Step Three Is a Deal with Higher Power and Every Sharp Curve I Try to Grab the Wheel Back — Searcy W.

About This Speaker Tape

An early Texas AA member shares his experience at a Big Spring meeting in October 1952, with over six years of sobriety dating back to May 10, 1946. He opens by emphasizing the critical importance of welcoming newcomers, warning that if new members come through the doors three or four times without anyone acknowledging them, they quietly disappear. He insists that recognition within the group is essential for any alcoholic to stay sober long-term, and that the newest member is always the most important person in the room.

The speaker recounts colorful drinking stories from his years in Big Spring, including a Sunday morning episode crawling under a house in a Mexican neighborhood to retrieve collie puppies while covered in fleas, desperately searching for bootleg whiskey. He describes the compulsion honestly: drinking not for fun but for survival, unable to stop once started, hiding bottles under mattresses and in bathrooms for those terrifying Sunday mornings.

He shares two powerful moments about keeping AA simple. At the 1949 Yale School of Alcohol Studies, a Mexican member named Andrew Hernandez said he had a simple mind and needed to keep the program simple, which resonated more than all the scientific lectures. Before the Chi State Conference in Amarillo, Dr. Bob's wife Ann sent a wire saying AA started over a little percolator of coffee in their kitchen with just a few people talking over their problems, and urged them to keep it that way.

The speaker closes with deep gratitude for the suggested nature of the 12 steps, praising the unnamed member who held out during the writing process for the phrase "as we understood Him," which allows each alcoholic to work the program in their own way. He describes his sobriety as a deal made with Higher Power where he must resist grabbing the wheel back, and declares that nothing could happen to him so bad that a drink would not make it worse.

Topics

Timestamps

• 0:00 Opens with sobriety date of May 10, 1946 and declares every AA talk is a good one
• 2:00 Newcomers need recognition or they disappear — if they come three or four times without a pat on the back, they stop coming
• 4:30 Colorful drinking story: crawling under a house for collie puppies while covered in fleas, begging for bootleg whiskey
• 7:00 The only way to stay sober with peace of mind is working with others who are sick like he was
• 9:00 Praises the member who held out for 'as we understood Him' during the writing of the 12 steps
• 11:00 Andrew Hernandez at the 1949 Yale School: I have a simple mind and this is a simple program
• 13:00 Ann Smith's wire before Amarillo conference: AA started over a percolator of coffee in our kitchen, keep it like that
• 15:30 Admits he mistook 'take it easy' to mean permanently — warns against mental laziness in recovery
• 18:00 Nothing in the world could happen so bad that a drink would not make it worse
• 20:00 Describes sobriety as a deal with Higher Power — tendency to grab the wheel back on sharp curves, must remember to let go