From: Dana Cramer
Monday, August 30, 2010

“Trust in the lord with all your heart and lean not on you own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.” Proverbs 3: 5-6

I was thinking last week about commitment and asking the question: Am I firing on all cylinders and am I meeting all my obligations? What got me to thinking about commitment is that my life, and I’m sure many of yours as well, can get pretty busy; lots to do, places to go, people to meet, family, work, church, Celebrate Recovery and, oh I almost forgot—God. Wow, life can get so busy I can run out of time to talk with God, listen to him and read of him. Yesterday’s message by Pastor John on commitment was right on (message online). Funny how our weekend messages reflect on our CR messages; no wonder I see more and more of what recovery is really about—our daily walk with Christ.

Through the month of September our CR lessons will be on Step 3. My hope and prayer is that more and more people will make the commitment to turn their lives and wills over to the care of God. It’s the most important decision you will ever make. It is a decision that will not only shape your destiny here on earth, but for eternity.

We have Celebrate Recovery 12-Step groups that are currently working through the 4^th step: Made a fearless and searching moral inventory. In a CR inventory you will find it to be complete, it will help you examine every aspect of your life—relationships, priorities, integrity, mind, body, family and church. But how do you do that—how do you “do” fearless? How do you get to the kind of honesty (moral) that allows you to see the real truth of your life? Well, we spend two months gearing up, learning how, and following through on our inventories. In fact, we spend twice as much time on this step as we do any other. Why? Because it’s hard—nobody wants to go back and relive certain aspects of our lives, those things that got us to CR to begin with. And then there is fear, a “hundred forms of fear” that meets us at every turn.

So what does it take to do an inventory? God! I don’t know of anybody that could do a fearless and moral inventory without Him. I sure know I can’t, and every inventory I’ve ever done that was worth anything had one ingredient above all else—God.

As you gain experience in Celebrate Recovery you can see the spiritual logic in the 12-Step process that your success in inventory can only come about after your commitment or recommitment to Christ comes first in Step 3. There really is no other way around it. People do inventories all the time—at work, in business and with finances, to name a few. But to get to the core of what our hurts, habits, and hang-ups are all about—and look deeply at what our part was in it all—that takes Jesus power, a power much greater than ourselves.

I know there may be some who are reading this and wondering why we have to go back through our past. For me it’s quite simple. I had led my life in such a way that I was filled—not with God, but with self and all the hurts that go with it. One would say I was filled to the brim with junk, emotional junk. I had to recommit my life to God and let him clean out the closet of despair and failure. C. S. Lewis once said: If you find yourself going down the wrong road, you first have to go backwards to get on the right one. Through the process of spiritual house cleaning (inventory), I found myself opening up more and more room for God in my life as I started to travel His road to recovery.

My prayers are with you all, and especially for those who are doing the 4^th Step inventory. You will get out of it what you put into it. So give it your best shot; don’t worry about it being perfect, because it won‘t be. Trust in the Lord and let him guide you along the way.

Don’t Quit before the Miracle Happens!!

Have a Great God Filled Week,

Dana

Celebrate Recovery/Crossroads Calendar

August 30-September 5, 2010

Tuesday: Open share groups from 7-8 pm. Men meet in room 138, women in room 141.

Friday—Large Group Meeting:

• Join us at 7 for great Worship, followed by teaching from Dana on Step 3: “Turn”
• Share groups at 8
• Solid Rock Café at 9.

A new Women’s 12-step group has started. Get your name on the sign up list by attending Friday nights.

A new mixed issue Men’s 12-step group is forming now and will start on September 23. Get your name on the list by attending Friday nights.

Special Announcement: Crossroads CR is looking for people to help carry the recovery message to South Africa in October. For more information, please contact Dana.

From: Dana Cramer
Monday, August 23, 2010

I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. John 10:10

Pastor John gave us some great fundamentals to building friendships (message online) last weekend. They are tools to utilize in relationship-building whether at work, church, Celebrate Recovery or in your family. One thing I have come to realize over the years is just how difficult it can be to build and maintain friendships and how heartbreaking it is to lose them.

