The Road Map Found in the Big Book – 1962 – Tom S.

Thank you very much. It's indeed good to be here. Someone was asking me this morning why we named Lovers Lane Methodist Church the name we did, and I merely indicated that it was named after a street, and the street was named for the reason you think it was. I know it's a real sacrifice for many of you to be here tonight. I know you feel about like those two drunks, you know, that were walking up the railroad track and they just stepped from tie to tie and finally one drunk said to the other, he said, gee whiz, these stairs are about to kill me. The other drunk said, well, I tell you, it's not the stairs that's about to killed me, it's these low handrails. Now, if any of you have to leave tonight, that's perfectly all right. I don't mind you leaving. Just get up and walk out, but for heaven's sakes, don't sneak out because it doesn't look good. You know, a number of years ago when I started into the work of alcoholics and helping and working with alcoholics, I think I had many misconceptions. I think I can best illustrate this by visualizing, if you will, a river. And going down this river are many people and I was kind of like a man sitting on the bank and I would try to show them the channel. I would try to point out to them the sandbars. I would try to point out to them the pitfalls that you might find in this stream. And yet I found that this was not too effective. From time to time, I would find individuals as they would go down this stream and they would hit a sandbar and they Would crack up and I would jump into the stream and I Would try to save them by bringing them to shore. And then I would continue my direction again. But I think that since that day to this, my whole philosophy has changed. I no longer sit on the bank and give directions. I No longer jump into the stream and carry those to the shore at the sandbars. But i think that i find myself in the midst of the stream all the time helping those whom i can and carrying those and upholding those who have hit sandbars. But I think the greatest thing is that in this stream, I have found not only those whom I hold up, but most of all, those who help to hold me up. And this is what I think of AA and how much I appreciate of this organization, because I find as we are in the stream together, it is a teamwork of helping each other, that both of us are able to reach that larger body, which is the larger body of life itself. There are many things I'd like to say tonight as I look out here and see you packed in. I'm reminded of the story of the Methodist and Baptist preacher, you know. The Methodist preacher used to go over and see the Baptist preacher every Sunday morning and say to him, well, how many did you have in church yesterday? The Baptist preacher said, oh, I had about 400. The Methodists preacher said oh, I got you beat. I had 600. Next Sunday morning he went over and he asked the Baptist preacher, he said, how many did you have in church today? Oh, he said I had about 600. The Methodist preacher said, oh,I got you beaten. I had around 800. This goes on and on until finally it gets up to about 1500 and the Baptist Preacher calls his hand on it and says, listen fellow, I've just been over and I've counted the seats in your church. There's no way possible that you can possibly seat 1,500 people in that sanctuary. And the Methodist preacher said, you just don't know how narrow my people are. Well, it's wonderful to see all of you here tonight and I only hope that you will enter into this meeting and will truly get out of it the meat which will be brought to you, as I know it will. I remember when I was just a lad, I had never seen a circus, and to this day, my friends, I have never seen any circus. I hate to admit that, but it's the truth. But when I Was a Lad, I was given 50 cents one day to go see a circus. And I remember going, and I arrived early, and everyone had the streets lined and I walked out to the edge and finally worked my way over to where I could see what was taking place and here were all kinds of wagons going by and then there were the elephants and then they were the horses and finally there came along the clowns, you know, the guys that were acting funny and one of them came over right in front of me and held out his hand and I put in my 50 cents. And then I went on home. And it was two or three days later that I found out that I had missed the circus. You see, all that I'd gotten to see actually was the parade. But I'd missed the circuit. I hope that you folk in this experience here will not miss the heart of it. And I hope that you'll have an opportunity to see more than just the parade itself. And so there will be many things that will happen to you, kind of like the lady I was in Houston and I was giving a speech there and the lady walked up to me and said, I bet you don't know me. I'm telling you she was really dressed. She was a beautiful lady. And she just kept pressuring me, you know, one of these embarrassing moments for saying, you don't remember me, do you? And of course I was stalling for time trying to remember who she was. Finally I had to say to her like the bishop did, no, I hadto forget you so I could go on about my work. but putting all joking aside the reason why she was presuming so was because she really didn't want me to know her because you see the last time I had seen her and worked with her she was in such terrible shape She didn't even look like the same person. And when finally I did tell her that I did not recognize her, she said, thank God, because this is what AA has done for me. It has helped me to change so much that there are those that are unable to recognize me because she has changed for the better. And so you will see the same thing happening here as you run into people that you haven't seen for a number of years and those you haven'T known. There will be a lot of interesting things that