The Difference Between an Atheist and an Agnostic in AA – Robbie W.

thank you very much lovey and good evening everybody and my name is robbie w and i'm a recovered alcoholic my permanent sobriety dates october 31st of 1983 my sponsor is ben and in my home group is the good morning avalon group of new jersey uh the avalon shore new jersey and i live in a little short town i'm on a bare island called wildwood new jersey in the beautiful short jersey shore anyway lovey thank you so much for your service tonight great job um my good friend ralph d thank you uh for having me brother thank you for asking me to do this it's been an honor so far last week and raise your hand if you were here last week we went through step one together raise your head look at all those hands going up it was crazy man listen to this gang we fully could see into our innermost selves last week right that we were alcoholics right we admitted that we were powerless over alcohol remember what we said powerless was that means we have a lack of capacity to act so last week man we really went over step one we dove into it you know we talked about our program of action we talked about being full flight from recovery right we talked about being complete mental defectives right and then we talkedabout that we didn't want to have middle-of-the-road sobriety right because if we have middle-to-roadsobriety we're never going to get past that 90 days we're going to be one of those in and outers right gang y'all know them those in-and-outers they're in and they're out and they'RE IN AND THEY'RE OUT AND THEY ARE IN AND THEYRE OUT I'm just as man listen I'm not judging I'm just reporting just stay people just stay right Ronnie Ron stay brother right Paulie H stay brother right Jody trainer look at Jody's shirt stay at a girl and that's what we do here so now Now, listen, we're going to start this really cool. We're all going to do the big book play. So I'm going to ask Lovey Russo from the main purpose group to put that up on the screen. And here comes a screen share. Now, Listen, there's a reason you're unmuted. What we're gonna do is we're gona do our best. I know there's little bit of a lag but we're gunna try to do our best to do a big book pledge together. I wrote this, and I want you all to say it with me, but let's say it with passion. It's only three paragraphs. All right? Now, I'm going to get everybody ready. Are you all ready? Raise your hand if you're ready. I want to see if you'RE ready. All right, Trevor? Okay, unmute yourself, everybody. Can they unmute themselves? All right. There we go. Unmute yourselves, and here we go! This is my big book. I will find out what it's in, and then do what it tells me to do, and arm with the facts about myself, about my surface. I will go out and help all of them. I will teach them how to be strong. This is my big goal. I think people will start lining up in a group and get into action. We'll change the timeline in an area that's better suited for such an area. We will not have a thing that's more specific for certain spots or areas such as such an air. We'll keep on the firing line of life, get into actions and our God will keep me unharmed. Yes, this is my big book. I truly participate in the spiritual truths contained in it and then I will walk along with the fellowship of the Spirit. Hey, Lovie, take that off the screen. We're going to have a new everybody. Lovies, you can mute everybody. Okay. okay everybody thank you so much for participating in that and so when i when i do big book boot camps i do them all over the united states we did one in canada i just did one on calgary not too long ago we all do this at suzanne my fiance who's on the call has been in the room where i get everybody i get 200 people to hold up their big book as we do that now i'm going to say it by myself and I want you to hear what it sounds like in more of a healthy fashion. No offense, but I couldn't understand that. And so here we go. And here's what we do. This is my big book. I will find out what is in it and then do what it tells me to do. Book in hand, armed with the facts about myself. I will go out and help others find a solution to their problems. This is My Big Book. I Will Learn the Program of Action, which is outlined in a clear cut and precise manner in it. I will not hesitate to visit the most sordid spots on earth on such an errand. I will keep on the firing line of life with these motives. I will get into action, and our God will keep me unharmed. Yes! This is my big ball. I Will actively participate in the spiritual truths contained in it, and then I will walk hand-in-hand with my fellow AAs as we march together in the fellowship of the spirit. And that's our big book pledge. And feel free to hit me up. I'll send you copies of it. You might not have heard it before because I wrote it, but it's just something that I love, man. I love our big bulk and that's why I like the main purpose group. You guys are into the bit. I was into the big book, ladies and gentlemen, when it wasn't popular. I wasn't in a big book back in the eighties. I Was like the only one walking around with a big book and I would go to speak, and they'd all say, oh, here he comes with a big ball. Watch out. He's going to hit us with it. Anyway, it's good to see a lot of my friends here. It's good to see my friends from Sydney. Min has showed up. Marlena has showed up. Mick has showed off from Scotland. My sweetheart is here. My fiance is here from Maryland. That's Suzanne in the beautiful red dress right there. I like to pin her on my computer so at least I can see her. There we go. Okay, honey, I I can see you now. I feel better, and I want to welcome all my friends that have showed up here today. It's great to see y'all. So tonight we're going to do step two, right? And we're gonna do step three, all right? I mean, we're Gonna take these steps. We're gonna really dive. We're Gonna get into them. We're Going to break them down a little bit, and I have about 47 minutes. That's more than enough time, and I want To thank everybody for their active listening. Lovey, I love how your group says that. If you're not actively listening, turn your video off. I love that. You know, when I go to a meeting in