How does a person seek help from God when he or she is having difficulty accepting the tenets of the Christian faith, if help is desperately needed now? This is a challenge we must be bold enough to confront when reaching out to the lost and disenfranchised in our charge.

As chaplain, I have found a method which works for me. But when I share with others that I sometimes encourage Adult Rehabilitation Center (ARC) beneficiaries that they might begin by praying “to God as they understand him,” I am often met with astonishment!

Today I want to clarify my actions—and suggest that this approach is in line with Salvation Army founder William Booth’s philosophy of “soup, soap, and salvation”—everything in its proper order. Booth realized that a person’s physical needs for food, shelter, personal hygiene and self-worth must be addressed, as well as spiritual needs. A corollary to this philosophy is the famous Alcoholics Anonymous slogan: “First things first.” In sharing Christ, what counts are results.

The Reverend Samuel Shoemaker, rector of Calvary Episcopal Church in New York, coined the phrase “God as we understood him,” which we find in the literature of Alcoholics Anonymous—as well as that of its numerous spinoff 12-step programs.

Shoemaker had what I believe was good reason for introducing the method. Here’s his thinking:  “Any honest person can begin the spiritual experience by surrendering as much of himself as he can, to as much of Christ as he understands. Begin honestly where you are” (Shoemaker, “Extraordinary Living for Honest Men”). Elsewhere he writes: “Congregational minister Horace Bushnell once said, ‘Pray to the dim God, confessing the dimness for honesty’s sake.’ I was with a man who prayed his first real prayer in these words: ‘O God, if there be a God, help me now because I need it.’ God sent him help. He found faith. He found God…God will come through to you and make himself known” (“How to Find God”).

I agree with Shoemaker, for I have seen men—and was once one myself—who cannot swallow all of Christian theology in one gulp. Just a few days clean and sober, their mind’s full of cobwebs, they come to us with a million questions and doubts about organized religion. They are enormously anxiety-ridden, struggling moment by moment with whether to stick around or run and go get drunk or high.

After an assessment of the individual, if the wall of understanding appears impervious, then, like Shoemaker, I advise him to reach out to the God of his own understanding, to whatever vague concept of God he may have, and seek his help. I encourage him then to watch what happens next. I direct him: “Surrender as much of yourself as you can to as much of God as you understand.” I quote James 4:8—Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.

I tell such men, “Let’s begin where you are. You currently have a wall up against the Christian faith—it will take you time to get there—yet we both agree that you need to latch on to God’s power today! Not later!  Let’s start from where you are, and over the next days and weeks, as you listen to the sermons, hymns and Bible studies, hopefully these deeper matters will become clearer to you.”

It is my experience that the vast majority of the men and women who begin their spiritual journeys in our ARC programs—and remain for the full six months—regardless of their religious backgrounds eventually find Christ there. Over the course of extensive spiritual immersion—twice a week chapel services, Bible studies, and daily morning devotions—they ultimately give considerable thought to the Christian faith. As they see many of their prayers answered and repeatedly hear testimonies from others who declare themselves empowered by Christ, most who begin by praying to “the dim God,” eventually find the Trinitarian God of Scripture. The philosophy that works is “one day at a time.”

When management guru Peter Drucker called The Salvation Army “the most effective organization in the U.S.,” he was only confirming what people who work there already believe—that well-trained leadership, careful infrastructure, and a clear, spiritually based mission keep the focus on “soup, soap, and salvation.” The “God as we understood him” approach is part and parcel of this soup and soap philosophy—it leads to salvation.

O Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger or discipline me in your wrath. Be merciful to me, Lord, for I am faint. O Lord, heal me, for my bones are in agony. My soul is in anguish. How long, O Lord, how long? Turn, O Lord, and deliver me. Save me because of your unfailing love (Ps. 6:1-4 NIV).

Sometimes the way to victory is by surrender. My bones are troubled is a Hebrew way of saying, “I am wracked with pain.” David, the valiant warrior, by confessing his helplessness, has placed himself in the strongest position possible—he is now free to draw on God’s abundant resources.

This valid spiritual principle—that we win by giving up the control of our lives to God—is modeled for us again and again by the great Bible characters. Paul exulted, I no longer live but Christ lives in me. Yet experience shows us that a sincere commitment to truly give up our right to ourselves to God—though discussed often in Christian circles—is a rare commodity indeed.