will take place. Some of you I see are here now that were here five years ago when I made a speech, and some of you are just sobering up then, and things are going to look different now than they did at that time. You know, kind of like the preacher one evening, the bishop had asked him to help put away the communion, and this was a young minister, and they weren't using just plain old grape juice. They were using some of the real stuff, you know. And we can't afford that in a Methodist church. But at any rate, he was carrying out these communion trays and he started nipping a little bit and had quite a few of them. Finally, by the time they had just about finished it all, well, he Was feeling real good. And the bishop was all stooped over getting the final things taken care of when he sneaked up behind him and he said, Bang! and the bishop almost jumped over the pulpit and he looked around realized the condition of the young man so he said to him son you and I mean right now so the young men took out for home next morning came back for the conference and he was sitting down there and the Bishop said son I want you to come up here and of course he was scared to death he came up and he said now I want to you to reenact what you did last night well it didn't look the same you know and the bishop stooped over and the young man walked up behind him and he said snap and the Bishop said that isn't what you did last night he said I know but I was loaded last night I think what I'd like to do tonight, if I may, is try to compare to you what I have felt for a long time and that is that Alcoholic Anonymous is really God's service station. And have you ever stopped to think what it is that makes a service station great? really the reason why they are of such importance is for the simple reason that they're scattered all over the country this last summer while we were on our vacation i couldn't help but realize a number of things the first thing i i don't know about you folk i don'T even know how you make a trip but my wife and i we always have a definite pattern that we go through you know we're going to get up early in the morning four o'clock well we always get off by ten. It never fails. And of course we decide that we won't eat breakfast, you know. We're going to drive down the road a ways and so we start down the road and she reminds me that there's a very nice place to eat breakfast right across the road but I indicate to her that while the traffic is a little heavier there's another place right on down the way a bit further and so we go on down and then she indicates to me another place and we're already past and I say well honey we'd have to turn around and go back. Finally, we're out at the end of town and she points out another place and I merely say, well, honey, you see, that looks like kind of a joint. We'd better not stop there. And so I say, it's only 30 minutes, you know, to the next town. And then, of course, by the time we get to the last joint, the next time we go through the same procedure again. And usually along about 2 o'clock in the afternoon we end up eating in a hamburger joint out at The End of Town somewhere. The thing I'd like to say to all of you here that wherever you go and whatever you do, don't wait too late because sometimes if you do you end up taking less than that which is the best. And so I think it's wonderful that you're here and as we travel this summer across the United States I couldn't help but look at the various kinds of service stations. You know they've changed a great deal. If you look at them now, they are imposing in appearance. They're beautiful in architecture. But you know, this isn't what makes a great service station. And as I travel around over the country now visiting various AA clubs, the interesting thing is the way in which they have changed from the little hovels and the little places, the out-of-way places that they used to meet, until now we meet in imposing buildings that have beautiful architecture. But I would hope that we would always remember that imposing buildings and beautiful architecture will never make for you a great AA club. And I think we should remind ourselves of this from time to time because often we forget it. And so this evening I'd like to just think with you, if I may, what it is that goes to make up a great service station. You will find out also that the thing that makes a great service station is not the president of the company, but the great attendants who are there on the driveway. So the first thing I'd like to say is if you're going to have a great service station, you've got to render service. And if you're going to have a great AA club, whatever it is, whatever you do, you've got to render service. You remember a man walked up and someone said to Jesus one day as he wanted to be great and as he want to stand at the top with Jesus. And Jesus said, He who will be great among you must be servants of all. He who would be great amongst you must be servants of all. If a man asks for your coat, give him your cloak as well. If a man asked you to go a mile, go with him two. Now there's one thing that it seems to me that all of us should remember and should never forget, and it's this, that there may be those that will be able to build better buildings than you can, but there is no group that can render a greater service than you can render. And I don't care where you come from or what kind of a club you have, there is one thing that will make you great and that is when you render service to people. And when you do this, I don' t care what else you have. One thing will be sure. You will be rendering a service that has value to people. And I think the time will come when we will find the A.A. clubs will begin to be ineffective unless they continue to do that which started them out in such a great fashion, and that's rendering service. I remember an experience that happened in Little