Alcoholics Anonymous prior to the pandemic, right, Lovey? I listen. I'm one of these guys. When I'm at a convention, I'm more of these days, right? When I met a conference, I always have speakers that told me since I've been new. Hey, dude, thank you. What I do? I don't know. You just kept on shaking your head up and down. You gave me encouragement. So, you know, when we put hearts up on the screen, when we put thumbs up, you know, when we put that, you know celebration thing up, you know we let the speaker know or whoever sharing know that we are connecting with them and we're going to talk about that tonight. So we're going to talk about connecting in spirit. Okay, so the first one we're going to talk about is step two. So step two is came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity. Now I'm going to be giving you a lot of because that's my job okay uh our job as old timers is to let the newcomer know the newcomers what some of these words mean right so restore means to return so let's read it again came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could return us to sanity okay now i don't know about you but i was sane at one point in my life you know i was a good kid growing up you know prior to picking up my first drink or my first drug, you know? And so that's what we're going to talk about tonight, being returned to sanity. And I'm going to start with a step two story, gang, because we're going to be talking about God tonight. Now listen, if you get uncomfortable, just fidget around in your seat a little bit, okay? You know, play with your face, play for your hands, fix your hair a little big. If you get on call when we talk about God, just feel uncomfortable, but don't leave. stay stay here with us and and you're going to have a chance at eight o'clock to talk about your your conception of god okay so i'm going to start with the barber story okay and the barber story is real simple i've shared this i think in nightly reviews recently uh one of the groups that that is here from canada and the barbara there's just a story about this this dude like me you You know, so it'd be like me and Ralph DeLuca, you know, leave the meeting and we go to the pizzeria. Right. We're going to get a pizza. Right. Well, in this case, me and Ralf, this might not be a good thing to say with Ralph, but me and Raul are getting a haircut. Well, at least I am. OK, we're going into the barber and Robbie's getting a hair cut. Right. And Ralph's hanging out with me because he's my boy. Right. He's supporting me. And we walk in there and Ralph's hangin' out reading a magazine, car and driver. and I'm getting my hair cut. Now, guess what, gang? I'm telling the barber all about my day. I'm talking all about my God, all about all these great things that are happening to me. And finally, he cuts me off and he says, hey, dude. I said, yeah, yes, sir, Mr. Barber. He says, stop talking about God. I said. Oh, well, listen, I didn't mean to talk about God, it's just like how great my life's been. He says fine, leave God out of it. I say, oh, okay. I don't know what happened. And I go a little bit further. I get some more of my locks cut off, right? And I start saying, oh, my gosh. And I'm going to university now, right, and I'm so grateful to God because he said, dude, stop talking about God. And so I calmed down. He extinguished my light a little thing, right. And I left the barbershop with Ralph. Me and Ralph left the barber shop. Ralph said, yeah, he's an atheist, dude. You don't want to hear – you don't believe in no God whatsoever, bro. you know it probably wasn't a good idea to talk about that an atheist is one who believes in no god and i was just like hurting inside and then guess what i did gang me and ralph were walking down main street right in connecticut and i see two dudes with long straggly hair right and beards and i said hey guys if i give you both a 20 dollar bill will you follow me and ralphy back to the barbershop and they're like yeah dude definitely remember when you're on the street if you got 20 bucks that was a lot of money fairy l you know what i mean and so these two dudes with long straggly hair followed me and ralph d you know look like two newcomers i'm not judging but they look like new newcomers and we all walked into the barber shop together and trevor what i did like i i banged open the door you know like like it was the old west you know and i said hold on here there is no such thing as a barber ronnie the barber looked at me like i was nuts and he looked at ralphie like ralphy was my you know my my uh you know my underboss so he wasn't going to mess with me but he looked up and he says what's wrong with you what is wrong with you i got a business going on here why are you saying there's no barber i'm a barber and i said look at these two guys with these long hair right lovey Look at these guys with these long beards. If there was a barber, they wouldn't look like that. There must not be no such thing as a barber. He said, dummy, they just never came to me. I said, right. There you go. Because at one point he said to me when I was sitting on his barber's door, he said, there can't be no God because of 9-11. There can't been no God because of all the crazy stuff that happens in the world and all the killings. And I said to him, yes, you know, there is a God. It's just that those people that do those things just don't go to Him. Right? Just like those dudes don't going to the barber to get their hair cut. So tonight we're going to talk about You know, what it's like to fully rely on a power greater than ourselves. We're going to talk about what it is like to believe in a God, right? And that brings us to page 44 in We Agnostics, in our big book. So feel free to open up to page44 with me in your big book, page44, We Agnostics. Now, we're going go to the very first sentence, right, page 44. And it says this. It says, if when you honestly want to, you find you cannot quit entirely. By the way, this is the definition of an alcoholic. Or if when drinking, you have little control of the amount you take, you're probably alcoholic. So if you're a newcomer and you got your book open for the first time or whatever, or you haven't written nothing in there