We Can Cruise Past Icebergs on Fellow-Ship

I look forward to going to an A.A. meeting an hour from now. One thing I enjoy is the fellowship. It's like church is supposed to be but too often isn't.

I no longer have support from work colleagues; I was laid off and the company was sold. I'm not a "joiner" and so have no Moose or Elks or Brotherhood of the Beavers for companionship. I'm too poor for the country club. Thank goodness for A.A.

We need others to heal, and then to stay healed. My guru, Rick Warren in The Purpose-Driven Life, advises, "If you're losing the battle against a persistent bad habit, an addiction, a temptation, and you're stuck in a repeating cycle of good intention-failure-guilt, you will not get better on your own! You need the help of other people."  (http://purposedriven.com/books/pdlbook/)

"...stuck in a repeating cycle of good intention-failure-guilt." I like that description. That tells exactly how it felt when I found myself in a pattern of trading A.A. fellowship for a bottle hidden in the basement.

Warren goes on to say 63 pages later: "Our weaknesses also encourage fellowship between believers. While strength builds an independent spirit ('I don't need anyone else'), our limitations show how much we need each other. When we weave the weak strands of our lives together, a rope of great strength is created."

The writer quotes Vance Havner, but I am changing his word "Christians" to "alcoholics":

"Alcoholics, like snowflakes, are frail, but when they stick together they can stop traffic."