The New Testament called it salvation or enlightenment, the Twelve Step Program called it recovery. The trouble is that most Christians pushed this great liberation off into the next world, and many Twelve Steppers settled for mere sobriety from a substance instead of a real transformation of the self. We have all been the losers, as a result—waiting around for "enlightenment at gunpoint" (death) instead of enjoying God's banquet much earlier in life.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803—1882), the great American essayist, said "nothing great is ever achieved without enthusiasm." What a deconstructed culture lacks, because of its deep cynicism and pessimism about reality, is a basic confidence and enthusiasm that is necessary to start almost anything.

It is the things that you cannot do anything about and the things that you cannot do anything with that do something with you.

you no longer need to protect or defend the mere part. You are now connected to something inexhaustible.

That is all I ever need to remember on any given day, the ultimate condensation of the first three steps, or the Three Step Waltz, as we call it: I can't; God can; I think I'll let God. I am powerless over people, places, and things, unable to save or fix or rescue anyone, including myself. But God can, through the movement of grace in our lives: grace as

We need to encounter the hero within and let him lead us on the adventure of our lives.

We are all spiritually powerless, however, and not just those physically addicted to a substance, which is why I address this book to everyone.

Great saints are both courageous and creative; they are "yes, and" or non-dual thinkers who never get trapped in the small world of "either-or" except in the ways of love and courage, where they are indeed all or nothing.

Weakness with watchfulness will stand, when strength with too much confidence fails. Weakness, with acknowledgement of it, is the fittest seat and subject for God to perfect his strength in; for consciousness of our infirmities drives us out of ourselves to him in whom our strength lies.

Every creature thinks itself best in its own element, that is the place it thrives in, and enjoys its happiness in; now Christ is the element of a Christian.

The truth is, almost everything we do is done poorly when we first start doing it — that's how we learn.

Failure is a part of everyone's journey. But it is your attitude toward failure that will determine your ultimate success.