Following a recent evangelistic crusade, an impressive number was announced of those who had “made a decision for Christ.” I quipped: “I wonder how many will follow through with their decisions.” The fact is that effecting the self-surrender essential to tap into God’s immense reservoir of strength is by no means as straightforward as it may seem. Many well-intentioned people fall short, I believe, because merely making the mental decision to give up our self-control and hand the reins of our lives over to God is never enough. All our natural instincts rebel against such a yielding; our mere mortal identity adheres to us more stubbornly than glue. Such dependence upon ourselves to run our own lives is a deeply entrenched habit which only God can put down.

However, truly fortunate people eventually arrive at a point where they realize that running their own lives is neither possible nor even desirable. They have come to the end of themselves—in recovery vernacular they have “bottomed out”— and from this clear vantage point are able to make an honest assessment of their circumstances. Carefully surveying their lives, they discover to their shock that no human remedy will suffice. The only logical alternative at this point is to turn to the supernatural, to God himself.

As we admit our weakness, we embark upon a solution. We want to get out of the driver’s seat, but how? We are faced with the universal question: how to “let go and let God.” Ultimately, the key is full willingness. The proof of this almost self-evident fact is in the hundreds of personal testimonies of individuals. They share that they finally, prayerfully cracked open the doors of their minds ever so little, then felt the wind of the Holy Spirit breeze in and take up long-term residence in their lives.

Once God resides within us, he commences a training regimen intended to rebuild us according to his own plans. Paul was blunt when he instructed the young church in Philippi: …[A]s you have always obeyed…continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose (Phil. 2:12-13 NIV).

At a recent Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, one of my friends shocked us all with his opening remark: “I thank God for my alcoholism.” You could have heard a pin drop in that room. Every eye was focused on the speaker. My friend continued: “The reason I say this is because I’m such a pigheaded, obstinate person that were it not for the horrendous circumstances—the mess made of my life by my hard drinking lifestyle—I know that I would never have given my heart to Christ 30 years ago. I thank God for the disease of alcoholism that finally drove me to my knees.

“For years I resisted surrender to him because I knew that if God were in control of my life, then I would not be in control and, therefore, would not be able to have things the way that I wanted them. I was in such full denial that only a very painful encounter with the consequences of my limitations finally prompted me to make an honest assessment of my life.

“At that point I bent my knees and submitted to God and his total reign in my life. Because of this decision made out of necessity three decades ago, today I can say sincerely with the apostle Peter that I have been filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy [1 Peter 1:8 NIV]. Therefore, thank God for my alcoholism.”

On Valentine’s Day our thoughts turn to love. If a person is your valentine, that individual is the one you love the best.

I wonder if we might be God’s valentine. Enthusiastically, the apostle announces: How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called Children of God! And that is what we are! (1 John 3:1 NIV). When you think about it, what a marvelous revelation that is indeed. What an incredible truth to grasp: that our Creator loves us so dearly that he condescends to call us flawed human beings his children!

This Valentine’s Day I wish to share with you my favorite poem. It is the account of a lovely conversation between the poet George Herbert (1593-1633) and his Lord. When I first read it several years ago, I was moved to tears. I encountered it at a place and time in my life when I desperately needed its reminder. It brought to mind the words of Corrie Ten Boom: “There is no pit so deep that God’s love is not deeper still.” The poet is very candid about himself, his feelings and his motives toward God. As you read it, can you see yourself here?

Love

Love bade me welcome; yet my soul drew back,

Guilty of dust and sin.

But quick-eyed Love, observing me grow slack

From my first entrance in,

Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning

If I lack’d anything.

“A guest,” I answer’d, “worthy to be here”:

Love said, “You shall be he.”

“I, the unkind, ungrateful? Ah, my dear,

I cannot look on Thee.”

Love took my hand and smiling did reply,

“Who made the eyes but I?”

“Truth, Lord; but I have marr’d them: let my shame

Go where it doth deserve.”

“And know you not,” says Love, “Who bore the blame?”

“My dear, then I will serve.”

“You must sit down”’ says Love, “and taste my meat.”

So I did sit and eat.

                                                            (George Herbert)

He whose name is Love welcomed the poet, perhaps with these words: “Let the thirsty ones come—anyone who wants to. Let them come and drink the water of life without charge” (Rev. 22:17 NLT). Yet the poet’s awareness of his sin caused him to draw back. So Love drew nearer. The poet is shameful that he has so damaged the eyes God gave him that he cannot look at Love. He wishes Love would cast him out instead of inviting him in.

This poem describes a typical human reaction to God’s invitation to eternal life. We think we must be worthy, sinless, to be a guest of the loving Creator. But Love reminds us that he has borne the blame for our sin. It is natural to feel unworthy, but faith in Jesus Christ can alleviate this feeling.

