Christian 12 Steps
Step 12: Service
By G. Neil Armstrong
Having had a spiritual awakening as a result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to others, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
1) Don’t stop here. Continue to practice the 12 Steps. Do you think the 12 Steps have helped you sort out some of your feelings? If so, how?
Practice Our Principles (POP) on our Defects Under Discretion (DUD), or POPing our DUDs is the undisputed only way for us to identify and address our emotions. I will call this Name And Control, or NAC, for short. So, I have to Name And Control my emotions as a means for Practicing Our Principles on my Defects Under Discretion.
But, what about the “stuff” that I have not admitted to, or the “stuff” that I don’t know how to address? We Need others’ support, whether we are familiar or not, with our DUDs. Support from others is only effective if the supporting other can relate. This relation qualifies the supporting other person as experienced, but only if the (SOP) has POPed his own DUDs a time or two. Lets call him a SOPER, or Supporting Other Person who has Experienced Repentance, or Repair.
So, with the help of my SOPER, I have a NAC for POPing my DUDs; or, My Supporting Other Person who has Experienced Repentance or Repair helped me Name And Control my Defects Under Discretion by Practicing Our Principles, and now I am one of the CHAMPIONS, or Christian Hammering Away My Poisonous Insufficiencies of Noisome Sin. All the acronyms and fancy words in the world don’t have any power beyond the simple help it offers to remind me, in the heat of the moment, to Stop And Focus Effectively. This is the only SAFE method in our Hope Of Salvation Teacher, or HOST, who is Jesus.
The only known SAFE method is my HOST giving me a NAC for POPing my DUDs. With a SOPER, making me one of the CHAMPIONS.
When I have an emotion that is a threat to my Solid Onward Wald (SOW), I will be SAFE because I have a NAC for POPing my DUDs. My SOPER helps me be among the HOST of CHAMPIONS.
Tuesday, November 03, 2009 12:00 pm
