Page 13 - AA NEWS OCTOBER 2019

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THINGS TO DO AND PLACES TO GO Third Weekenders Camping
Agua Caliente
Where: 39555 County Route 52
When: November 15 - 17
Contact: Bill H: holmes.family.8925@gmail.com
35th Annual Laguna Mountain Harvest Moon Kickback
Where: Lake Henshaw, 26439 Highway 76, Santa Ysabel When: September 27 - 29
Contact: Central Office 619-265-8762
68th Annual Southern Cal Convention A New Way A New Life
Where: The Westin Mission Hills Resort & Spa, Rancho Mirage When: September 27 - 29
Contact: Central Office 619-265-8762
Emotional Sobriety Workshop Where: Church, 6556 Park Ridge Blvd., San Carlos
When: Saturday, October 12, 1:00 - 4:00 pm Contact: dcm_12@area8aa.org
79th Anniversary of AA in San Diego Pancake Breakfast
Where: Church, 2111 Camino del Rio S.
When: Saturday, November 9, 9:00 am - 12:00 pm Contact: Central Office 619-265-8762
2020 International Convention Where: Detroit, Michigan
When: July 2-5, 2020
Contact: Central Office 619-265-8762
Experience, Strength & Hope, The Back Slider page 41 - 43
"And I began to neglect my daily communication with God. Nothing happened - not immediately at any rate. Then came the thought that I could stand on my own feet now. When that thought came to mind - that God might have been all very well for the early days or months of my sobriety but I didn't need Him now - I was a gone coon. I got clear away from the life I had been attempting to lead. I was in real danger. It was just a step from that kind of thinking to the idea that my two years training in total abstinence was just what I needed to be able to handle a glass of beer. I began to taste. I became fatalistic about things and soon was drinking deliberately knowing I'd get drunk, stay drunk, and what would inevitably happen. My friends came to my aid. They tried to help me but I didn't want help. I was ashamed and pretended not to see them come around. And they knew that as long as I didn't want to quit, as long as I preferred my own will instead of God's will, the remedy simply could not be applied. It is a striking thought that God never forces anyone to do His will, that His help is ever available but has to be sought in all earnestness and humility.
This condition lasted for months, during which I had voluntarily entered a private institution to get straightened out. On the last occasion when I came out of the fog, I asked God to help me again. Shamefaced as I was, I went back to the fellowship. They made me welcome, offered me collectively and individually all the help I might need. They treated me as though nothing had happened. And I feel it is the most telling tribute to the efficacy of this remedy that during my period of relapse I still knew that this remedy would work with me if I let it, but I was too stubborn to admit it.
That was a year ago. Depend upon it that I stay mighty close to what has proven good for me. I don't dare risk getting very far away. And I have found that in simple faith I get results by placing my life in God's hands every day, by asking Him to keep me a sober man for 24 hours, and trying to do His will. He has never let me down yet."
Reprinted with permission from A.A.W.S.
Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions,
Tradition One, page 129
"Our common welfare should come first: personal recovery depends upon A.A. unity."
The unity of Alcoholics Anonymous is the most cherished quality our Society has. Our lives, the lives of all to come, depend squarely upon it. We stay whole, or A.A. dies. Without unity, the heart of A.A. would cease to beat; our world arteries would no longer carry the life-giving grace of God: His gift to us would be spent aimlessly. Back again in their caves, alcoholics would reproach us and say 'What a great thing this A.A. might have been!'"
Reprinted with permission from A.A.W.S.
Big Book page 84
"Love and tolerance is our code."
Reprinted with permission from A.A.W.S.
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