Herbert says in the last stanza: “My dear, then I will serve.” But kindly Love corrects him: “You must sit down…and taste my meat.” Persuaded by Love, the poet “did sit and eat.”

We are reminded that we are not righteous enough to do good for God. It is simply our part to surrender to him and allow him to work through us. The Lord, our true valentine, is unique, one of a kind. “Human hands can’t serve his needs, for he has no needs. He himself gives life and breath to everything, and he satisfies every need there is” (Acts 17:25 NLT).

As Corrie Ten Boom, who suffered intense cruelty at the hands of the Nazi SS, discovered: “It is not on our forgiveness any more than our goodness that the world’s healing hinges, but on His. When He tells us to love our enemies, He gives, along with the command, the Love itself” (Tramp for the Lord).

Happy Valentine’s Day, Jesus!

A burning question has come across my desk: “What has to be done to ensure the adult rehabilitation center (ARC) and corps connection is a part of the culture of The Salvation Army in the Western Territory?”

A good question! Especially since the 12-step programs of Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous—enforced at the ARC—should serve as a natural bridge to the corps church. It is the 12-step program that presents addicts with a clear roadmap leading them toward an intimate relationship with God, who empowers them over their addictions.

Next the addict enquires, “Who is this God and how can I worship him?” Many who find Christ at the ARC inform me: “I would love to make my church The Salvation Army, since this is where I started my new life.” It behooves us to invite them in.

With the ARC-corps bridge in mind, Major Man-Hee Chang, ARC commander, requested the development of a unique Christ-based approach to recovery and Salvationism that targets ARC beneficiaries, alumni and others in recovery from addiction to drugs or alcohol. It may be presented at either the corps or ARC level. Successful completion may lead to the participant’s enrollment as a Salvation Army soldier or adherent.

The new program, “Called To Be God’s Own,” follows the outline of the 12 vital areas of the Army’s spiritual life highlighted by The Salvation Army’s 1999 International Spiritual Life Commission. It draws heavily on Commissioner Robert Street’s published report of the commission’s findings: “Called to be God’s People.”

Chang also inaugurated ARC 101, a one-day workshop for corps officers and others in Salvation Army ministry, which he has begun taking into the field. The workshop includes topics such as “Integrating beneficiaries and families into the corps,” “Pastoral counseling of the recovering addict,” and “What is recovery?”

Addicted to drugs and alcohol, our beneficiaries have lost all control over their lives. Finding themselves stuck, trapped in an inextricable quagmire, they come to the ARC for help.

After meeting for years with virtually every beneficiary that has checked into the Riverside ARC, I have found that over half of them are survivors of  severe trauma, often from childhood, but also as a result of gang warfare or the Iraq or Afghanistan wars. They have to learn to live every day with the haunting memory of these horrors. It is our responsibility to help them find peace within themselves, without the use of drugs or alcohol.

One of the first things we do for the beneficiary in the ARC is describe the addiction cycle: 1) Pain; 2) Reaching out to an addictive agent to salve the pain; 3) Temporary anesthesia; 4) Negative consequences;  and 5) Shame and guilt, resulting in more pain. A primary goal of the 12-step program, and of recovery in general, is to help the addict identify the pain driving his or her addiction, find the cause, and turn it over to God to remove it. No more pain, then no more drug-seeking.

The 12-step program is nothing if not spiritual at its core. The volume Alcoholics Anonymous, often referred to as the Big Book of AA, reads, “[We] have been not only mentally and physically ill, we have been spiritually sick. When the spiritual malady is overcome, we straighten out mentally and physically.”

We guide our beneficiaries into a new lifestyle, picking up where AA and NA leave off, showing them that this “God of their own understanding” is Jesus Christ. We take the 12-step program back to its origins. The God of the evangelical Oxford Group, AA’s forerunner, was the Trinitarian God of the Bible. AA’s cofounders, Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob Smith, were Christians.

The new program, “Called To Be God’s Own,” draws together three elements: 1) “The Commission’s Call to Salvationists,” spotlighting 12 vital areas of the spiritual life; 2) The 11 doctrines of The Salvation Army, examined in the light of their biblical basis, along with the history and structure of the Army, including a discussion of the sacraments; and 3) The 12 steps, focusing on recovery from drugs and alcohol.

We believe the secret behind the success of AA and its many spin-off 12-step programs is that the steps themselves are biblical commands spelled out in a user-friendly format. Scripture consistently stresses that obedience to God is the pathway to discipleship and spiritual growth.