Rock. A man was about ready to go broke. The thing that had happened was this, that he had just practically lost everything in his business. And one day, he was ready to foreclose, and he had 300 pounds of potatoes that were left. And he had made up his mind that he wasn't going to let the creditors get these 300 pounds of potatoes. And so he began to fry up hamburgers and fry up French fries, and he'd reach over and put a handful of French fries on each hamburger. And this is where you first started finding hamburgers and french fries served together. And it wasn't but a few days until he found out that he had a greater business than he could take care of, because he was able to give a little bit of extra. And I think if there's any one thing that will cause Alcoholic Anonymous to remain great will be because you'll have a group of people in AA that are willing to go the extra mile, willing to do that little bit of extra that will make it something beyond just that of another club. I don't know whether you realize it or not, but sometimes we get into these clubs and we get to be real big shots, kind of like the drunk. He's a little shot, but he takes a little shock so that he can feel like a big shot. And I was down in Dallas the other day, and I really appreciated the courage of this one man. There was a great big Cadillac that drove up, and he didn't stop where he was supposed to stop. He pulled all the way across the line where people had to walk around him. And one old boy came up there and looked at that Cadillack that's standing there. And he looked at it a while, and then he just opened that back door and opened it up. Just walked through and opened the other back door and left them both open and went on his way. You know, I couldn't help but think to myself, I don't care how big you get, you know, there's always going to be those that are going to come along to let you know that it doesn't all belong to you. And so I would hope that one of the things that would continue to make AA great is the one thing that will always make it great, and that is that it's willing to go the second mile. The second thing that I think will make a service station a great and a beneficial existence is that its willingness to go out and pick up the wrecks and bring them in when a call is received. I think if there's any one thing that's going to keep Alcoholic Anonymous the kind of organization that all of us know it is and the kind OF organization that causes all of US to appreciate it is that we will remain at the heart of its organization this desire to go out and pick up the wrecks whatever they are when they hear about them and whenever AA fails to do this it will fail to be and render the kind Of service that it should render I received a telephone call the other night And a man was very much upset, and I said to him, have you ever been in AA? And he said no. He said, I called them, and they said to me, when you get sober, call us and come and see us. And he says, if I could get sober I wouldn't need them. And if I can get to see them, I don't know if there would be any need for me going. and it seems to me that one of the things that we need to recognize and always keep before us those of us that are working with alcoholics and that is this that there may come the day when those who desire to come to see you can't get there without your help and so it seems to me that a great service station along the road of life is the one that's willing to go out and to pick up the wreck wherever it may be found and to bring it in where we can find trained mind and skilled fingers will help to restore it to usefulness and put it back on the road again. And it seems to me that this is what AA is all about. And one of the things that we should keep in the foreground at all times, I had a fellow that knocked on my office door, it was a Saturday a number of years ago, and he said, there's a man that's sitting out here on the street that's asking for you. And I went out to see him and I brought him into the office and as we were sitting there visiting he said to me, I wonder if I could have something to eat on. And I said, well, no, but I'll go eat with you. We went to a nearby restaurant and there we sat and we had lunch together and I said to him, what's your name? And he said, it's not any of your business. I said, well, I'd invested a couple dollars in you. I thought I had a right to ask, you know, but it's all right. I said do you have any family? And he says that's not in your business either. And I said well thank you, that's all alright. And we went ahead and finally he became rather angry. I was kind of, you now, prying into his personal life. Finally he got up and he started to leave. And I said to him, you may leave, but you'll come back. And he said, oh no, I won't. I said, but You'll have to come back because You don't want to leave. That night I was having a wedding in the church and just as I walked down to the altar, I looked up and in the back of the church sitting right back in one of the dark corners, he was sitting there after the wedding was over I sneaked around the back and went up the back stairs and walked up in the balcony and sat down beside him in about 30 minutes we saw the florist as she carried out all the flowers and the decorations of the wedding he sat there in tears it wasn't very long until the janitor came in and locked all the doors and then came to the last door and turned out all the lights and locked in. And I said to the man as we were sitting there, I said, you know, it's an interesting thing about this sanctuary. All the doors lock from the outside and there is no way to get out. Another thing is that it's dark and it would be rather hazardous to find your way out of this sanctuary without a light. I said, but the interesting thing is that I have both the key and I know the way and I would be more than glad to lead you if only you would