For some, coming by friends is easy. We have best friends, good friends, bad friends, girlfriends, boyfriends—we have all kinds of friends. For others friendship is hard and elusive.

For many of us, it isn’t until we come to Celebrate Recovery that we find real authentic friendships. I challenge anybody to spend a year in a Celebrate Recovery 12-step group and not come out with friendships that are unlike any you have had before. We learn to take the mask off and reveal our true selves. We learn to hold each other accountable and treat each other with respect. We acknowledge our imperfections and connect in our weakness, as God’s power comes through in our lives.

I have been blessed with great friendships in recovery, from AA to CR, from Pastors to Christ followers, from work to family; I have learned what true friendship is all about. I have come to realize that my best friend is my wife—through thick and thin, good and bad, we have endured and prospered over the years. I have been mentored by men who have shown me what being a man of God means, what being a husband and father is all about, and what it means to be a leader. Funny, I went into recovery for alcohol and drugs and in the process learned that those things were symptoms of a much bigger problem, living life my way was the real problem. You can ask anybody in recovery what their problem is and they know after a while that it’s not just what brought them to Celebrate Recovery, it’s really about identifying what the core problems are that matters most. We know our character defects and we learn to give them to God daily. And we know that nothing changes until we make changes.

The flip side of friendship is the changing of those relationships through the choices we make and the positions we find ourselves in. It is true that I have had great friendships in recovery, but I have also lost some as well. I had no idea when I came to Celebrate Recovery that I would eventually lose and alter many friendships in secular recovery, friendships that go back 20+ years. I had no idea when I took a leadership role in Celebrate Recovery how difficult it is to be true to Celebrate Recovery and maintain friendships in the group. I had no idea that when Nan and I left the Catholic church and came to Crossroads what the impact would be on family and friends.

I have a feeling that some of you reading this today can relate. All of us have experienced changes in our relationships as we enter and continue in recovery, our walk with Jesus. For some there is a sadness and for some a relief. For some our actions are a motivation for others to start their recovery journey, for some it’s losing people who won’t.

But through it all there is one constant that never changes and never fails. God’s love for us is real, it’s complete, and it brings us true fulfillment. We may have lost some relationships that were important to us but we have gained many more in the process. As our relationship with God grows, as we come to Jesus, our ability to have real genuine relationships with others grows as well. Many more relationships are mended than destroyed, many are made more meaningful than casual, some are made to last a lifetime.

Love the Lord your God with all hour heart, all your soul, and all your mind…. Love your neighbor as yourself. Matthew 22: 37-39

For some, we come to Christ through our friends. For others we develop friendships through our relationship with Christ. Either way, we realize that recovery can’t happen without God and people. We have a choice to make: choose God and people, or choose self. One produces a rich and fulfilling life, the other produces loneliness and despair.

Pray for your friends this week, show them that you care, and thank them for being in your life.

Have a great God filled week,

Dana

Celebrate Recovery/Crossroads Calendar

August 23-29, 2010

Tuesday: Open share groups from 7-8 pm. Men meet in room 138, women in room 141.

Friday: Large Group Meeting:

• Join us at 6pm for BBQ Nigh, with great food and great fellowship.
• Stick around at 7pm for Worship and Celebration Night. If you have a recovery birthday in August, please come and share it with us.
• Share groups at 8pm.
• Solid Rock Café at 9pm.

A new Women’s 12-step group is forming now. We will plan to kick it off on August 25^th. Get your name on the sign up list by attending Friday nights.

A new mixed issue Men’s 12-step group is forming now and will start in September. Get your name on the list by attending Friday nights.

If CR Crossroads is your home group, we have an exciting outreach opportunity for you. We are ushering for all three services this Sunday; it’s a great way to share CR with our church.

Special Announcement: Crossroads CR is looking for people to help carry the recovery message to South Africa in October. For more information, please contact Dana.