The evidence is clear that if one steps out in purposeful obedience to God’s commands, then he or she will grow spiritually. Such a person, taught Jesus, “is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built” (Luke 6:48 NIV).

As we “work the steps,” we first get right with God, accepting Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior—steps 1, 2 and 3. Next God helps us get right with ourselves—steps 4-7. Then he helps us to get right with others—steps 8-9.  Steps 10-12 are beautifully crafted instruments through which God helps us monitor our hearts, keeping our walk with him active and current so that we do not fall. Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life, teaches wise King Solomon (Prov. 4:23 NIV).

Research has shown that the most complete recoveries have been those of individuals who had a meaningful connection to both 12-step groups and a religious community. This was eye-popping information to me.

We have much work to do; therefore, let’s get at it!

Police were close on his tail as Daniel Chapman dashed into the trailer park. Talking rapidly on his cell phone, he peered out into the night. The ringleader—who had previously coerced him at gunpoint—urged him to go for it. “I’m out front; it’s all clear!” he said.

Sure enough, as Daniel bolted from his hiding place, he spotted the fellow waving him to his car. But, suddenly, out of the corner of one eye, he glimpsed a police officer and stopped dead in his tracks.

“I was scared,” he said. “And I was searching for an escape from my way of life. Looking back, I realize that—except for when I accepted Christ—the day I was arrested was the best one of my life.”

At age 20, Daniel was sick and tired of using drugs, burglarizing stores and stealing automobiles—a way of life he hated and yet seemed destined for.

Daniel’s alcoholic father had beat him, his two older brothers and their mother, which was the reason she left him and rescued her sons when Daniel was 4. In Santa Clarita, Calif., he became attached to his stepfather. “Our relationship was awesome!” he said. But when he was 13, the marriage ended in divorce.

As Daniel later watched his mother and brothers turn to drugs, he increasingly isolated himself in his room. When his mother introduced him to methamphetamines, Daniel thought the activity would bring them closer together, but instead she fought with them more.

When Daniel was 17, his mother was evicted from her home for failing to pay the rent. She turned to her drug dealer for help.

“She told me I could not move in because I was underage,” Daniel said. “As I watched her go into the house I started bawling, because I didn’t know what to do.”

A short time later, Daniel’s brother Ricky was released from jail. The two hung out together, sleeping in the city park. They collected and sold recyclables for food and drugs until a stranger conned them into burglarizing stores and stealing cars. His brother was jailed again, and Daniel badly wanted out of the arrangement but was afraid of the ringleader.

“When I was arrested, I confessed to all charges,” Daniel said. His dorm representative in the Kern County jail suggested he read the Bible, and Daniel was captivated by the book. He said on Oct. 16, 2008, “I laid the Bible in front of me in my cell and prayed, ‘God, if you’re real, I need confirmation. Please show me a new way of life.’ Then I opened my Bible randomly to Psalm 46 and read: For God is our refuge and strength, an ever present help in times of trouble. And I read on: Be still and know that I am God. At that moment I asked God into my life. A calmness came over me, a great feeling of peace. I got goose bumps.”

Soon afterward Daniel heard fellow inmates share how The Salvation Army Adult Rehabilitation Program helped people change their lives. When LeeVale Butler, the Riverside County Adult Rehabilitation Center (ARC) intake coordinator, came to address the inmates, Daniel pummeled him with questions. In April 2009, Daniel checked into the ARC.

Seeking to be a part of something greater, Daniel became an adherent of the Murrieta Corps. Upon completing the ARC program in October 2009, he applied for the San Bernardino Corps’ Pathways to Prosperity program and eventually enrolled in San Bernardino Valley College, studying aeronautics.

Daniel is now in the last semester of the program leading to an Airframe and Powerplant license. He was enrolled as a Salvation Army soldier at the San Bernardino Corps in November 2011 and takes an active role in youth ministry, leading the Adventure Corps program.

“I try to be a positive role model for the kids from broken homes,” he said. “I tell them they don’t have to go down the path I took.

“As God was changing me at the ARC, it struck me that if I can change, others also can,” Daniel said. “ Today my mother is clean and sober and also active in Christian ministry.”

He said he resented his dad—who died while Daniel was in jail—for how he treated his family. But, Daniel’s brother told him, their dad loved them, was sorry for everything that he ever did, and truly changed his life. Daniel said he has closure today.

“When my brother told me that, it was all I needed to hear,” he said. “I surrendered all the resentments I was holding toward my dad.”