yet, write D-E-F period alcoholic and point to that sentence, if. Because that's the definition of an alcoholic, right? But then our big book author says, if that be the case, you may be suffering from an illness which only a spiritual experience can conquer. Well, wait a minute. What's a spiritual appearance? So I've taken a little bit of time to look up some of these words, gang. OK, and spiritual. Let me start with that word. Spiritual simply means right. Connecting in spirit. Right. So if you're if you leave a meeting, right, Ronnie, Ronnie. You said, man, that meet was spiritual, bro. I feel like that was a spiritual meeting. What you did, Ronnie? Is you connected with the spirit of that room? And it's just that simple. Right. And that's so important for us to do, you know, because a lot of times I'll leave a meeting with like three other guys and I'll be like, well, wasn't that being great to us? Yeah, I'd love the speaker. And the one guy would say, oh, that was horrible. Well, what was the difference? Me and my two buddies, me, Gasper and Andrew, we we connected spiritually with the speaker, but our buddy did not. and that's okay it just means you didn't connect in spirit but so that's spiritual is joining in spirit but now listen to this i mentioned that word spirit if you take a chance to look up that word spirit there is an absolute definition of it that's very relatable to us and listen to this spirit s p i r i t an alcoholic solution of a volatile uh situation did you hear that an alcoholic resolution of a vile tile oh i'm sorry substance so that's what spirit is so spirit is a solution and and here's our big book author saying we got to have a spiritual experience to conquer this. He didn't say we got to make 90 meetings in 90 days, right? He didn'T say we gotta fake it till we make it or some of the cute things you hear here in Alcoholics Anonymous. Make five meetings a day! Man, you can make five meetings today and still be crazier than a bed bug, all right? What's the next paragraph say? To one, and this is all second step, to one who feels he is an atheist or a agnostic. So let's just break that down for the newcomers. Trevor, Listen to this. An atheist is obviously someone who doesn't believe in God. We all know that he's an atheist. He don't believe no God. Fine. At least at least I'll take an atheist at least they got a commitment right. Listen to what an agnostic is. An agnostic is someone that holds to the belief that God is unknown, right? And probably it's unknowable. Like they would share with us like, no, I don't know. I don' t think that' s even possible. In fact, they will not commit that there is a God or isn' t a God. At least an atheist commits. I' ll take an atheist over an agnestic every day, right, when I sponsor them. Because an agnostic ain't committing. And we all know here in Alcoholics Anonymous, we have to commit. You feel me? You've got to go all in. Raise your hand if you believe in that. We've gotto go all-in. These people in Alcoholic Anonymous write very well. They've gotta have something. How can all these alcoholics be staying sober, Kathy B., Denise K., E.? How can they be doing that? They must be on to something. right so the one who feels he is an atheist or agnostic in other words to one who doesn't believe in god at all or the one that says i just nah there's just no way man there's no way there's an existence of god but i just don't think there could be one right but i'm not sure i'm not going to commit i'm going to stay on the fence that's an agnestic they're they're on the fence they're non-committal right now i can relate to that a lot of us come in that way that's fine so it seems impossible to the atheists or agnostic that we need a spiritual experience in here i'm sure if i asked you to raise your hand when you came in and somebody said well and you started hearing all this god stuff and you seen god on the walls and and you start saying oh i mean think about this for a second newcomers i know you feel comfortable when there's a person sharing on the screen that's using the f-bomb right i know do you feel culpable when there is somebody at Jews in profane language. Do you know why you feel comfortable? Because that's the way you're used to acting and talking. I don't. It upsets me when I hear that kind of talk, especially in Alcoholics Anonymous, especially in a place right, Ralph, where we're supposed to be changing. I would never want to go to a church on a Sunday or listen to a preacher and hear them talk with that guttural language I hear some people on the program talk like. And I'm not judging. I'm just reporting. That's despicable, you know? And you won't hear that coming from my mouth tonight, Lynette, you know? You just won't, you know, because I've changed today. Oh, you used to. I'm a kid that's been to prisons, jails, rehabs and mental hospital. I lived on the streets. You know, I'm a three-time convicted felon, okay? I'll give you maybe worse than all that. I'm a Philadelphia Eagles season ticket holder. Boom, okay, we got a reputation. right so like i could curse you're not impressing me with your foul language cut it out as clancy used to tell me chuck chamberlain says clancy's the only one that can tell people what to do and i and his forward to uh uh to a new pair of glasses and i love that clancy told me for decades the stock crap that i was doing and i'm not afraid to share his message with you guys cut that language out when you get a chance to share an alcoholics anonymous dress up put something nice on you know what i mean and let people know especially a newcomer listen i didn't always look like this i'm a street guy okay i'ma hoodlum i'mma philadelphia guy that hung out in streets and the playgrounds in the parks but sometimes we change so to be doomed an alcoholic death age 44 or to live on a spiritual basis are not easy alternatives to face for who are you kidding me only for alcoholics for anybody else in life like hello you got a choice okay You can be doomed to an alcoholic death, man. Or you can live on a spiritual basis. Spiritual basis, please. You ask an alcoholic that or you tell an alcoholic that or share that with an alcoholic early on if we're going through this step. They're