Ed's voice guides him through Step 10 action, bills get paid month after month
• 48:00 Seeing eye dog debt story — Higher Power insists on the $35 amends, roof and wife's retirement resolved at zero cost, closing on carrying the message