“What else can I do? This life is all I know!” Billy blurted out, wiping away tears with the Kleenex I handed him. He explained he had been heavily drinking alcohol and using methamphetamines off and on for 25 years, much of that time spent behind bars. During every prison stint, he had vowed to stop practicing his addiction but once set free always returned to the lifestyle that ultimately led him back to prison.

Now, for the first time in his adult life, Billy had 30 straight days clean and sober outside prison walls, and stone-cold sober he was confronting the hurt, guilt, rage and fear that drove his addiction. It was greatly disturbing to him. Yet at the same time, he was denying the very emotions that were made so evident by his body language. “I don’t carry resentments anymore,” he insisted. “I forgave those people long ago. And I certainly don’t fear anything or anybody. Everyone who knows me will tell you I’m not afraid of anything.”

As we talked, the tears continued sliding down his cheeks, annoying him to no end. Repeatedly apologizing, he turned his head away, ashamed. “Chaplain,” he said. “What can I do? When I search my mind, I find nothing, nothing.”

After a pause, I replied, “Billy, you can’t see what’s behind your addictions—the inner misery compelling you to use mind-numbing substances—because you are unable to examine the hidden portions of your mind. That’s where the source of your troubling emotions lies. The solution is to accept Christ and rely on God for the direction and power to proceed. As your faith in God grows, he will provide you with the courage and power to look beyond the veil hiding your inner self from your conscious mind. I have learned there is an inverse relationship between our faith and our fear: the greater our faith in God, the less our fear to probe the inner parts of ourselves. As God strengthens us, we are no longer afraid of what we will find, and with his help we can uncover our hidden character defects that lead us to drink and use. Finally we surrender these over to him.”

I explained to Billy that the inverse relationship between faith and fear is shown in Christ’s repeated counsel to his disciples: “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” (Mark 4:40 NIV). The troubled father’s cry in Mark 9:24 echoes that of each of our hearts, “Lord, I do believe. Help me overcome my unbelief!” When we truly believe in God’s tremendous power to deliver us, he will be there. He will help us to release our doubt and to finally examine ourselves and yield to him our compulsions.

In my classes I draw on the board an image of an iceberg and tell my hungry students: “This iceberg represents your mind. Just as the greater part of an iceberg is concealed beneath the surface of the sea, the source of our emotions is largely hidden from us as well. Our troubling behaviors are symptoms of things hidden that continue to disturb us. In order to modify our behaviors, we must first uncover the cause by examining these concealed portions of our minds. As God empowers us to look at areas we may otherwise be too timid to examine, we finally reveal the pain driving our addictions. Surrendering this torment over to God, we are freed from the power of our destructive compulsions. However, in order to do this we must first accept Christ into our hearts. He will then give us the power to proceed so we can finally be set free.”

Our new life with Christ our Liberator rests entirely on being reborn and filled by the Holy Spirit as we trust Jesus with our lives. Stepping forward in purposeful obedience to his commands, we continue our journey of repentance as day by day his Spirit transforms us increasingly into the image and character of Christ. Our recovery literature describes our conversion experience this way: “As we felt new power flow in, as we enjoyed peace of mind, as we discovered we could face life successfully, as we became conscious of his presence, we began to lose our fear of today, tomorrow, or the hereafter. We were reborn” (Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 63).

No scar is etched so deeply and no blow is dealt so deftly that the love of Jesus can’t heal! I am strikingly reminded of this truth every day in my ministry. Nightly I pray, “Thank you, Lord, for your miracles.”

Today I want to share with you how much I delight in serving as an adult rehabilitation center (ARC) chaplain. Working alongside desperate men, doing my best to help them find the light of God, has become a passion for me. In post-retirement service now, as I reflect back over my years as an active officer, I realize that I experienced nothing that offered such a rich opportunity to directly make a real difference in another human life. Having another person do this for you is very different from doing it yourself. As we ministers get personally involved, we are deeply enriched. The Alcoholics Anonymous slogan, “We keep it by giving it away,” is a valid spiritual principle when applied to our faith as well.

Lost, anxious, our spiritually, emotionally ill people are brought to us by the county jail bus, their pastor, spouse, brother, sister or parents. I have known them to hike for as long as 36 hours along a railroad track, then sleep overnight out in the dark and damp just to be at our front door when it opens.

These hungry people come to us for a new chance at life. What they find when they arrive is a safe place where they can regroup, reflect, and start their lives over again. The chaplain has a narrow window of opportunity, not only to save a life—preventing a person from going to an early grave or spending a lifetime behind bars—but to save that person’s soul as well. Addicted to drugs, alcohol and other enchaining habits, our applicants have lost all control. They come desperate for help.