like, well, what do you really mean by an alcoholic debt? Can you elaborate on that, Rob? Really, dude? And that's how we are, man, like we need explanations, Ricky T. You know what I mean? like no my sponsor would say shut up he would explain okay and then he would say we're going to work on a spiritual uh thing with you i don't care what you say we'RE GOING TO CONTINUE TO WORK ON A DATE OF TIME YOU'RE GOINNA CLEAN UP YOUR LANGUAGE YOU'RE GONNA LEAVE THE WOMEN ALONE IN ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS THEY ARE HERE THEY'RE ON LIFE SUPPORT IF THIS IS LIKE THE INTENSIVE CARE UNIT You leave them alone, Robbie. You're going there for Alcoholics Anonymous. You let them recover just like they need to let you recover. So I just love that. So what's the next two paragraphs down? It says, but after a while we have to face the fact that we must find a spiritual basis of life or else. Or else what? Or else we die. Right, Trevor? Or else мы дай. And that's the truth. Now, I'm going to throw some truths out here today. They're not opinions. I'm gonna throw some truth and some experience out. You know, I told you guys I've been sober for 37 years and for 35 of those years, the last 35, I've be in AA. I've done what they told me to do. Only the first two years a little weird because I was locked up, whatever, okay? But since I've bent out for the last 25 years, okay, I've in the middle of Alcoholics Anonymous. I did something really weird, ladies and gentlemen. Right, Mick? Hi, Mick from Scotland. How you doing, mate? I did some really weird when I was new. Listen up, newcomers. I did what they told me to do. My first couple of years while I was locked up, I still went to meetings. I still got my own big book. And I didn't hang around with the hoodlums. I mean, I know that's not easy in prison. But I didn' t. I didn''t hang out with the bad guys. I stayed by myself. And when I finally got out, Gaspar, I got in the middle of Alcoholics Anonymous. I got into the middle to bed, as they say, over across the pond, you know? And I've stayed there, Andrew R. from Canada. I've stayed there, Victoria P. And I don't want to be in and out of Alcoholic Anonymous I want to right in the middle. I'm proud of that. I make no excuses for it, okay? I'm done. Raise your hand if you're done drinking for good and for all. Raise your hands. Raise both hands if you love Alcoholics Anonymous with all your heart and soul. Let me see both hands. Come on, Tim. Get that other hand up. Come on. That's it, Kim. All right. Thank you. And listen. Listen. It's okay to have enthusiasm, right? You know, I got taught – that's Ronnie. I got taught, right, by Clancy. So I'm going to give you a little story about Clancy Emislin from Los Angeles, California. Rest his soul. I was with him at the International Convention in Toronto, Canada. I see some of our friends here from Toronto. And I happened to, through the grace of God, I happened to be Clancy's lead speaker. So like Clancy was the big speaker that night, Carol, right? In this stadium. He was like Led Zeppelin, right Annette B. Good to see you, Annette. I've been to many conferences with Annette. Hi, sister. Clancy was like Led Zeppelin or the Beatles. I was like ace of bass maybe. Like I was somebody you never heard of. Like I'm the guy that's – I'm that band that's playing when you first get to the stadium and you just hope they get done. Some of the lights are still on. You know what I mean? Like I am not – and so I'm sitting with Clancy at this big international convention and I give a quick 20-minute lead. What an honor, right? And I get done and I sit down. And then Clancy and I really didn't have a lot of interaction before that. And you know what he said to me, Mick? He said, Robbie, that message was full of enthusiasm. Do you know who that is? I said, no, I don't. And when I said that, Ralph, to the left of both of us, there was a general service trustee of the board. In fact, he happened to be the chairman of the Board. His name is Gary Glynn. I can use his last name because he's a non-alcoholic. And at this point, he was saying, and now I introduce to you from Los Angeles, California and the Pacific group, Clancy I. And he said that, a thunderous applause goes up, and he's still talking to me. I said, Clancey, they're calling you. He said, don't worry about it, all right? And he says, let me tell you what enthusiasm means, kid. The Greek word of enthusiasm is entheos. Theos is God and N is within. You got it. Don't lose it. I got to go. And he went up to the stage and brought the house down for the next hour. He shared for about an hour and a half, but you don't tell Clancy to stop sharing. And it was just amazing. And so, ladies and gentlemen, if you see somebody up on that TV screen or at a meeting or somewhere, a preacher, right, Lovey? Or a speaker, and you see their enthusiasm. listen it's not an act that is God within them and they are willing to share that God with you and that's what that's what I'm gonna be doing for the next six weeks so this is my second week here I told y'all last week I'm going to commit to eight straight weeks with you who else is coming for the net six weeks witness layer let me see some hands I'm gonna go to come on make that a boy I know it's late there but you're a good alcoholic let me look around the room oh I'm on the second page look at Lynette see? Hey, Las Vegas Tommy's coming. Steven. Oh, there's Marlena from Sydney, Australia. Good to see you. How's the future, kid? So anyway, here's my point. Don't be afraid to be enthusiastic. Don'T be afraid TO let others see your God. If you notice up there, I got a light. I got a lamp up on a lamp stand because we're told that keep your lamp on a lamp stand and let your light shine. Listen, sometimes you hear, well, people will talk about you. Oh, they really will in AA. Let them talk. Don't get past you quickly enough. It's not about you and them anyway, as Mother Teresa has always taught us. It is really about you and who we are talking about tonight, you and your God. Okay, so we talked about the atheist. We talked about diagnostic. We talked, we talked, about what it means to be a real alcoholic that We can't quit, right? So what does our