[If there’s one thing addicts do well, it’s telling stories. But after 13 years clean, they’re usually not lies since the onset of sobriety.]

Someone asked me recently how I did it. How I got off drugs, meth of all things. Undoubtedly tonight at my meeting I’ll be asked once again as is the tradition for anyone getting another annual chip. My baker’s dozen.

I’ve given a lot of thought to the question. Less to the mechanics of my leap into sobriety, but more about which of my words might just trigger another addict in attendance to turn on that light upstairs, illuminating them to the possibility that they, too, despite their past, deserve a future.

You see, it’s not so much the quitting of drugs that’s important. Equally necessary is the installation of hope and belief that you are worth far more in this world than the lonely company of any chemical or its cohorts. It’s about having been utterly blinded by the stupor of a drug and its false promise of contentment that blocks out hope or vision that there’s really anything more to life.

To that end, we are all addicts. We all have something we’ve allowed to remain which blocks our hope and blurs our vision. Something to which we reluctantly remain bound.

“Clean and sober.” It’s almost cliché these days.

The distinction between the two, however, is perhaps the most important thing I learned in my years of recovery so far. I got clean once, but I get more sober with each passing day.

The truly recovered are not recovered at all. They are recovering. And the truly recovering ones can instinctively tell the difference.

A recovering person hasn’t simply stopped using, they have started living. It’s evident that a clarity of mind, purpose and a place for God was birthed at some moment, and rarely is that moment a single epiphany, but the convergence of many lifelong epiphanies which, strung together, create the continuity of recovering.

It’s the high I get from the ongoing little epiphanies of life these days. They continue to escort me down a much more beautiful path. And when you find yourself in a much better place, hope is much easier to find. In fact, it seems to find you.

And isn’t that really the definition of God?

So for the addicts in all of us, I say to you, we are here in this world for one reason only: Be that hope for someone today. Be clean. Be sober. And most of all, live like you deserve to.

That’s my story and I’m stickin’ to it.

cLifeMeansSoMuch.com

We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.

‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭15‬:‭51‬-‭52‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Sadly, for many it will be too late.

But we’re hearing more and more from high profile athletes, celebrities and others about their conversion to a faith in Christ lately.

Their decisions compel them to make public what began as a private search for something true and of eternal consequence.

When you make such discovery, it’s hard not to tell the world about it.

Famous people are finding their fame unfulfilling and replacing their own achievements with the lasting achievement of Christ’s death and resurrection and a promise of the same for those who will believe.

The trumpets will sound for all of us.

Be one of the truly famous who can and will answer that call.

Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭15‬:‭58‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.

‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭9‬:‭25‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Recently in Paris, we saw podiums and their medalists and heard some of their backstories that brought them to that moment in time.

Years of grueling training and many wins and losses on the way were part of the journey that earned them medallions of metal alloys now containing just 2% of what their names promised.

Still, the wins are symbolic of achievements that will all too soon be either forgotten or surpassed by someone else.

The reward for all their efforts is a fleeting moment of triumph. It doesn’t last forever.

The only win that endures forever is the one resulting from daily commitment to following Christ and our reward is an afterlife not of bronze or silver but an eternity on entire streets of 100% pure gold.

Train for the race that wins the prize which holds its value and lasts forever.

You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot have a part in both the Lord’s table and the table of demons.

‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭10‬:‭21‬ ‭NIV‬‬

I’m always bothered when, for instance, someone from church cites their horoscope for the day to explain themselves or their circumstances.

A plea of ignorance won’t be an acceptable excuse on judgement day.

But divided allegiances are on display everywhere, and sometimes even in my own life.

The difference lies in having received the Holy Spirit that keeps such things in check within our consciences to foster learning and spiritual growth along our pathway to salvation.

That’s His job.

Earnestly pray for wisdom and discernment, especially in these times when deception is the cultural name of the game to lead us down paths toward destruction.

“Now eagerly desire the greater gifts. And yet I will show you the most excellent way.”

‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭12‬:‭31‬ ‭NIV‬‬

“And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”

‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭13‬:‭13‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Arguably the most cited bible verses are those from what is commonly referred to as the love chapter describing what Paul calls “the most excellent way.”

To love is what makes us human—an expression of a unique set of attributes and behaviors of divine origin—that can only be bestowed, not evolved.

Love is sentience with a conscience surpassed by no greater eminence. Indeed, love is the most excellent way.

That we have been bestowed with a unique capacity so precious is itself evidence of God’s existence.

Love is in origin and by definition an entirely supernatural phenomenon.

The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.

‭‭Romans‬ ‭15‬:‭3‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Take a stand on something and haters are gonna hate. Choose one side over another and be prepared for vigorous arguments from those actually seeking truth and nasty personal insults from those who aren’t.

I urge you, brothers and sisters, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them. For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds of naive people.”

‭‭Romans‬ ‭16‬:‭17‬-‭18‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Be ready for spins and half-truths, put downs and shut downs, and a relentless perseverance of the fight to be right over the path to knowledge and understanding.

And most of all, take peace in knowing the battle is not with you but with the One who sent you.

Be engaged, but not enraged.

Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.”

‭‭Romans‬ ‭12‬:‭3‬ ‭NIV‬‬

America has an ego problem.

In both directions.

We see it represented over social media, in our political candidates, and if we’re honest, in ourselves.

But overrating our strengths is as inaccurate a self assessment as underrating them.

To avoid being prideful we engage humility, but in overcorrecting we’re dishonest with ourselves about the strengths that can and should build a healthy confidence.

Comparisons to others serves no legitimate purpose and has no place in development of a healthy ego but in fact comparisons highlight attributes of our deepest and most heartbreaking insecurities.

God is a fixer and wants us in His kingdom with all our broken parts and broken hearts. That’s where He shines brightest.

My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” 2Cor 12:9

But concerning Israel he says, “All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and obstinate people.”

‭‭Romans‬ ‭10‬:‭21‬ ‭NIV‬‬

How long?

That’s the title of a Chris Rice ballad about the long suffering nature of God:

How long until You defend Your name and set the record right?

How far will You allow the human race to run and hide?

And how much can You tolerate our weaknesses

Before You step into our sky blue and say, “That’s quite enough”

Those last three words make me tremble knowing one day sooner than later a resisting humanity will run out of arguments and options and hope.

Author Paul Little first wrote “Truth is still truth regardless who believes it.”

Our first amendment nation will argue about almost anything as truth without convincing evidence or a credible backstory.

You can run from God, but for how long?

But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’ ” Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use?”

‭‭Romans‬ ‭9‬:‭20‬-‭21‬ ‭NIV‬‬

I thought my life would be very different.

I’d dreamed of greatness as a young man yet landed the role of an average Joe who at 64 is only now discovering his life purpose.

I’m not only content and satisfied with who I’ve become but I also understand the critical questions of life that will surely bring a peaceful rest at my death.

But in the interim, stay tuned. I believe my best is yet to come.