let me. I said the same is true with life, you know. I know it's not just about the way I know there's a key that might help you I know a way that might direct you and I am willing. And he looked at me, and he began to break down a bit more, and then finally I said to him, why don't you tell me your life? And he said, all right. He said, you know, I'm a minister. I had a problem with drinking, and one morning I thought that I was going to be appointed to a big city church where I wanted to be. And I've always wanted to be in a larger church. But he said, I was appointed back to the little church. And he said when I walked by on this particular Sunday morning, I started walking and I never did stop. And for four years now I've bummed around all over the United States. I've lived off of churches. I've live off of people. and he said i want to go back home and i said well why don't you he said i said do you know where your family is and he said no i haven't heard from him in four years i have no idea where they are finally we went over and i says well would you mind if i tried to locate them by phone and he says no i don't want that and i say well if i put in a collect call this would be an indication that they wanted to see you wouldn't it and he agreed to let me me do this, and I called back to his old home. And sure enough, here was a congregation that had kept a church together, and a wife had remained to be the minister of that congregation while he was gone. Of course, you can imagine what happened when we called, and he was ready to return home. I told him I would give him the bus fare, and I went down and bought his ticket, and on the way down to the bus, I said to him, I said, if you were going to preach in my pulpit tomorrow, what would you say to my congregation? And this is what he said. He said, don't give a man something to eat on. Go and eat with him. and the second thing is stay with him until he finds his way back home and he said one thing I will always remember is this that Tom I don't care where you go in the world God will track you down God will crack you down and so it seems to me that one of the great services that we have to render above all others is that of reaching out and picking people up wherever we may find them and carrying them back to a way of life that I know is your way of life. And the third thing I would like to say to you is this, that to me a service station is a place where you can also gain road information. Have you ever been lost? Have you never been lost and you didn't know the way and you pulled into a service station and you've asked directions. And not only will they give you directions, but they also hand you a map that you may follow the road that will cause you to reach your destination. To me, this is the wonderful thing about Alcoholic Anonymous. Here are individuals that come into this organization. They're lost. They'RE confused. They'VE LOST THEIR WAY. THEY DO NOT KNOW THE ROAD WHICH THEY WOULD LIKE TO TAKE. AND NOT ONLY DO YOU give them directions, but you are able to give them a road map that will help them to reach the direction and the destination that they would like to reach. These are your twelve steps. These can be found and the directions can be find in the big book. Not only can it be found in the Big Book, but it can be in your serenity prayer which you said a moment ago, God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things that I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. Have you ever been lost? What a wonderful thing it is to find someone that knows a way and can give you a road map that will help you to find your way, whatever you might be. And so it seems to me that this is one of the things that we need. We need to recognize that this is a task of Alcoholic Anonymous that can render a service here in a unique way, perhaps that no other organization can give. You know, there's an interesting sign that we used to have up in the part of the country where I came from and we had high waters frequently in Missouri and there was a dip that you'd go down in a road like this and you'd come up and always this road would get under water and you couldn't get through this low place. They had an interesting sign that was placed down in the bottom of this low space and it read like this, If you cannot read this sign, this road is impassable. If you cannot read this sign, this road is impassable. Now this is exactly where the alcoholic is, you know. He is in that low place and there's no possible way for him to read the signs of life. And this is when you need someone along the way to help to point a way and to help give him the direction. And then have you ever pulled into a service station and had your windshield all fogged up and all muddied up and you couldn't see? What a wonderful thing it is to pull into a service station and have your windshield cleaned off for clear vision. You know, the other day I was driving along, I don't know whether you've ever recognized this or not, but it's an interesting thing. I can't ever understand why it is that the bug has to always hit right in front of where you're looking, but it does. But have you ever had a bug to hit your windshield like that? And an interesting thing is that you can keep looking at that bug so long that finally you never notice it. And your windshield can get one spot on it after another until it becomes so dirty that you cannot see through it. That you can hardly see through them, and yet you do not realize that it is so dirty until once you get it clean and then you realize how dirty it really was and how poor your vision was. Now I think this is exactly what happens to the alcoholic. As he goes along the way of life, he gets one little splotch right in front of him and it bothers him for a while. It bothers him terribly. And he feels like he's got to do something about it, but he never does. and finally another spot