big book author say on the bottom of page 44? But cheer up. Something like half of us thought we were atheists or agnostics. Our experience shows that you don't need to be disconcerted. So don't worry about it. You know, another one of my favorite, favorite persons in the whole entire world is a guy named Sandy Beach. I've also got a chance to many, many, many, many times that the arm and arm with Sandy on beaches sitting next to him. And he would say to me at all times, Robbie be a seeker. Don't stop seeking. Ladies and gentlemen, when we are seeking, we are searching search. Keep on searching. Don't follow the crowd in Alcoholics Anonymous. Oh, did I say that? So follow them if they're like Ralphie DeLuca and Lovie and Gasper, all right? And Ricky T. Follow them like Fariel and Jody. But don't follow them if they are not giving the proper message as outlined in our big book of Alcoholics Anonymous and they are NOT ALL IN. Be careful. Watch. Observe. Seek. Search. and you will find the people. You'll find your people. You'll found your people, okay? So let's go to a must. You know, there's a must, oh, there is a must! I see a must on page 44. Let's see if I can find it. It's on here. I know it's on her. I read it. It's right, oh it's spiritual basis so here it comes. All right, all right. But it isn't difficult. About half of our fellowship were exactly that type. And some of us tried to, let me read this, hold on. There it is. But after a while, we had to face the fact that we must find a spiritual basis of life. So there it is, we must. It don't say it's a good idea. It doesn't say that many of us took a long time. It didn't say a day at a time. Easy does it? You know, Dr. Bob takes that away from us. He says on, let's go to page 181 of our big book. You know I'm used to doing big book boot camps so stay with me lovey let's go to page 181 and let's see what dr bob says here so dr bob takes away that cute that cute day to time idea that we hear about nothing wrong with it nothing wrong with it but there's a little something better let's always shoot for the best here's what here's a doctor bob says dr bob said but if you really it's at the one at 181 down the bottom but if your really and truly want to quit drinking liquor one day at a time oh he don't say that Ming. Guess what he says, Brother Min? He says, but if you really and truly want to quit drinking liquor for good and all, that means you're done. We're done, we don't have to have it anymore. We got an answer, Farielle, we found an answer. And it's here, it's more than a solution. We found a program of action. We are going to talk about it. Is there a solution? Yes, there is. But the good news is we can take that solution and get into this program of action. And that's what we want to talk about here tonight. So let's go to page 45. I got one page in 25 minutes. This is going to be rough, but we're going to, I'm going to start working it a little stronger. Okay. So page 45, lack of power. That was our dilemma. It says we had to find a power, right? Suzanne L from which we could live and had to be a power greater ourselves, Not our sponsor, not our group. All those are very, very good, great ideas, okay? But here it says, obviously, but where were we going to find that power? Well, that's exactly what this big book of Alcoholics Anonymous is all about. Its main object, the main object of the book, it's not to beat people over the head with it. Billy Yen from Georgia is one of my good friends and we served on the General Service Board together and he always said that we don't ever want to use this big book as a weapon okay but it says here how we're supposed to use it its main object is to enable you to find a power grid in yourself not just so you can become holy now not so you could be a holy roller not so we can become saint ralph saint mick saint robbie and saint colleen l do you know why we find this power grant ourselves it says in the next sentence because it will solve our problem okay and there's the spiritual answer right there on 45 let's go to 46 goes down the bottom of the page i don't even got to go to it i know what it says it says god will never give you two hard terms if you come to them that's good news i'm gonna i'm in a profession where i give um uh guarantees if you will okay and and and here's a guarantee it says that we found bomb in the page that god does not make too hard terms with those who what there's that word seek him those who search for him lovey search ladies and gentlemen the main purpose group search seek the orders of meditation go to it. There's a conference on the 11th step, go to it. Please, we beg you, be fearless and thorough from the very start. You know you can't become too spiritual in this program. We are alcoholics and we're creatures of habit. My experience in the last 37 years of sobriety is that I've watched a lot of men and women like me that should have 37 years of sobiety, that got healthy and wealthy and they got the cars and they get the houses and they the money and the 3.2 kids and that's wonderful that's part of the rewards but then they leave men they leave poof, they're gone now I'm sure they didn't come in the AA when they were newer and said well I'm going to get mine I'm gonna get mine and get out I'm certain that ain't what they said Ricky T but then what happened is they started allowing their possessions to possess them hmm and if something happens and they get diverted from their primary purpose not me who here is not going to get diverted no matter what happens in life raise your hand who's not going to get the bird who's gonna stay here under any and all circumstances me too man I'm all-in I'm staying eight men I'm staying to the end bro I'm saying I'm standing on the ship I don't care for going down i'll be that band i'm getting a guitar i got suzy my guitar arrived so like i got a guitar man i'll play the guitar man a little sweet home alabama as the ship's gone down man during my last days whoa aa rocks man amazing grace how sweet the sound don't leave stay don't keep coming back either stay this program is so much more than cute chants this program is not a it's not a theory the spiritual way of life we have to live right it's right in our book next paragraph let's go to page 47 next page over page 47 second step question and here it comes a sponsor sits with a sponsee sponsors here's how to do it you sit there and you say to him across from the table okay I'll treat well Andrew is my sponse Hi, Andrew F. I'm going to ask you a question. I'm not going to unmute. You can just mouth it. You don't have a vocal part yet until 8 o'clock, but here we go. Andrew, do you believe or are you willing to believe that there's a power greater than yourself? Thank you, Andrew. And guess what, dude? Thank you. Okay, that's enough, Andrew。 