Is He Really Watching?
And will He actually do anything? I don’t know…
I’ve heard a few folks here make the statement that “if I’m going to drink, God isn’t going to knock the drink out of my hands.” I’d imagine that is true most of the time - but it wasn’t this time.
From the book “Came To Believe” the story is titled “Mathematical Miracle” and has a nameless author from Chicago, Illinois.
The man from Wisconsin had been sober in AA for three years when everything “hit the fan” in his life. Perhaps the pain of living had become greater than the pain of drinking but he “cracked, and decided to go on an all-out binge.” Of course, he couldn’t do it in his home town so he went to Chicago. After checking in at a hotel he went about his purpose - “to get quietly, miserably drunk.”
Finally, having passed on all the “swinging” clubs, he found an almost deserted basement bar, “sat down on a bar stool and ordered a double bourbon on the rocks.” As the bartender was reaching for the bottle he stopped in his tracks, turned and looked hard at this guy, leaned over to him and said “I was in Milwaukee about four months ago, and one night I attended an open meeting. You were on the speaking platform, and you gave one of the finest A.A. talks I ever heard,” turned and walked away.
Once the shock had worn off sufficiently “he picked his money off the bar with trembling hands and walked out, all desire for a drink drained out of him.”
At that time, there were an estimated 8,000 saloons in Chicago with approximately 25,000 bartenders. “This man had entered the one saloon in 8,000 where he would encounter the one man in 25,000 who knew that he was a member of A.A. and didn’t belong there.”
Tags: 12-Steps, God, Recovery, sobrietyRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Spirituality
3 opinions for Is He Really Watching?
John B
Aug 3, 2006 at 9:15 am
I had a similar experience at about 3 months, before I’d done my 4th step.
Deciding it was time for a drink and thinking I had $2.00 change in my pocket and $2.00 bills in my wallet, I walked into a convenience store and took my time selecting the “most I could buy for $4.00″ and laid my “prize” on the counter. As the cashier rang me up I dipped my hand into my change pocket and dropped all the contents onto the counter for a real shocker!
For some reason, all the change I had was a quarter and a Desire chip and I had no bills in my wallet! I must have spent some money along the way.
The cashier bent over and looked at that desire chip and then looked me in the eye and said: “If you REALLY want to get drunk off this stuff, I’ll trade you for that ONE COIN right there” - pointing to the desire chip.
It stopped me in my tracks. I scooped up my quarter and my desire chip, walked outside and dropped the quarter in the payphone to call my sponsor.
I believe, for me, God was doing for me what I just could not have done for myself. I had been desperately praying all day but I just couldn’t resist the temptation to drink all alone. The message for me that night was that I hadn’t started trying to carry the message and I hadn’t even started working the steps. I was still trying to do things the same way as all the times before. The only thing different about this time, was in asking my higher power for help.
dAAve / higher powered
Aug 4, 2006 at 3:58 am
sweeeeeet!
Gwen
Aug 5, 2006 at 6:28 am
The stories of miracles like this are all around us. I get chills whenever I hear one, like what John just shared.
Thanks guys~
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