is added and then he doesn't see the first spot. It doesn't bother him like it once did until finally the whole windshield is all cluttered with dirt and it's not until he comes into AA or something like this where the windshield of his life is cleared and he begins to see a new way of life that he really realized how fogged up he was. Now I think the only tragic thing that can happen is to pull into a service station and to have somebody to wash your windshield with a dirty rag, and then to go down the road and have a little bit of moisture get on it, and you try to clean it. And what a mess it is. I can't imagine anything worse than to have someone to come into an organization like Alcoholic Anonymous, and instead of having their vision clear, they have it smudged with a dirty rag. And I think one of the things that all of us should take note of here this evening is the one fact, that one of the things that we ought to do is to be careful about the kind of life we live and the kind of life that we lead and the kinds of materials that we use, lest we make a bigger mess out of a life than that which has already been made. And I do not know of anything that can be a greater tragedy than this. And so I would hope that as you gather here, that each of you will be able to go back to your individual groups, whatever they are, and be able to do a better job for life and for those who come to seek help. Well, I presume that one of the greatest things, and I'm not going to take too long because I know how some of you are about this time. You know, you remind me of the guy that, the preacher that visited the nudist colony. And when the preacher got back, of course all the other preachers wanted to go with him and they didn't have nerve enough. Finally when they got back they called a preacher's meeting and all of them rushed up to this preacher and said to him, what made the greatest impression on you? And he said, well I'll tell you, it was the cane bottom chair. That reminds me also of the story of the farmer, you know, that had the pig that was killed and he went to court. Gee, it was going on for hours and hours and hours, and finally the judge said to him, now listen, I just want you to put in a few words what happened. You've gone on and on and on here. Now I just wanted you to sum it up in just a few brief words what actually happened. Old Farmer thought for a moment, and then he said, well, I'll tell you. It's like this. I heard a toot, and I looked up, and saw my pig coming out of the alfalfa. I heard another toot, and I looked up again, and I saw the alfalfa coming out of my pig. I think the last and perhaps the greatest thing that can happen when you go into a service station is perhaps to have the experience that I had this summer as we were coming across Wyoming. And we were driving and driving and the needle kept moving over on the gasoline gauge toward empty. and finally it reached empty when we pulled into a service station. And I can't imagine a feeling being greater than this to pull into a surface station when you have no more power left and to be able to refuel and to go on. This, to me, is the greatest thing of alcoholic anonymous. To know that you can run empty and yet there is a place where you can turn to find your life refueled to gain new power, new strength and new courage and a greater faith and to me this is what Alcoholic Anonymous has done all across the country it has given life to many people it has filled many lives and it has giving them new hope and new encourage and therefore you must recognize that just as this watch of mine does not have power to run, so life does not have power. I don't care how capable you are, how great you are or how smart you are. This can be the finest watch in the world that I have and it can have everything in the word except power and this watch depends on something outside of itself to give it that power. And the same is true with light. This is the wonderful thing of Alcoholic Anonymous. This power, this higher power, this which I determine and am willing to call God, this power to which you can find new strength and you can gain a new way. This is what Alcoholic Anonymous can do for life all across this land of ours. Do you know the story of The Great Answer? It's a wonderful story of a great doctor who tried to get out of his country but found that he was unable to do so, and finally he made arrangements for his wife and his baby to make their exit. They came to a border and found that they could not get through So they went to a nearby hotel, and there they found a man that was taking a group of men over the mountains to their freedom. The lady said to the man, Will you let me go? And he said, Yes, you may go with us. But then he found out that she had a child, and he said to her, But you can't take your child. You'll have to leave your baby behind. She said, but I can't go without my baby. I've got to take my baby with me. And after much persuasion, he permitted her to take the baby. They went to a mountainside and in the snowdrifts they found a group of men waiting for them. They started on their journey over the mountain. And finally one of the men turned and said to the guide, I'm tired. I'm weary. I can't go any further. I've gone just as far as I can. I've lost all of my strength. And he said to the guide, You folk go ahead. I don't want to hold up the party. I don' t want to keep any of you from making this journey. But just leave me alone and I'll drop out. And the guide being a wise person said to him, That's all right. If you want to drop out, you may. But before you drop out you carry the baby your turn. And after you have carried the baby, your turn then you may drop out. And without exception after having carried the child their turn they regained strength they regrained hope and were able to make the journey safely. And there was not a one in that party that did not make the