You just took the second step because Andrew said he did. so it says like look at the next sentence on 47 as soon as a man or a woman can say that they do believe or are willing to believe just willingness so what does willingness mean men i'm going to give you the definition my brother from sydney willingness means action without reluctance huh you're still reluctant then go back to the other step go back the one you're not ready for two yet. But if you're willing, if you are willing to say, okay, Rob, I'll make the coffee. Okay, Rob, I'll hang out with you and Suzanne at the Friday night meeting, the big book meeting. Oh, it's at nine o'clock. Is that a little too late for you at night? Cut it out. Yeah. If I had beer bongs and kegs and right, Mick, and, and, and, and, you know, all that kind of stuff and all the liquor, You'd have been there early and you'd have stayed late. Give me a break. It has been repeated, page 47, proven among us that upon this simple cornerstone. Well, what's a cornerstone? A cornerstone is a foundation of a building. So upon this simply foundation, now here it comes, a wonderfully effective spiritual structure can be built. Ladies and gentlemen, in step two, we're building a spiritual structure. We're not interested in your foul language. We're Not Interested In Your Dirty Jokes. Do them on the side. We're NOT Interested IN YOUR SARCASM. It is not a character asset. Oh, by the way, sarcasm is cutting with your tongue like a knife. Stop it. Don't you dare be sarcastic with me. I don't care who you are in alcoholics. And if you're listening to this CD, don't ever be sarcastic with Robbie W from the Jersey Shore. I had enough beaten up out there. I've been out on the streets and I've Been to jails and prisons and Ive been to mental hospitals and I'v been beat up and Iv been locked up. I don' t need to be beat up here. Right, Andrew? This is a safe haven. Cut that sarcasm out. If you're in Alcoholics Anonymous, cut it out. We are here to be built up. If you can't help us, don't hurt us. That's a famous Buddhist saying. If you Can't Help Somebody, Don't Hurt Them. Keep It To Yourself. Just my thoughts. I might get a little passionate. And if I get passionate, just hang in there. Like, listen, I usually say before I start to share at a big convention, I usually say keep your hands in the car, keep your seatbelts on, okay? I'll let you know when you're allowed to move about the plane, okay, but until such point, man, hold on because we're going to have an experience. This is, oh, by the way, this ain't a step study for eight weeks. This is a step experience. We as a group here at the main purpose group, right now there's 67 of us, including myself, that is having an experience with the second step. but let's not stop there. I sound like a salesman, don't I? Let's go to step three. Step three, made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood him. Well, let's look at that word care. So it says, we made a decisions to turn our wills and our life over to care. Care means supervision. So let's read it again. We made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the supervision of God as we understood him. This reminds me of the Chop Wood story. One of my very good friends, Peter Marinelli from Florida, he'll always talk about, you know, Chop Wood, Carrie Warder brothers, Chopwood, Carrie Wood brothers and sisters. You know, I love him. Takes his shoes off when he speaks at a convention because he says we're on spiritual ground. I love that. I haven't done that yet. i might one day i love peter he's my boy so i'm going to give you a quick story it's called the chop wood story right and here it goes once upon a time a strong woodcutter asked for a job at it from a timber merchant and he got it the pay was really good right listen gentlemen and so was the work conditions for these reasons the wood cutter was determined to do his best right he got a good job here ronnie he was going to keep this job so his boss gave him an axe right and showed him where he was supposed to work. Well, guess what he did, Ronnie, Ron? First day, he cut down 18 trees, bro, 18 trees. The boss at the end of the day, Suzanne, said, whoa, good job, brother, Ronnie. Good job. Very motivated at this point. The next day, He went out, and Colleen, he only cut down 15 trees that day. The third day, Farrell, he went out and he only cutting down 10 trees. Mick, he said, I must be losing my strength. He went to his boss and apologized and he couldn't understand what was going on. And his boss simply asked him a question. When was the last time you sharpened your axe, brother? Sharpen? I didn't have no time to sharpen my axe. I've been too busy cutting trees, sir. Ladies and gentlemen of the main purpose group, don't be too busy. being busy, take care of you. Get your meditations in. Suzanne and I know. Suzanne knows when she calls me at a certain time of the evening that I will be in my hot tub. She knows. Don't you, baby? You know. I'm just saying. Maybe that's too much information on you. But I take care of myself. I know Suzanne and where we go. Last weekend, we went to a beautiful resort with hot tub i like hot tubs and pool and right baby we went to a show for the weekend we left the kids stay home and we went away babe wasn't that amazing we took care of ourselves ladies and gentlemen sharpen your axes make your meeting stay busy men make your meetings feriel make that 10 o'clock meeting tonight stay busy but don't forget about feriel take care of feriel Suzanne loves to go out and get, you know, get $100 fingernails and toe manicures. God bless you, honey. You know, if it