Are Alcohol Addict And Spiritual Guy The Same

First and foremost I have to give
thanks to the Almighty Creator, my
Heavenly Father in Jesus name. How
many times have I heard that; and
something inside me stirred up an
emotion that was uncomfortable? I always wondered why? I mean I love
sports and almost all of the athletes
that are being interviewed give thanks
to GOD, but I felt like, who do these
guys think they are? Do they really
mean it? Do I? As far back as I can remember, I had a
really good childhood, I was loved
and cared for by two very wonderful
people. At a very young age I was
always ahead of the class,
academically and physically (schoolyard sports), so all through my
grade school days I had very good
grades and enjoyed the recognition of
always being picked first for teams in
P.E. I was just a regular kid, you
remember picking on the girls, even the boys, I started to turn into a bully. I
think I first ditched class in the sixth
grade, and was terrified to go home
believing my parents found out, and I
knew my pops was going to put one
on me, if you know what I mean! All through those days I went to mass
every Sunday but only because I had
to. When I started mid school I ran into
others who started experimenting
with pot and beer, and for that time in
my life, I was having a good time(so I thought). I was hanging around with
kids that enjoyed getting stoned and
drunk, I was popular not only with
them, but also the jocks, because I
could always play baseball very well
and stayed playing despite "my addictions". How can a teenager be an
addict? Come on, I know I like to party
but your crazy. This what all the older
people were telling me and I was not
listening. Back then even if I wanted to
stop, I wasn't going to, I was having way too much fun missing class and
getting stoned and would not believe
I was an addict. Well I was very
wrong, you see I started with the pills
then came, dust and this was all in the
beginning of high school, 9th and 10th grade. Angel dust had a very
tight grip on me and only by the grace
of GOD am I even still around to talk
about it, I remember smoking rolls of
dusters (roll= 20 joints) at a time.
Friends who tried to keep up with my habit usually ended up in the hospital.
I'm, in no way trying to brag but am
only speaking the truth. I can just
imagine where my life would have
lead me only if I would have kept up
my grades and stayed away from all the junk. By now I have completely
lost focus and didn't even have
grades, meaning I never went to
school, I would show up just enough
to get to the next grade, you see I was
always able to comprehend so it allowed me to keep up this self
inflecting demise going, which also
sent me to more powerful drugs; like
cocaine. When I first tried it, it was no
big deal, it made my nose hurt, but like
an addict I kept doing it, and I ended up needing it, now the reason I say
need, is because it went from doing a
couple of lines on a Friday or Saturday
night to an every day thing. Instead of
snorting, I experienced with smoking,
then the spike, yeah that's right, shooting dope while I was still in high
school! What was going on, I mean
you hear of this stuff happening in
Hollywood but in a little town like
mine, that's unthinkable, at least that's
what my friends and family thought. I had to straighten up and quick, I
already overdosed in 9th grade and
my appetite and tolerance was
growing. My parents once called in our
priest one time to pray over me, so
those demons would stay away from me, and during this visit did I finally
FEEL what I was doing to my mom and
dad. I always saw what I was doing to
them, but until that day, I actually felt,
what I was doing to them because for
the first time in my life, I seen tears roll down my fathers face, and that hurt.
At that time, I stopped doing drugs
(only by the grace of GOD and a lot of
answered prayers), but kept drinking.
All this time, I would go to church here
and there but not consistently. This is how I know GOD loves us
unconditionally, He never left me! 1983 was the year I graduated high
school (1982 was when I was
suppose to graduate) and the year
when I realized maybe just maybe I
was an alcoholic addict. All of my
friends were either working or left town for college. I decided I was
going to become a United states
Marine (quick prayer: Father in Jesus
name I pray You watch over all
marines in harms way, thank you). So
off to boot camp I went and loved every minute of it when I look back,
but I surely didn't when I was going
through it! (haha, those were the
days) After boot camp I went to
school in San Antonio TX to become a
military police man, can you believe after all my struggles, the Marine Corps
was going to make me a cop! I still
had to graduate and we were allowed
to go out on the weekends for liberty,
so what do think I did, that's right,
drank! I hooked up with some more drinkers and you guessed it, ended up
in trouble. We went out on the town
on a night when we were not suppose
to. This wasn't high school, the corps
was going to discipline us and I had
no idea what to expect. Was I being kicked out, going to the brig, or what?