One man shared his story like this: “My life was in rubbles. I was caught in a compulsion. There was nothing I could do. After entering the ARC, I became engrossed in the message of the cross. I had never even been in a church before. But I remember the physical, mental and emotional change I felt, and I knew I had been given the gift of sobriety…I realized Christ had died for a suffering alcoholic like me.”

Another told me: “I grew up in an unreligious household. But then, as I watched the men file up to the altar after the sermon, I asked myself: ‘Should I give my heart to Jesus?’ Eventually I did, and soon I was praying each morning and evening alone in the chapel: ‘Dear God, keep me sober today and tomorrow.’”

In my first meeting with them, the majority of our men tell me bluntly they are hoping to “get God” into their lives. It’s often a last ditch effort for them. “I have tried everything else,” they tell me. These men desperately seek salvation from their predicaments. Such fertile ground for the Word of God is a joy to cultivate and tend.

Most of our applicants are already acquainted with the 12-Step Programs of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and Narcotics Anonymous (NA). These programs are complementary to the Christian faith—making it especially easy for chaplains to witness effectively for Christ within the context of recovery. The 12-Step Program is nothing if not spiritual at its core. The volume Alcoholics Anonymous, often referred to as the Big Book of AA, reads, “We have been not only mentally and physically ill, we have been spiritually sick. When the spiritual malady is overcome, we straighten out mentally and physically” (p. 64).

The majority of the men and women checking into our facilities have learned this. They have reached the conclusion that under their own power they are completely helpless over their addictions and have heard that there is a “Higher Power” somewhere who can set them free. Occasionally, they look me directly in the eye and declare,“I’m completely lost. Tell me about this Higher Power I keep hearing about at meetings.” They can’t be any more honest than that.

As chaplains we now guide our people into a new lifestyle, picking up where AA and NA leave off, showing them that this “God of their own understanding” is Jesus Christ. This connection between recovery and spirituality needs to be handled with compassion, sensitivity, understanding and competence. If you have been broken like them, and God has saved you, you see them as beautiful—and are excited at the prospect. Our challenge lies before us. It is clear: We must not let these beloved, desperate people down. And we need far more ministers in this vineyard: “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few” (Matt. 9:37 NIV).

As I rise to retrieve a book from the shelf, the man’s eyes follow me across the room. Settling back into my chair, I see distrust written large upon his face. Assigned as chaplain at an adult rehabilitation center (ARC), I find such an attitude common during my first session with beneficiaries, especially those with a “career” prison background, or who have lived long upon the streets.

I see myself being weighed and judged. They often assume I am out for something, that I have some kind of angle. They want to know what I’m after. They can’t imagine that I treat them the way I do simply because I love them. It is often not until my second session that I am finally accepted.

To be an effective witness of Christ to these desperate but beautiful individuals, I have learned that I have to be upfront about who I am and consistent in my behavior. They must accept me for who I say I am as I convey to them one central message: “Jesus loves you and so do I!”

In 2005 I conducted a limited poll among ARC graduates, asking them one simple question: “What can our corps do to attract more ARC beneficiaries and graduates to our ranks?” The response I received shocked me: the majority reaction was: “If they want us to participate, they need to stop looking down on us!”

The only one way to avoid coming across to ARC beneficiaries or others in recovery as condescending is by consistently demonstrating genuine humility. If we honestly look at ourselves, with the help of God, we will know whether we are humble. If we do this and find that we are not humble, then we must consider how to go about acquiring this admirable, essential Christian trait. How does one do this? Certainly not through simply willing it! For there is nothing truer than the old recovery slogan: “You can’t defeat self-will with self-will!”

The only sure way to cultivate humility is by taking the same route drug addicts and alcoholics take to find recovery: submitting to the spiritual disciplines, the iblical injunctions, of the Alcoholics Anonymous 12-Step Program. These are so similar to the spiritual exercises of Ignatius of Loyola that Father Ed Dowling purposely sought out Bill Wilson, the author of Alcoholics Anonymous, to discuss this with him.

I know that if a person sincerely exercises these disciplines, which trace the journey of repentance, he or she will grow spiritually. As we take this path, we learn how to see a man as a man and a woman as a woman, to acknowledge that beneath the uniforms, beneath the skin, we are all the same—whether a prison convict or a preacher in the pulpit. It is telling that Jesus observed: “But many who are first will be last, and the last first” (Mark 10:31 NIV).

Just as addicts and alcoholics must surrender to Jesus Christ, the true higher power, by employing the biblical injunctions of self-examination, confession, submission, restitution and carrying the message to others, if they are to grow spiritually and find peace with God, so must we all if we are to be made whole.

