Dave...

I was just settling in for the night last night at 11pm. Late for me (I make no apologies - I'm old and I want my sleep!!), but I was having a hard time letting go of the day and was reading when the phone rang. It was our night watch volunteer and he gave me "Dave's" number.

I called him and we quickly established that he was drunk ("sho, whadja shay yooor name wash aghaine?"). He copped to having had at least a liter of vodka a day for a number of years and really-really-really-really wanted to quit drinking.

I have a process that I've learned to do when I'm in this sort of situation:

1. Pray
2. Listen
3. Be willing (to go get someone, to hang up, to argue, whatever it feels like I'm being led toward)
4. Trust God
5. Ask for the grace to learn something
   

We chatted for over an hour. He was most open and receptive. It turns out he had a father with some time in AA so he knew it worked. He had reservations. He was concerned that, when he quit, he might get sick and was afraid of what might happen. He was concerned that he might not be able to keep his job as a bartender. He was afraid of the God stuff. He didn't have money to go to a hospital or treatment center. He was afraid he'd never get laid again.

I shared my experience and what I knew of others experiences. We have a detox that a former sponsee works at so I could assure him that he could do what he wanted (sober up under medical supervision) with little or no cost to him.

In the end (after I assured him he could get laid even if he were sober), he said that he'd go to detox on Saturday morning - that way he could still make his shift at work on Tuesday morning.

We hung up as friends....

I wonder if he remembers any of it this morning?

Thank you Dave...

I was blessed...

Ed