I did not know, but I did know I was
scarred so I went to church and
prayed, and prayed, and prayed. I
promised GOD if He got me out of this
mess I would straighten up, well He did, and like I promised I started living
right. I graduated school and was
given orders to Camp Lejeune NC to
begin my MP duties for the Marine
Corps. North Carolina was a long way
from home, so I prayed(back then it seemed the only time I prayed was
when I wanted something) that I
wouldn't become lonely and set out to
make some friends. That didn't take
long at all, it seemed everyone was a
long way from home, but all my friends had that desire to drink like I
did. There was a lot of good times with
these guys, it seemed a lot like high
school when the parties were fun.
Then after a while drugs found their
way back into our life and that's when trouble started. Being in front of the
company commanders was a routine
practice for my friends and I. I think I
went up and down the ranks from
being promoted to demoted at least
three times as well as all of my friends. Drinking and more drinking all
through my time at Lejeune and even
when I went overseas to Japan. I
arrived in Iwakuni, Japan in 1986 and
ran into all kind of friends from Camp
Lejeune, and it happened to be Friday (tgif), so we decided to reminisce
about all the good times at Lejeune.
You know what that means, booze,
booze and more booze. There were
even beer machines (like coke
machines) in Japan, so hang on this is going to be a one year party! Wrong,
Saturday morning came with a
surprise inspection and by our
provost Marshall (officer in charge of
all the mp's). He found a half full bottle
of Jack Daniels in the top of my locker and told me I was to be in front of him
come Monday morning. That was it,
this time I knew I was going home
with a discharge other than
honorable, man was I dejected and
crushed. That Saturday was also the annual mp picnic, where all the mps
got together and drank, ate hot dogs,
played softball etc. A buddy of mine
talked me into going even though all I
wanted to do was sit in my room and
figure out what I was going to do when I got home. They were playing
softball when I got there so I decided
to play. When it was my turn to hit I
smacked a line drive off the fence in
left, and the cwo in charge took notice.
My second time up I hit the ball real hard again, and that prompted the
cwo to come and ask me to play for
him on the company team. I replied "I
have to be in front of you Monday
morning, and when you see my
record book, I'll more than likely be on my way home". That was that, I
ended up playing for the mp team and
became a good friend of my co,
because he was just like me, another
drinker. All this time I still prayed, but
still only when I was in trouble. I was honorably discharged in 1987
from the United States Marine Corps
and was headed home to celebrate.
My dad had passed away in 1985 and
my mom was alone, so I figured I
would get a job and take care of my mom. We would go to church Sundays
and that made her happy, until my
addictions started to take over my life
again. She was not going through this
again, so we packed up the car and off
I went to the bay area to live with my aunt and uncle. I got a job driving for
UPS and soon started making friends
who, once again liked to drink.
Working hard and getting paid very
good was something I loved. I had no
bills, so all my money was going to the bar. Then it happened, I got my first
dui in 1989 and my second in 1991
and my third in 1994. For me to keep
my job, during the times my license
was suspended, I had to go to rehab.
The first time I went, I did all the things they tell you to do and graduated after
a 90 day in house program. I think I
stayed away from drinking for about 9
months. The second time I went (3rd
dui) they put me in the relapse group
where I learned a lot about my addiction, but this time I started the
initial forming of my personal
relationship with Christ. I did another
90 days, going to AA and NA meetings
but this time I started reading the Bible
and watching programs on TV to also learn the Word. After I graduated for
the second time I kept going to AA NA
meetings and included mass everyday.
