One Step is More Than Twelve

--Bill Petite
 

 I was lounging by the public pool on the military installation where I was stationed and recovering from a four-day drinking binge. I was sobering up slowly and soaking up the hot sun. I looked to my left and saw my commander and my First Sgt walking toward me. My first thought was there must be an emergency at the vehicle maintenance shop where I was the NCO in charge. This is what I thought because I was on leave this week following the 4^th of July holiday. Why would they be coming to see me when I was on leave?

I was sitting at the edge of the pool with my feet dangling in the water when they approached me. The First Sgt said, “Sgt, we need you to come with us back to the Troop (building where the unit was housed and the command offices). I asked him what the issue was and he answered, “You need to just come with us. So, I went with them and when we got back to his office, the First Sgt told me, “Your wife called the commander and wanted to know why you were being so pressured in your job that it makes you drink so much.” I was speechless for a few seconds and couldn’t believe that Jeanne, my wife, had called the commander for any reason.

I told Top, the First Sgt, “I’m not pressured in my job by anyone. That’s not why I was drinking.” The First Sgt talked to me for a while and then took me into the commander’s office. I had always got along with the commander. He was a stern commanding officer but fair. He didn’t pull any punches and told me, “You are going to Detox at the hospital. There are MPs waiting to escort you there. You are very good at your job and I don’t want to lose you but you need help and you’re going to get it now.” That was it; Top escorted me out to the MPs and they took me to the hospital. I wasn’t happy about being stuck in a hospital ward with a bunch of other drunks who were sent there for the same reason I was. We drank too much alcohol and we needed dried out. I was put in an exam room and a psyche assistant came in and asked me a bunch of questions and then left. He told me to sit on a bench outside of the room until the doctor came.

By the time the doc arrived I was almost completely sober. He sat down next to me on the bench and said, “I want to admit you.” Oh no, was my thought. Then he said, “But I can’t.

There are twenty beds in Detox and they are all full. So, I have no place to put you.” My next thought was, “Yay! I’m free.” He gave me a prescription for Valium and told me to get it filled at the pharmacy in the hospital and take it to the MPs office near the main entrance and show them it’s filled and have them call me and I’ll release you. I did all of that and they called Top and told him I was released and he could come and get me. He couldn’t believe it but came and took me home. I vowed to stop drinking following that episode and did, for about three months. I tried and had tried for a couple of years to stop but it never worked. I even went to AA meetings but they made me feel worse.

Jeanne and I had attended a meeting where there were about eighty to one hundred people there and they all took turns telling how they drank away businesses, families and relationships as well as jobs. When we left, I felt terrible and the only thing I could think of was how much worse these people’s lives were than mine. I went to another one on a Friday evening by myself and I sat there listening to what I considered a bunch of meaningless talk. The longer the meeting went on, the more I began to feel sick. I thought, “This meeting can’t be this bad that it is making me feel sick.”

I left and went home and went to bed and Jeanne came in and checked on me and discovered I had a raging fever and a virus. So, it wasn’t the AA meeting that made me sick, it was a flu virus. But I never went back to another AA meeting for the simple reason that it never did anything for me. I just couldn’t figure out how these meetings were supposed to help keep people from drinking. I know, a sponsor is supposed to be there for you to call and keep you from taking a drink. That would have never worked for me. In the twelve-step program, my foot never got in motion for the first step.

I left the military and went to Southern California and to work for a government contractor. The  beer drinking got worse and maybe worse than ever. When I returned from Vietnam, it started and just became a part of my life I could never totally shake. There were times when I would stop for a period of time and then start again. When I met my wife, it stopped until a short time after our wedding. By the time we got to California it was, again, starting to get bad. For two and a half years after arriving in California, it might have been as bad as it ever was. We had three children by this time and that realization never was enough to stop me.

Finally, on December 2^nd, 1984, following an all-day drinking binge, on that Sunday morning lying in my bed waking up and with a groggy head, I heard a voice. For the previous three or four months, I had been reading Bible tracts my kids would bring home from church. Also, a friend at work who was a Christian had been talking to me about Jesus and giving me Bible passages to read in the evening which I did. I knew I had to stop and I tried but the temptation was too strong and I kept on drinking beer.

But on that Sunday morning, I heard that voice as clear as if someone was standing right next to my bed talking to me. I realized it was the voice of Jesus and He asked, “Are you ready to let me deal with this now?” It was that simple and that clear. It wasn’t in King James or some crazy tongue, it was specifically clear English in words I could comprehend. I’ve had people tell me Jesus doesn’t speak out loud to us; He doesn’t speak to us at all. But I heard it and I gave my addiction to Him and it was gone. On that Sunday morning, I was saved and delivered from my alcohol addiction. That was almost 42 years ago and I have never had another drop of booze in that time. I have never craved or desired it. Jesus took it and broke down that wall which separated us. A week later, I heard someone curse and realized that I had not used one swear or curse word since that Sunday morning encounter with Jesus.

Now, I didn’t write this post to get people to stop drinking alcohol or be the ex-whatever who preaches, “You need to stop smoking or you need to stop using salt or stop doing drugs.” No, I’m the person who will tell you that Jesus is the most powerful force in His created universe. He is saddened by programs like AA and NA and whatever other ‘A’ programs are out there. I’ve had several people who are stuck in the AA program tell that I’m still an alcoholic and I tell them I used the one step program and they ask what that is and I tell them, “Jesus!” Jesus has instantly sobered and saved people strung out on some drug. It was witnessed by many people who were quick to tell others.

So no, this is not some written document to preach to those who are hung up and being held captive by booze or drugs and the useless programs who keep them trapped into believing it’s the only help. I’m not the only person who has ever been delivered from booze or drugs or any other deadly habit. The Church is full of Christians who have experienced being saved and delivered by Jesus.

You see, the one step program is a one-time action on Jesus’ part. We never have to go back and repeatedly ask Him to help us with that same addiction because when He heals and delivers, it’s a finished deal. There is no, “I need to go to Jesus again to keep me from drinking.” Jesus heals and delivers us one time. We are saved one time. There is no going back to get saved over and over. That’s AA; you have to keep attending those meetings. You have to stay in contact with that sponsor who will talk you down from your craving. That’s actually one sinner trying to keep another sinner from sinning. It’s a trap which provides no delivery. The addiction is forever hanging over the person’s head and a fear of always falling back into the addiction. I know this aggravates and irritates AA people but it’s the truth.

When nonbelievers and skeptics refuse to believe Jesus is real, Jesus is God and is all powerful, the truth of His power and His love for us is everywhere. It’s all around for them to see but their eyes are blind to this because they don’t want to believe it. I simply tell them, “I am living proof and then explain why I say that.” Finally, this is what I say to those who just simply can’t or don’t want to believe what is all around them. “Jesus is real and waiting with arms wide open and wants to save you and deliver you from the traps in your life. He did it for me and many, many others and He can do it for you.” Trust in Jesus and ask Him to forgive you and invite Him in to be your Lord and savior. It’s that simple.

Are you trapped by a no win worldly program like AA? Consider the words above and let Jesus give you freedom from your addictions and the traps of this world.