Recovery Today / December 2011
Dick B. /
A Christmas Gift that Keeps on Giving
by Father Bill W.
Nobody
knows
the
real
date
of
Jesus’
birth.
It
could
have
been
in
the
spring
when
the
flowers
first
bloom
;
or
in
the
fall,
when
it’s
harvest
time
and
everything’s
ripe
and
bountiful.
The
truth
is
nobody
knows.
But,
long
about
the
fifth
century,
the
Church
decided
it
needed
to
agree
on
a
date,
so
they
sat
down
and
chose
what
might
seem
like
a
very
odd
choice
for
the
Savior’s
birth.
They
chose
the
day
of
the
year
when
(at
least
in
the
northern
hemisphere)
the
earth’s
axis
is
tilted
farthest
from
the
sun
so
the
world
turns
coldest
and
daylight
hours
are
at
their
shortest.
Maybe
they
had
in
mind
the
words
from
Isaiah
the
prophet:
“Those
who
dwelt
in
a
land
of
deep
darkness,
…
on
them
a
Light
has
shined.”
As
alcoholics
and
addicts,
I
think
we
can
probably
all
relate
to
living
“in
a
land
of
deep
darkness.”
Nearly
forty
years
ago,
just
after
Christmas
Day,
my
own
darkness
brought
me
crawling
through
the
doors
of
Alcoholics
Anonymous.
I
found
a
home
there
and
enjoyed
20
years
of
uninterrupted
sobriety
before
the
darkness
began
descending
on
me
once
again.
This
time
I
was
sober,
but
I
still
hadn’t
found
that
needed
“conscious
contact”
or
“spiritual
awakening”
–
at
least,
I
hadn’t
found
it
in
a
form
deep
enough
to
carry
me
through
another
twenty
years.
Another
trip
through
the
12
Steps
or
another
round
of
ninety
meetings
in
ninety
days
simply
wasn’t
going
to
cut
it
for
this
addict.
I
needed
a
personal
relationship
with
a
God
who
could
light
my
way
home.
One
of
the
men
who
helped
me
find
that
Light
is
a
man
named
Dick
B.
I
first
met
Dick
at
Bill
Wilson’s
own
birthplace
in
East
Dorsett,
Vermont.
It
wasn’t
exactly
like
going
to
Bethlehem
and
running
into
one
of
the
wise
men,
but
it
came
fairly
close!
Dick
was
presenting
some
of
his
earliest
research.
The
gift
he
gave
to
me
proved
more
valuable
than
frankincense
and
myrrh.
It
led
me
into
a
new
and
more
personal
relationship
with
God
because,
at
that
time,
I
was
badly
in
need
of
some
spiritual
grounding
and
enlightenment.
Dick’s
words
struck
the
right
chord.
His
research
brought
the
Steps
and
the
Program
into
that
new
Light
for
which
I
was
searching.
He
did
it,
not
by
preaching
but
by
presenting
solid
history
and
scholarship
on
the
origins
of
our
Program.
God
had
prepared
him
well
for
the
work
assigned.
Dick
came
to
recovery
in
as
bad
a
shape
as
any
and
worse
than
most.
He
suffered
three
grand
mal
seizures
during
his
first
week
off
the
booze.
Once
a
hotshot
lawyer
with
a
degree
from
Stanford,
Dick
landed
in
the
psych
ward
of
a
VA
Hospital
in
San
Francisco
where
he
remained
for
2
months.
But
there,
in
the
depth
of
his
own
personal
darkness,
he
found
God
and
began
a
recovery
that
now
numbers
over
25
years.
Dick
took
full
responsibility
for
his
past
wrongs,
pleaded
guilty
to
three
felony
charges
that
were
later
turned
to
misdemeanors.
He
went
to
prison
for
30
days.
But
while
he
was
there,
he
helped
guide
as
many
fellow
prisoners
as
he
could
and
vowed
to
be
of
maximal
service
when
he
was
released.
Dick
turned
his
talents
learned
as
a
research
lawyer
into
the
service
of
God.
He
began
studying
the
real
heart
of
the
1939
program
of
Alcoholics
Anonymous.
That
original
program
had
produced
an
astounding
recovery
rate
of
75%
--‐
far
and
above
the
diminishing
results
he
was
seeing
in
the
A.A.
of
his
time.