Journey. There are those of you in AA that have lost your strength, you feel that you've lost your power, then I would suggest to you that you find a baby somewhere and carry it your turn and likely after you have done this you will find new strength and new courage. You see, this is where AA has made its inroads and has done such a great task where the church has failed. You see in the church we say to the alcoholic come in and be a good boy for three or four years and then we'll give you something to do. But in Alcoholic Anonymous you say to them come in receive this love that we have to give you and then go out and give it away. And it's when you start giving away your strength that you find new strength and are able to carry on. And so this is my hope that tonight you will find a baby somewhere to carry, and after you have done this, likely you will found new strength. And may I remind you then that wherever you go, God will be standing in the dark places of your life. I think this is one thing that AA can say to you and can say to you with all sincerity that whenever you need this higher power, it will be there in the dark places of your life. I'm reminded of two stories that I'd like to share with you, one very briefly. Here's a young man that's working in a coal mine and he's been promoted now to where he drives the wagon. and of course as he starts to make that first journey he becomes afraid because there are dark places that he isn't acquainted with and there's one place where many young men have been killed because of runaway cars and as he approached this dangerous intersection he was afraid and he said my hands began to tremble I could no longer hold the team I became frightened because I imagined that I heard a runaway car and he said as I came to this intersection and turned the corner I saw a light there and as I approached it I looked and saw my father and from that day to this he said in the dark places of my life I have always been able to find my father standing with a light. Another story of a young man whose father took him to a distant city to get a job, and after he had gotten the job they found him a place to live, and the father was ready to return to his home, and he said to his son, I want you to come home Saturday night. but the son was afraid to go home because there was a dark place that he had to go through and there are many legends and many things that caused him to be afraid and so as he reached this dark place on Saturday night after his father refused to let him come home on Sunday morning and he started down the path and he heard footsteps and he thought he would try to run and he knew there was no place to run. He thought he would hide, but there was no place for him. There was no other place to hide. The footsteps were coming closer and closer. And he said, being the big boy that I was I stood in the middle of the path and I cried like a baby when all at once I saw my father's shoulder. He knew why I was crying but he didn't say a word. All he did was to put his arm around me, and he said, Son, you've been gone a long time, and I just wanted to come over and walk home with you. If you've reached that place tonight where you want to run, where you wanna hide, and you become afraid, and you know neither will do you any good, and you stand in the middle of the road of life, and you cry like a baby, remember God will meet you because you've been gone a long time and he'd like to walk home with you and especially through the dark places of life. Therefore, may I say to you then, do not push out of your life that which may save it. Do not push our lives Do not put out of our life that which someday may give it strength and power to carry on. And so I close then with this story it was late one night and a doctor called the superintendent of the hospital called and said to a doctor will you come quick you're the only doctor in the radius of the house that can get here in time to save the life of this son and this boy will you call and the doctor said sure I'll be right there and he put on his clothes he jumped in his car and he started toward the hospital he came to an intersection and he paused for a passing car when all at once the door opened and in jumped a man carrying a gun wearing a brown suede jacket a brown dirty cap and a pair of blue slacks he said to the doctor drive I said drive the doctor tried to tell him the mission is on but he wouldn't listen he couldn't hear finally they came to a vacant spot and he said get out I said, get out. Again, even at the risk of his life, the doctor tried to tell him the mission he's on, but he wouldn't listen. He pushed him out of the car. The doctor went to a nearby house and asked if he could borrow their car and they said, we do not have a car. He called a cab and when he arrived at the hospital, the superintendent was standing on the steps anxiously waiting. He said to the doctor, where have you been? and the doctor said to him and related the story and he said I wonder if you would mind telling the father I've never seen a father so upset so broken in all my life and maybe if you just go in and tell him what happened maybe he can understand they went to a room not far away the superintendent opened the door the doctor stepped inside here sat a man with his head in his hands He was twisting a brown dirty cap. He was wearing a brown suede jacket. He was wearing a pair of blue slacks. The only man that could have saved the life of his son, he pushed him out. The only man, the only one that can save your life perhaps tonight is God. A higher power. may you not push him out of your life and may you always be able to say I will lift up mine eyes into the hills from whence cometh my help my help cometh from the Lord peace I leave with you my peace I give unto you not as the world giveth give I unto you let not your hearts be troubled and neither let them be afraid God bless you thank you