From: Dana Cramer
August 16, 2010

“Don’t be anxious about tomorrow. God will take care of your tomorrows too. Live one day at a time.” (Matthew 6:34)

Just got back from the Celebrate Recovery Summit at Saddleback Church. I had a great group from Crossroads CR with me, and what an amazing conference we had. The best t-shirt slogan I saw was the title of this CR Monday: “Nothing changes if nothing changes.” Simple yet powerful, it’s the definition of insanity—doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. As Pastor Dennis said this past weekend, “It’s the little things” we do that move us to live deeply. (Check out the message online.)

There are a lot of changes that occur as we embark on a new life journey in Celebrate Recovery. From admitting our denial in step one to making amends in step nine, we experience God’s grace as He heals us from our past by the transformation of our minds. We learn along the way that results are built on faith, trust and work. As we become disciplined in doing our step work, we learn to take care of the details and take the next step in recovery. When we complete this nine-month journey through the first nine steps, we find a new freedom from our hurts, hang-ups and habits. There’s a saying in recovery: We get out of it what we put into it. When we change what we do, we change the results.

So, how do we stay current and grow in our walk with Christ? The answer is simple: we take the next step. If you are in a CR 12-step group, you will finish out the last three steps and, once you have completed the group, you will have the foundation to continue to grow in Christ. Steps 10 through 12 are growing steps, not maintenance steps. You will continue to get out of recovery what you put into it, and growing in Christ will be the result of your faith and how well you take care of the details—the little stuff—one day at a time.

There are three steps/actions we are directed to do everyday:

1. Step 10: Daily inventory, reviewing your day, acknowledging when you are wrong, and making amends quickly. For me, journaling is the best way to do this step. Writing about the victories as well as what went wrong—what was my part, what amends do I need to make, who do I need to forgive, what prayers were answered. I don’t do this step perfectly and there have been times in the past when I just plain blew it. I had been sober seven years when I went into a major depression. Why? I ignored the small stuff. I was giving lip service to this step because of fear and pride, and I had been ignoring some events in my life. What happened? I had a spiritual and emotional relapse, not because of some big event in my life, but because of the cumulative effects of the small stuff in my life. I learned a valuable lesson: When I choose to coast in my program, the changes I receive are negative; when I choose to stay active in recovery the changes are positive. I got through it by getting back on track with this step and learning to take care of the small stuff.

2. Step 11: Prayer, meditation and reading of His word. Many years ago, my first sponsor told me this would be the most difficult of disciplines to do on a daily basis, and—you know what—he was right. I fooled around with this step for years and it wasn’t until I came to CR that I became consistent with Step 11. The coolest thing I can share with you lately about this step is that I get to spend some morning God time with my wife Nan. She lets me interrupt her quiet time as I get up early and we share a devotional and pray together. Then we spend some alone time with God. I can’t tell you how much I have learned to value this time with God and with Nan.

3. Step 12: Having had a spiritual experience as the result of these steps, we give it all away. Why? Simply put, it is what Jesus did. Recovery is not a spiritual experience if we don’t share it. Serving doesn’t have to be big you just need to serve. If God is calling you to do something, then answer his call.

I heard a lot of great things at the CR Summit last week, but one of my favorites came from Pastor Rick Warren as he shared about Mother Teresa. He was privileged to write the introduction of a new publication honoring the 100th birthday of Mother Teresa. He shared this most amazing Mother Teresa quote: “God doesn’t ask us to do great things. He asks us to do small things with great love.” That’s what our 12th step is about and we in Celebrate Recovery have an opportunity to do just that.

Be the Living Bible to someone this week, show someone you care!

Dana

Celebrate Recovery/Crossroads Calendar

August 16-22, 2010

Tuesday: Open share groups from 7-8 pm. Men meet in room 138, women in room 141.

Friday—Large Group Meeting:

• Join us at 7 for great worship followed by Nan teaching on Step 2: “Sanity”
• Share groups at 8
• Solid Rock Café at 9.

A new Women’s 12-step group is forming now. We will plan to kick it off on August 25^th. Get your name on the sign up list by attending Friday nights.

Special Announcement: Crossroads CR is looking for people to help carry the recovery message to South Africa in October. For more information, please contact Dana.