He
read
more
than
500
books
and
pamphlets,
interviewed
dozens
of
living
members
of
the
Oxford
Group,
and
traveled
to
AA
archives
throughout
the
country.
He
came
away
convinced
that
the
original
spiritual
program
of
recovery
that
was
practiced
especially
in
Akron,
Ohio
was
being
watered
down
to
the
point
where
fewer
and
fewer
alcoholics
were
being
offered
the
in--‐depth
spiritual
change
sufficient
to
overcome
addiction.
Dick
then
set
about
publishing
his
research
(along
with
more
than
a
few
of
his
strongly
held
opinions)
in
a
parade
of
books
that
now
numbers
over
30.
He’
also
gotten
with
the
times
and
produces
a
blog
along
with
scholarly
articles
that
have
grown
into
the
hundreds.
Get
yourself
onto
his
massive
e--‐mail
list
and
you’l
never
lack
for
material
to
keep
you
growing
along
spiritual
lines!
In
the
course
of
his
work,
Dick
unearthed
a
number
of
surprises
as
he
dug
ever
deeper
into
AA’
early
history.
•
He
discovered
the
key
role
that
Anne
Smith,
Dr.
Bob’s
wife,
had
played
in
helping
Bill
and
Bob,
along
with
so
many
Akron
families,
find
their
way
into
a
personal
relationship
with
God
through
Bible
study
and
the
practice
of
Quiet
Time.
He
published
the
first
excerpts
from
Anne’s
personal
journal
that
spanned
the
years
1933
through
’39.
In
it,
she
covered
a
great
many
aspects
of
the
First
Century
Christian
Fellowship
that
she
credited
with
saving
both
her
husband
and
her
soul.
•
Additionally,
Dick
and
his
son
Ken
traced
the
early
and
overlooked
spiritual
links
both
Bill
Wilson
and
Dr.
Bob
shared
through
their
years
of
growing
up
in
Vermont.
His
book
The
Conversion
of
Bill
W
helps
readers
gain
a
deeper
insight
into
Bill’s
own
darkness
as
well
as
the
factors
that
contributed
to
his
famous
white
light
experience
in
Towns’
Hospital.
Readers
will
also
learn
about
an
event
that
is
far
less
well
known
--‐
the
altar
call
to
which
Bill
responded
at
Calvary
Mission
where
he
gave
his
life
to
Christ.
•
Most
recently,
Dick
researched
the
400
pages
cut
from
the
original
manuscript
of
the
Big
Book
only
to
discover
the
many
Christian
references
that
had
been
deleted.
Today,
there
are
a
growing
number
of
splinter
groups
that
“take
what
they
like
from
AA
and
leave
the
rest.”
Running
the
gamut
from
Celebrate
Recovery
to
Atheists
Anonymous,
the
12
Steps
in
various
forms
are
now
being
co--‐opted
by
our
secular
and
materialistic
American
culture.
It’
to
be
expected
and
nobody,
not
even
Dick,
is
whining.
It’
not
unlike
what
occurred
in
the
early
church
when
Christianity
was
uprooted
and
transplanted
into
the
state
religion.
The
original
message
–not
unlike
the
original
manuscript
–lost
much
in
the
process.
Dick
B.
has
made
a
tremendous
contribution
to
all
of
us
who
owe
our
lives
to
the
12–teps
and
to
our
Fellowships.
He’
painstakingly
documented
the
principles,
players,
and
events
that
turned
our
once
“hopeless
condition
of
mind
and
body”
into
what
is
now
recognized
by
most
experts
in
the
field
as
an
illness
that
is
mental
and
physical,
but
recognized
by
far
too
few
that
its
successful
treatment
is
necessarily
achieved
only
through
working
a
strong
spiritual
program,
much
as
they
did
in
early
A.A.
This
Christmas
do
yourself
a
real
favor.
Go
to
www.DickB.com
and
order
a
copy
of
The
Good
Book
and
the
Big
Book
or
The
Oxford
Group
and
Alcoholics
Anonymous
.
Either
one
will
surely
brighten
your
Christmas
and
shine
some
of
God’s
light
into
your
darkness.
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