Chapter 11
A Vision For You
Paragraph 31
1 He interrupted: "I used to be strong for the church, but that won't fix it. I've prayed to God on hangover mornings and sworn that I'd never touch another drop but by nine o'clock I'd be boiled as an owl."
Paragraph 32
1 Next day found the prospect more receptive. 2 He had been thinking it over. 3 "Maybe you're right," he said. "God ought to be able to do anything." 4 Then he added, "He sure didn't do much for me when I was trying to fight this booze racket alone."
Paragraph 33
1 On the third day the lawyer gave his life to the care and direction of his Creator, and said he was perfectly willing to do anything necessary. 2 His wife came, scarcely daring to be hopeful, though she thought she saw something different about her husband already. 3 He had begun to have a spiritual experience.
Paragraph 34
1 That afternoon he put on his clothes and walked from the hospital a free man. 2 He entered a political campaign, making speeches, frequenting men's gathering places of all sorts, often staying up all night. 3He lost the race by only a narrow margin. 4 But he had found God -- and in finding God had found himself.
Paragraph 35
1 That was in June, 1935. 2 He never drank again. 3 He too, has become a respected and useful member of his community. 4 He has helped other men recover, and is a power in the church from which he was long absent.
Paragraph 36
1 So, you see, there were three alcoholics in that town, who now felt they had to give to others what they had found, or be sunk. 2 After several failures to find others, a fourth turned up. 3 He came through an acquaintance who had heard the good news. 4 He proved to be a devil-may-care young fellow whose parents could not make out whether he wanted to stop drinking or not. 5 They were deeply religious people, much shocked by their son's refusal to have anything to do with the church. 6 He suffered horribly from his sprees, but it seemed as if nothing could be done for him. 7 He consented, however, to go to the hospital, where he occupied the very room recently vacated by the lawyer.
Paragraph 37
1 He had three visitors. 2 After a bit, he said, "The way you fellows put this spiritual stuff makes sense. 3I'm ready to do business. 4 I guess the old folks were right after all." So one more was added to the Fellowship.
Paragraph 38
1 All this time our friend of the hotel lobby incident remained in that town. 2 He was there three months. 3He now returned home, leaving behind his first acquaintances, the lawyer and the devil-may-care chap. 4These men had found something brand new in life. 5 Though they knew they must help other alcoholics if they would remain sober, that motive became secondary. 6 It was transcended by the happiness they found in giving themselves for others. 7 They shared their homes, their slender resources, and gladly devoted their spare hours to fellow-sufferers. 8 They were willing, by day or night, to place a new man in the hospital and visit him afterward. 9 They grew in numbers. 10 They experienced a few distressing failures, but in those cases they made an effort to bring the man's family into a spiritual way of living, thus relieving much worry and suffering.
Paragraph 39
1 A year and six months later these three had succeeded with seven more. 2 Seeing much of each other, scarce an evening passed that someone's home did not shelter a little gathering of men and women, happy in their release, and constantly thinking how they might present their discovery to some newcomer. 3 In addition to these casual get-togethers, it became customary to set apart one night a week for a meeting to be attended by anyone or everyone interested in a spiritual way of life. 4 Aside from fellowship and sociability, the prime object was to provide a time and place where new people might bring their problems.
Paragraph 40
1 Outsiders became interested. One man and his wife placed their large home at the disposal of this strangely assorted crowd. 2 This couple has since become so fascinated that they have dedicated their home to the work. 3 Many a distracted wife has visited this house to find loving and understanding companionship among women who knew her problem, to hear from the lips of their husbands what had happened to them, to be advised how her own wayward mate might be hospitalized and approached when next he stumbled.