In 1999 I was a year and a half clean
and sober and came back home to
take care of my elderly mother. We went to mass everyday which she
truly enjoyed being the devout
catholic she was (she went to be with
Lord in 2005) and before mass I
would be up early watching Joyce
Meyer and Crefalo Dollar for their guidance of the Bible, then I would go
to the gym. Life was simple and
studying the Bible was making me feel
complete and confident. I kept this
routine for another six months, so I
had about close to two years clean and sober when I started to slip, I quit
taking my mom to mass, stopped
watching Joyce and Crefalo. I still
remember the day I fell, I already had
made arrangements for some drugs
and alcohol and headed out with the only intention of getting high, there
was no stopping me. I was driving
down the road headed to a room I
rented for this collapse, when GOD
showed up, the clouds had opened up
and the sun was shining through them showing only rays of light in an
exact way they once appeared to me
when I was in rehab and I
immediately remembered that moment
when I felt so good being in the Word
and clean. I had my mind made up though and I told Him that; and then it
started to rain, but I still chose to
disobey, and that lead me to another 9
years of drinking and drugging, if I
would of only listened. I went from
being a man of GOD, studying the Word, being in church daily, in great
shape, to a very lost soul, who drank a
fifth of whiskey and beer daily from
2005-2009, gave up whiskey on New
Years in 2009 and proceeded to drink
a case of beer EVERYDAY until Sept. 3rd 2009. I am not exaggerating. I have
finally been delivered from these ways
and only by His grace and persistent
prayer from family and friends. I also
have a very special woman, Lupe who
put up with all of this and to this day keeps believing in me, thank you I
love you. Today life is very good. I do not
struggle with my addictions at all, and
I do realize it only happens because of
Grace and the love that the Father has
for me, and for you! I wrote this in
hope that it may touch you in the sense that if you are a alcoholic or
addict, or a parent with a child who
seems lost, to NEVER give up, He
won't! GOD will never leave you, all
you have to do is ask Him for help and
He will! I still listen to Joyce Meyer, Crefalo Dollar, and Joel Osteen. I go to
church every Sunday and read the
Bible and other books on spirituality.
If I learned anything about my life, I
truly believe that I am no one without
Jesus Christ and realize with the depth of His true love for me that I can
accomplish anything through Him as
long as I obey His Word and stay in His
Will. GOD BLESS

Spiritual Leadership

There have been plenty of discourses
regarding leadership, more so in the
realm of business than any other. But
as we have observed, leadership, in
it's core sense, transcends industrial
and cultural barriers and translates pretty much the same way in all fields. To emphasize leadership is a way of
being. Spirituality is a way being and
seeing wherein we base leadership on
in order to provide deeper meaning
and purpose to the decisions and
actions we make. As figures of authority, we usually have different
ways of dealing with subordinates
and company issues. Spirituality is one
endearing value that helps leaders
decide on how they will treat a person
or situation. Those that acknowledge spirituality in
their lives and positions usually work
to promote others. They endeavor to
build a community, which despite
being imperfect, tries to live up to the
teachings of the Bible and practice faith in God's wisdom. Most people
find leadership as an avenue to
exercise control and push for
expected goals. But what they do not
realize is that more than achieving
success, the most important function of a leader has something to do with
transforming minds, hearts and souls
and becoming actual models of
change. However, true spiritual (Ignatian)
leadership does not come easy and
may eventually be faced with
hardships and criticisms. Leaders who
put others first often fall short of
protecting and helping themselves, thereby causing great personal
demise. And since there are equivalent
expectations from leaders, those who
cannot deliver them or go against
them, are more or less subject to the
frustrations and disappointments of their subordinates and superiors. Apart from this, another challenge that
leaders face is accepting an adaptive
role, wherein they are obliged to unite
the community and as a whole,
undergo a change that neither is
pleasant or reassuring. The process will involve admittance of
accountability for problems, the
sharing of fears and burdens and
reflection upon which act really seeks
to please God. This will not be simple
in the face of uncertainty and pain. And will therefore cause the leader
greater hardships. It is flattering to be in a position of
power. And everyone can earn it or
become instated as such. However,
good leadership - spiritual leadership,
as seen in people like Ghandi, Martin
Luther King, and Jesus, are judged by practice. And it is an experience that is
both life altering and life threatening.
Good leadership is a high-priced
privilege that may inevitably lead to
your crucifixion and death. But it is
certainly not in vain.