gets her hair all changed and stuff. I love it. Good for you. And that's how she takes care of herself, right? Whatever. I'm in trouble probably after the meeting. But listen, sharpen your axe. Don't keep on going and going and doing. Write Victoria B and burn it out. Write Annette B. Don't burn out. amanda g from new orleans good to see you again stay man work on yourself and this is what we do right tommy from vegas we take care of ourselves and then because listen what's it say on 164 come on big book people let's go to 164 i'm going to underscore what i'm saying our bill wilson says something really amazing on 165 and i know what it says but i want to go to the exact he says listen to this he says but obviously you cannot transmit something that you haven't got see do it that your relationship with him is right and great events will come to pass for you and countless others you can't transmit something you don't got so get it go to these these workshop I've been going to these workshop i have been to probably no less than 20 workshops that sandy beach ran i've probably been a 10 that bob darrell ran from the vegas i've been the two that uh joe and charlie ran and and i was nobody i was sitting out in the audience oh pastor ed newton i went to his things down in florida and and these are my teachers and i learned and i sat there and i sharpened my ax men and all of a sudden with 30 i don't know what how much time i had i think i had about 12 years of sobriety and finally somebody said hey will you will you come speak for us at the international convention for of young peoples in uh in um new mexico and i was like uh never really spoken a bit they said oh no we heard you somewhere on a cassette and we want you to come out right men and i would and listen you don't know when it's your turn so listen to the old timers listen to the ones that, and by the way, that's not a bad term. This is not politically correct. Oh, by the way, there's a book called Dr. Bob and the Old-Timers. You might want to check that out. We're not long timers. We're old timers and there's nothing wrong with that. Okay? Stop the political correctness. How can, thank you. Look at, look at Lovey's screen. Dr. Bob and a good old timer. Thank you, Lovey. Just saying. Oh gosh. I mean, I can't even get into that okay so step three all right so let's go to page 58 so page 58 and how it works it says that we we have to go that we have to be willing there's that word we have to be well on page 58 to go to any lamps for victory over alcohol any lamps any lamps Kathy B any less bed from Australia huh any lamps you know we you know my answer is yes when to anything hey Robbie will you sponsor me yes hey Robbie will come out to Canada and October yes I'll figure it out you know God will make the rest of the happen Chuck Chamberlain says it's so eloquently he gets up in the morning and says oh hey Papa sure I'll take care of your kid today would sure appreciate if you take care me i love that so on how it works and then it finally also says that but at some of these we balked you know our sponsor tells us to do things and we balk now do you know what a balk is if you watch baseball you know where the book is but i'm going to share what a bulk is we read it all even though somebody's we bought that sounds cute i ain't looking it up right i did my sponsor made me, Ralph. Balk means you start a motion and you stop. At some of these, we balk. Let's read it again. At Some of These, We Started and Then We Stopped. I'm not going to ask you to raise your hands, but I know you all know somebody that at one point were really into Alcoholics Anonymous and really into recovery, and now they're not. They're balking. they started and they stopped don't be a balker I might have to put that on my wall don't the a boker haha I like that all right doesn't made that up alright so don't fall so are you convinced on page 60 let's turn to page 60 it says being convinced we were at step 3 right are you convinced that means persuaded you know I'm a salesman so my job is to persuade people I sold a very very very expensive I sold the vehicle today in upwards of ninety six thousand dollars it's a Lincoln Navigator right I persuaded I didn't really persuade and they wanted it whatever but in essence a salesman's job is to persuade somebody to take some actions right so it says here are you convinced are you persuaded okay I by this point I am anybody here convinced you're an alcoholic and that you need these steps i'm not saying that you're listen i'm not asking you to raise your hand if you're convinced that no matter what you can't drink what does that mean if that's all you needed to do i'd have been sober a long time ago that's an insult to my intelligence cut it out it's not alcoholics numbers i mean there's even groups called that oh it cringes me if i could just if i couldn't no matter whatnot drink i've been sober a long time ago i wouldn't have went through jails and prisons rehabs i need a spiritual solution gang and it's here in alcoholics anonymous right bottom of page 60 it's getting good step three bottom page 60 stay focused here is what it says here's the requirement the first requirement for us to take step three is that we've been convinced that any life run on self-will will hardly be a success. On that basis, we're almost always in collision with somebody or something and y'all remember that, right? It's like being in bumper cars. Remember being out there drinking and drugging? It's like being on those bumper cars, boom, boom boom, getting locked up, back of police cars right? Getting, oh I can't even think about it. I can'T even watch the show Cops. That's how many times I've been locked up. I think cops is abusive to alcoholics You know, there's always 10 cops and one alcoholic. Right, Mick? I hated that. Even though our motives are good, what's the motive? What is a motive? We hear about motive on page 102. We're going to talk about that as we move on. What's a motive, let's look. A motive is something that causes us to act what is your motives today what is causing you to act today is it a power grain yourself and it's okay if it's a sponsor it's ok with your home group that's a good start for me what causes