That early saint of The Salvation Army, Commissioner Samuel Logan Brengle, would certainly agree. In The Soul-Winner’s Secret he observed: “Spiritual leadership is not won nor established by promotion, but by many prayers and tears. It is attained by confessions of sin, and much heart-searching and humbling before God; by self-surrender, a courageous sacrifice of every idol, a bold, deathless, uncompromising, and uncomplaining embrace of the cross, and by an eternal, unfaltering looking unto Jesus crucified.”

Though it may sound strange, I believe addicts and alcoholics may in certain ways be more blessed than the rest of us. The life circumstances stemming from their separation from God are concrete things that are brought forcefully to their attention. They are very evident: jail, prison, unemployment, a physician’s verdict, estrangement from family members. One may even speculate that in some instances addiction, like the apostle Paul’s “thorn in the flesh,” may be a gift from God (2 Cor. 12:7).

For most of us, however, the effects of our separation from God are not so striking—we are not confronted with such glaring signposts. Tragically, we are often insufficiently impelled to employ the spiritual disciplines so necessary for our desperately needed reconciliation with our Lord.

The truth is that each of us, if we are to get right with God, must go on such a journey. We must accept the fact that the consequences of our separation from God are outside of our control, that operating under our own strength we are absolutely powerless to do anything about them; therefore, we must necessarily give up the deeply entrenched habit of trying to fix ourselves. “Letting go and letting God,” we take a huge leap of faith; then, stepping out into open space, we trust that God himself will catch us up into his arms. From that moment on we are on a journey that leads to increasing intimacy with him.

The only difference between “other people” and addicts is simply this: When other people don’t follow the principles of the 12 Steps, they end up unhappy. When addicts don’t follow the principles of the 12 Steps, they end up drinking or using drugs to escape their misery.

“I’m uncomfortable with Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and Narcotics Anonymous (NA) because of their vagueness about the nature of God, the saving power of Jesus Christ, and the ministry of the Holy Spirit. I’ve stopped attending their meetings and have followed my pastor’s advice. I’ll stay sober through God alone.”

I cringe when I hear such a remark, for it has been my experience that relapse is but a hair’s breadth away. Why? Because well-meaning Christian preachers and teachers often advise addicts to keep their sobriety intact by “simply praying, reading the Bible and attending church.” But this is never enough for true recovery to take place.

Even the assortment of “Christian 12-step programs” you find in some churches nowadays—while often helpful to those with other addictions—are frequently death to the recovery of drug addicts and alcoholics. These programs take the addicts’ eyes off the ball—their specific addictions—focusing instead on a general “tendency to do the wrong thing” or “the effects of our separation from God.” This is not to say that Christian 12-step programs cannot be helpful to this population—as long as one continues to participate in AA and NA. My concern is primarily for the person who chooses to attend them in lieu of AA and NA—but there appear to be many who do just this.

The lure of the drug—whether in solid or liquid form (alcohol)—is a tremendously powerful attraction that sucks the addict into an inextricable quagmire, and is a far more potent force than the lure of most other addictions. The magnetic draw is virtually irresistible and not at all comparable to the usual Christian temptations. The recovering drug addict must walk on eggshells, especially during the early years of sobriety. It truly is a one-day-at-a-time, one-foot-in-front-of-the-other, program—each step placed very, very carefully.

Two memories compete persistently for dominance in the mind of the recovering addict or alcoholic: that of the great pain resulting from his or her past addictive lifestyle and the extreme pleasure and escape of the intoxication high. Sobriety depends upon keeping the memory of the pain dominant. When one fails to work a tight recovery program, the disease will always see to it that the first memory fades and that of the pleasure and escape of the intoxication high is magnified many times over. At this point relapse is imminent. Regular attendance at AA and NA meetings, where one interacts with “newcomers,” helps keeps the memory of the pain dominant, maintaining intact a mindset of “I don’t need to drink or use today”—a state of mind called “sanity.” Focusing sharply on the addiction is critical to maintaining this mindset.

When Christians argue that NA’s and AA’s vagueness about the nature of God prohibits them from participating, I reply: “When you seek out medical doctors to treat a sickness, are you concerned about their faith?” AA and NA meetings can be compared to a hospital where one goes for treatment for a chronic disease. To decide to remain clean and sober “through God alone,” meaning participation in a church and its affiliated Christian 12-step program, makes as much sense as treating diabetes through the same approach.

