Practicing Resurrection: Step 10, Part 3

We continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.   At the end of your life you will be asked to give an account for all of the pleasures God allowed you, but you refused to enjoy.    I'll never forget…
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Practicing Resurrection: Working the Steps– Step 10, Part 2

Step 10:  We continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.     Following the news, I was reminded once again of something Dr. James Hollis mentioned in a class at the Jung Center several years ago.  It…
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Practicing Resurrection: Working the Steps– Step 10, Part 1

Step 10:  We continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.    One of the major doctrines of my religious tradition is the doctrine of "Once saved, always saved." Frankly, I have seen that doctrine misinterpreted…
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Keeping Hope Alive: Radical Courage in Desperate Times

"How do you keep hope alive these days?" the questioner asked.  "It looks to me like everything is going to hell in a handbasket." The question sounded like a challenge.  It wasn't friendly curiosity, and it was full of cynicism.   I…
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Keeping Hope Alive…by Choosing Life

Choose Life!                   I have set before you today life and death, blessing and cursing…..therefore, choose life.                                                                                                            …
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Keeping Hope Alive: Radical Courage in Difficult Times/Working the Steps Step 9, Part 3

Step 9:   Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others. "And now it is time for you to make amends to yourself," my Twelve Step sponsor said, but I didn't have a clue what she meant. …
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Keeping HopeAlive/Working the Steps: Step 9, Part 2

Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others. I have worked the Twelve Steps for most of my adult life because I am a codependent.  An on-going, recovering codependent. There are…
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Growing Edges Keeping Hope Alive: Radical Courage in Difficult Times Part 4

In the space of less than 24 hours last week, I had two experiences with the effects of this Covid 19 virus that have given me much to ponder. First, I encountered an angry man in my dentist's office who was flaunting his freedom by not wearing…
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Growing Edges: Keeping Hope Alive: Radical Courage in Everyday Life Part 3

Humanly speaking, despair is presumptuous.* Several years ago, I a conference on hope at the Texas Medical Center in Houston.  Sponsored by what was then the Institute of Religion, the topic of hope and its importance were addressed by a priest,…
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Keeping Hope Alive — Radical Courage in Everyday Life Part 2

Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give a reason for the hope that is within you. -- 1 Peter: 3:15b   "I feel so much better since I gave up hope." Startled, I almost shuddered at those words spoken…
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Growing Edges “Keeping Hope Alive”

April 25, 2020 GROWING EDGES         In May of 1979, I began writing a weekly column for the San Angelo Standard Times.  From that time until the last column in January of this year, 2020, I didn't miss a week.   Writing the column…
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Working the Steps: Step Nine, Part 1

Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others For some of us, the mere idea of making direct amends to people we have harmed is so terrifying that we can't even get past the first…
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Working the Program: Step 8, Part 3

Step 8:   Made a list of all persons we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all.  The second half of this Step is where the path gets a bit steeper and the risks greater, but it is also the Step that can change your life. …
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Working the Steps – Step 8, Part 2

My newest book, Practicing Resurrection:  Radical Hope in Difficult Times has just been released by Smyth and Helwys Publishers. When I began writing this series on the Twelve Steps, I had not yet even outlined the book’s chapters,…
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Working the Steps – Step 8

Made a list of all persons we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all. "If I have done anything to offend you....." "Tell me what it is that I did!" "You know I did that only because you did what you did...." Stop right…
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