Imagine That…

After my brief encounter with the “Benny Hinn” fan club, it would be nearly four years before I set foot in a church again.  The majority of my free time was spent with people in recovery.  To “graduate” from my drug treatment program, I had to regularly attend 12-step meetings, and find a sponsor.  This was a challenge.  I was not a big drinker, so I found the stories in Alcoholic Anonymous hard to relate to.  Narcotics Anonymous was home to primarily meth and heroin addicts and my “addiction” to pot was considered pretty lame in their world.  That left Cocaine Anonymous (CA).  CA was made up of a lot of crackheads and a few old-timers that actually snorted cocaine.   I had never even seen crack, let alone smoked it, but somehow I could identify with their stories.  So I became the pothead at the CA meeting. 

The sponsor I found was awesome.  Why he ever said yes to sponsoring a pothead I will never know.  It was another one of those things that makes you go hmmm.  He had a fairly successful business and a wonderful family.  It was hard to believe he had ever smoked crack, but he certainly did.  We became close friends and I credit him with much of my growth during those four years.  Unfortunately, he is no longer with us, but to this day I can still be caught sharing some of his simple wisdom.  He would have told you that none of it was his, but I’m not so sure.  The ideas may not have been original, but his way of sharing them definitely was.  I will always be grateful for that relationship, and to this day it’s amazing to think that I learned those life lessons from a crackhead.  

Imagine that…

I’m sure I will share some of his wisdom along the way.  However, in regards to religion, which is the point of this blog, he taught me something quite by accident.  In fact, it was more of a joke at the time, but as I look back on it now, it actually explains a lot.  There is a saying, or riddle in AA that goes like this:  “What does it take to start a new meeting?”  and the answer is:  “A resentment and a coffee pot.”   Think about it.  Isn’t this true of a lot of things in life.  Something new begins with someone getting pissed off and deciding to make a change.

So, one day a bunch of us were at my sponsor’s house drinking coffee (which we did a lot of back then) and shooting the breeze when he starts telling us about his brother-in-law.  From what I gathered his brother-in-law was a minister or some sort of religious leader at a local church and there had been a falling out in the congregation.  The end result of which was a group of members, his brother-in-law included, decided they were going to leave and start a new church.  So, he looked at me and said, “Gene, what does it take to start a new church?” and without hesitation, I replied, “A resentment, a coffee pot, and a bible.”  Exactly!, he said.  

Little did I realize, the two of us had just summarized much of church history.  If you don’t get it, don’t worry.  Just keep coming back.  The only thing missing could be the coffee pot.