In Celebration...!

    Life has been fairly status quo and routine, hence the lack of blog entries for the previous few months.  This doesn't mean absolutely nothing has happened, but maybe nothing of noteworthy expression.  Once back from the family vacation to Corpus Christi in May, I began working part-time at Tx Smoke, a cigar shop near the West 7th District of Fort Worth.  Yes, it does appear yours truly is a job hopper, not staying at any one job beyond a few months at a time.  Most employments are ended due to a combination of mis-matched personalities at the business and unrealized expectations from both parties.  Most of the time, it's simply my outspokeness and rough edges that cause life to go sideways from time to time.  At any rate, I have now been at Tx Smoke for roughly three months, and the employment so far seems to be smooth sailing.

    About a month ago, I learned of the passing of a longtime friend of my maternal grandmother's.  The friend's name was Dorothy Bowdren.  She was such a sweet, caring, and kind woman, whom I had known literally all my life.  As I was growing up, my nickname for her was "Jack".  When pressed for the reason behind the nickname, the answer given was simply that I liked the name "Jack" and that I liked Dorothy.  Good enough reason, I suppose.  Apparently she passed away in April at the ripe age of 98.  Wow, what a long and full life!  What was disappointing is that her only surviving family member failed to notify our family of her passing.  I say disappointing because of how long we have all known each other.  Regardless of the reason for not disclosing her death, I can still celebrate her life and friendship.  The best way for me to do so was to create a Find A Grave profile with her vital statistics and obituary.  What tipped me off that something was off-kilter, were the cards I had sent her started to get returned in the mailbox.  "Return to Sender" and "Not at This Address" were clearly marked.  Not to be detered, I performed an internet search only to find her obituary.  Having to find out this way that someone has died rather sucks.  Both my mother and her sister were very disappointed and shocked from the news.  All that is now water under the bridge as I have very fond memories of Dorothy.

    Last Monday, August 18th, was my 19th sobriety birthday and my brother's 38th belly-button birthday.  Both are worthy of celebration.  This will be the last time I celebrate the sobriety birthday as a member of Alcoholics Anonymous.  The tenets and dogma of the 12-Step program have become increasingly irreconcilable to the principles of God's Holy Word, the Bible.  Therefore, I finally made the inevitable decision to choose the Lord Jesus, the Bible, and an eternity in Heaven over the psuedo-spiritual atmosphere of the typical A.A. group.  This decision was a long time coming.  As a little yeast works throughout the entire dough, A.A. had the potential of surrepticiously undermining the Holy Spirit's work in my life.  Similar to Lot living on the outskirts of Sodom and Gomorrah, I had to finally flee at the ever-encroaching lifestyle of a godless people.  I could no longer keep silent when idealogies battled for pre-emminence.  My silence was a surrender to teachings that I could not accept.  Now I am free to proclaim a sobriety dependant on the Lord Jesus.

    As the hum-drum of life marches on, I am fairly content with life as it is.  Of course, I wish life would have turned out differently, but this is what I ended up with and must make do with the cards I've been given.  Regardless of what happens in life, look for the positive and make a gratitude list each and every day.  You will be surprised at how well this changes our demeanor for the better.  Let's celebrate!