me to act Lisa iPhone you know what it is it's it's loving God as he may express himself in our group conscious and alcoholics not us I found that God here in AA and I'm not letting him go he loves me madly. Let's go further. Most people try to live by self-propulsion. Each person is like an actor who wants to run the whole show. Boy, isn't that like us? Isn't that who we always seem to be? Let's Go To Page 62. Selfishness and self-centeredness. That's what we think the problem is. Let me give you the definition of selfishness. Oh, by the way, if somebody, The next time somebody says this is a selfish program, Robbie W. from the Jersey Shore gives you the authority to unmute and say, no, it's not. Now that's cross talk. I'm only kidding. Don't do that. But it's Not a Selfish Program. Suzanne, you and I know that. What does selfish mean? Here it is. Caring only for oneself. Does that sound like alcoholics knowledge to you? Uh-uh. Let me tell you what it sounds like, Alcoholics Anonymous. Our founders made sure that this was an altruistic program. Altruistic means concern for the welfare of others, Gasper. And that's what we are here. When I get passionate and I say things here, I'm not saying it to sound good, to look good, or to be an AA guru. Because trust me, I'm Not. I'm saying them because I love you enough to tell you the truth. I'm saying it because this is what I got taught. Bottom of the page. Next, we decided that hereafter in a drama of life, God was going to be our director. Not a bush league pinch hitter. Oh, wait a minute. My girlfriend just broke up with me and I can't pay the bills. Hey, God, you're up. No. No. Cut it out. It says here, God is going to become our director That means he's our boss. He was our principal, P-A-L, not P-L-E. We are his agents. So that's the good news. I couldn't wait to get to this. I got three minutes. We are God agents. Ladies and gentlemen, the main purpose group. Tonight, I dub each and every one of you a God agent. If you have taken step three, you are now a God agency. You know, Suzanne got this for me. This is at Buzz Lightyear. You know, I love this dude, man. I don't know if you can hear him. No, I guess the battery went bad. But, you know, to infinity and beyond, I believe that, you know, we get a chance to be agents of God here. You know? Who else is the alcoholic going to go to? You know. They've been left on our doorstep, ladies and gentlemen of Alcoholics Anonymous. Now it's our job to be here and to be their direct. We got a chance for them to come in. We got the chance to see his hands and his arms and his eyes and his legs and his arms. We get a chance, Andrew, to wrap our arms around another alcoholic that comes here and says, I can't stop drinking. He comes here or she comes here and says I can stop drinking, I want to just die. Right, Kathy B? They've been to mental hospitals and insane asylums, right, Farielle? They tried to kill themselves and they come here and we get a change to save them. Ladies and gentlemen, we are super heroes in Alcoholics synonymous suzanne also got me iron man i have him here for a reason you don't have to believe this you don'T HAVE TO ACCEPT IT BUT LADIES AND GENTLEMEN WE GET TO SAVE OTHERS WE GET TO BE REBORN HERE IT SAYS ON PAGE 63 IT SAY'S WE ARE REBорN SO LET'S GET TO THE THIRD STEP promises as i get ready to close page 63 it says when we sincere top of the page gang right on the top of that page third step promises when we sincerely took such a position also what position to position that god's going to be our boss period and don't worry about what other people think about you they may call you a holy roller they are that guy really into jesus or whatever he's the buddha or whatever let him do it when we took this position all sorts of remarkable things followed we had a new employer being all powerful he provided what we needed if we kept close to him and performed his work well lovey right as stumbles on such a footing we become less and less interested in ourselves i hate that statement when speakers get up there and say well i've got much but i'm all i think about i want to puke right there in the front row that's not funny take the steps big guy stop being a circuit speaker and take the steps of alcoholics anonymous we become less and less interested in ourselves our little plans and designs more and more we become interested in seeing what we can contribute to life right fairy el you you guys read that every night at the nightly reviews at 10 o'clock at night and here it comes as we feel new power flow in we enjoy peace of mind as we discovered We could face life successfully. I could face life successfully today because of this. You see that light preserver right there on my suit jacket? I grabbed for this program in the first step like the drowning would seize a light preserver and now God has brought me ashore and says, now bring the rest of my kids on shore and that's my job today. Right? We become conscious of His presence. Capital H. We began to lose our fear today, tomorrow, or hereafter. We are reborn and I'll end with this, lovey, and I will turn it over to you. we were now at step three many of us said to our said to our maker capital M as we understand him God I offer myself to thee to build with me and to do with me as thou wilt relieve me of the bondage of self that I may better do thy will take away my difficulties not so that I'll look good and not so it all sound good not so I'll become some major speaker not so to somebody who'll say, oh, did you ever hear of Robbie W. Trevor? Oh, yeah. That's not why I want him to take away my difficulties. I want to take away my difficulties so that victory over them may bear witness to those that I would help of thy power, thy love, and thy way of life. May I do thy will always. Ladies and gentlemen, this should be a pep rally for Alcoholics Anonymous, the 12 Steps, and God when you come to AA. Join in on the parade. Come on, let's do it. Let others know how amazing it is when you get sober. My name's Robbie W. I'm a recovered alcoholic from Wildwood, New Jersey. And with that, I'm going to turn it back over to our chairperson, Robbie Russo from Bermuda. Robbie, thank you so much. That was absolutely amazing.