Just as God has provided us with hospitals to help with other illnesses, he has given us the programs of Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous to help with the serious, often deadly, disease of drug and alcohol addiction. While this disease has no cure—by this we mean the addict or alcoholic can never safely resume drug or alcohol use—and can even be fatal, fortunately it is treatable; it can be kept in check by working a tight recovery program.

Such a program has three components—regular attendance at AA or NA meetings, a home church, and active involvement with the AA or NA 12-step program. The third element is key, for it is through working the12-step program with the aid of a sponsor that the Holy Spirit transforms the personality of the addict. To ignore this component is to condemn the addict to a life as a “dry drunk”—a condition in which he or she, although not getting high, still carries within the seeds of relapse.

By working the AA/NA 12 steps, addicts employ the spiritual disciplines of self-examination, confession, submission, making amends, and carrying the message to others. As character transformation results, sanity also kicks in: God delivers from the desire to get high. They are in recovery!

The 50-year-old man was sobbing. Wiping his face with a Kleenex he had pulled from a box on my desk, he blurted: “My life’s a mess! I’ve run out of options. Nobody in my family will have anything to do with me anymore. And now I’m homeless. Can you help me get my life back?”

Men and women, nearly hopeless, are arriving at our social services programs in droves, finally admitting—after many a brush with hell—that they are helpless over their faulty ways of thinking—the product of lies they had long taken for truths. Based on these lies, they made major life decisions which ultimately led them to disaster. The journey they begin with us can ultimately lead them to the Truth.

Their persistent problem: powerlessness. The solution: power.

These anxious people look to us—corps officers, chaplains, social workers, and counselors—for a way out of their dilemma. We point these desperate men and women to the solution: There is a personal God, whose name is Jesus Christ, who can provide them with the power to live their lives effectively—even provide them with a full and meaningful life (John 10:10). They need no longer be powerless—they can receive power!

Once they’ve come to believe God can help them, these worried people find the hope they are seeking. Next they look to us for help in fulfilling their new expectations. If a person comes to believe God can help him, the next logical step is to let God do so. But how do you instruct someone on how to “let go and let God”?

Here is where the rubber meets the road. What happens next is crucial. How many times have I seen a man in my office asking why—after he has made a decision for Christ at the altar—his feelings are still running amok, pulling him in a thousand different directions, luring him back into old precarious, addictive ways of thinking?

This was the experience of Dr. Bob Smith, the alcoholic surgeon who cofounded Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) with Bill Wilson. Bob had repeatedly responded to the altar call at his Congregational Church, only to fall off the wagon days later. Bible study groups were praying for him. When Bill visited Dr. Bob in 1935, Bob listened carefully as Bill outlined the evangelical Oxford Group’s tenets which had helped him get sober. As Bill described the principles of self-examination, confession, restitution, and carrying the message to others (all of which were based on a careful analysis of the Bible), Bob’s eyes grew wider and wider until finally he blurted out: “That’s the missing piece!”

Bob had long known the problem: He was powerless. He had long known the solution: God had the power to restore him. What he did not know were the practical steps he must take to rid himself of the largely subliminal barriers of resentment and selfishness and fear that obstructed him from making a full surrender to God. Over the weeks following Bill’s visit, Bob applied the steps to his life and finally laid the bottle down, never to drink again.

This word-of-mouth exposition of the Oxford Group’s program was what Bill would later expand “for the sake of greater clarity and thoroughness,” he explained, into AA’s Twelve Steps. These steps in their final form would become the concrete directions an addict of any kind could follow to bring about the psychic change essential to full surrender to God. “Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps…” is how it is presented in Step 12.

After offering ourselves as “living sacrifices” to God, the apostle Paul urges us to be transformed by the renewing of your mind (Rom. 12:1-2). The roadmap by which this biblical injunction is carried out is outlined in a practical way in the AA’s Twelve Steps. The steps’ study worksheets, which sponsors provide, simplify the process even further. The renewing of our mind occurs as we trust and obey God daily by following such commands as Step 4: “Examine yourselves” (2 Cor. 13:5); Step 5: “Confess your sins to each other” (James 5:16); Step 9: “Be reconciled to your brother” (Matt. 5:23-24).

Through working the steps, practicing prayer and contemplation (Step 11), we are increasingly relieved of the bondage of self from which we had long sought escape through alcohol, drugs, or other addictions. We emerge finally into a new consciousness of being, devoid of ego, seeking daily to improve our conscious contact with God.

Corps officers, chaplains, counselors and social workers provide a wonderful service when they offer the tool of the AA Twelve Step Program and stress the importance of working it. They place in the hands of desperate people a practical, proven model for affecting a full surrender to God.  Those who come to us for help—they are the winners!