I’m not like other guys.

I don’t have the same drives and ambitions.  Watching sports bores me.  In fact, I would rather sit around and read a book than watch the Super Bowl.  I don’t know how to calculate .rbi.  I don’t care who played for that one team in the game against that other team 5 years ago.  My heroes were never guys that could throw small objects long distances.  I was more the zeta male than the alpha.

Growing up, I felt like a misfit.  I was different, and everyone knew it.  I didn’t live in a caring, understanding, nurturing world.  I was teased and picked on, and I couldn’t handle it.  I had no self-worth, unmanned by the inability or desire to fight back.  Society even said, “If you retaliate, the consequences will be worse for you than the bad guy.” 

Life was to be endured, not enjoyed.  I lived with grudges that could never be avenged, hatred that could never be expressed, and expectations that could never be fulfilled.  These could never be released in public, and so they came out as secret sins.  Worse, I couldn’t talk to anyone.  I feared the consequences of confession would be worse than pretending to be clean. 

The only thing I had going for me was God, but even after I was baptized, I didn’t believe I could change.  I brought along my doubts and fears and anger, my hopelessness.  What could I give to Jesus, or really do for him?  I felt and acted helpless.  I was deathly afraid to tell anyone my story; there was no good to tell.  Every good work I witnessed in others made me feel worse about my inability to be a good fit.

In Celebrate Recovery, however, I found peace.  I found men who share my struggles.  I learned, more importantly, that I don’t have to fit in to matter.  Accountability gives me the strength to stand where I would otherwise fail.  In any situation, I can choose to fail alone or get the team together and win this thing.  Together, we overcome.

CR has also given me a place to serve.  This is a place where my different abilities are of use and appreciated.  But there’s more.  This is a place where, by committing to giving my all, I can drop my self-imposed barriers.  I can re-learn my limitations.  Much of what I knew I couldn’t do was only because I was afraid to try. 

I am a misfit.  I’m proud that I don’t fit this world’s mold.  I’m a misfit, but I’m not unfit.  I’m fit to serve, fit to write, and fit to speak.  By sharing honestly, I can help a brother out of denial.  By telling my story, I can open a door.  I can be someone else’s strength.

Grateful Believer,

Joel

¡Celebremos La Recuperación en Honduras!

Group members in front of the “La Muralla” (The Wall) a low ROPES course challenge.
Back Row: Dan Lovejoy, Nate Ison, Davis Brown, Micah Hobbs
Middle Row: Christi Adkins, Sheldon Adkins, Michelle Brown, Andrew Claxton
Front Row: Cole Adkins, Daniel Adkins

On Saturday, July 9, seven adults and three kids from Memorial Road’s Celebrate Recovery program set off on a mission trip to Catacamas, Honduras where we worked with a marvelous mission organization, PREDISAN, and the local church that meets at the Good Samaritan Clinic in Catacamas.

PREDISAN takes its name from the Spanish words “To proclaim” and “to heal” because its mission comes from Jesus’s charge to the 12 in Luke 9:2: “to proclaim the kingdom of God and heal the sick.”

For PREDISAN, healing isn’t just providing medication and procedures. PREDISAN runs community healthcare clinics in the remote Honduran mountains, the CEREPA drug and alcohol treatment center, and the large and modern Good Samaritan Clinic in Catacamas. Their work has dramatically reduced infant mortality, maternal mortality, and other early deaths. Their healthy schools program helps the poorest of the poor in Honduras to attend school and eat well while they’re learning. Their focus is on healing communities with the love of Jesus -- whether that healing is spiritual or physical.

Our work was divided in two. In the mornings, our jefe (boss), Sheldon Adkins, directed us in the construction of five elements of a low ROPES course on the grounds of the CEREPA drug and alchohol treatment center. Thanks to the extensive assistance of the CEREPA patients and staff, we were able to complete all five elements. On Friday, we went through the ROPES course with the CEREPA staff. Sheldon Adkins and his wife Christi, both certified therapists with extensive ROPES experience, showed the staff how to use the course therapeutically with CEREPA patients and community members.




 Marcio David Matamoros, PREDISAN’s Director of Groups, completes the “Swinging Log” challenge on the newly completed CEREPA ROPES course. It’s harder than it looks!

In the afternoons, we trained local church members, PREDISAN staff, and interested community members in the 7 Keys of Celebrate Recovery. We were humbled and gratified by great attendance at these trainings and the keen interest the attendees demonstrated. They took notes, asked questions, and really showed us they were interested in the program.

On Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday nights, we Celebrated Recovery! Three members of our group gave their powerful testimonies on these nights, and every night, we lost power during the testimony.

The Hondurans didn’t miss a beat, running to podium with flashlights. These were powerful nights of worship, testimony and sharing for the Hondurans and for us. On Thursday night, the Hondurans ran the program. We were impressed at how well their program ran. On Friday night, Micah gave a powerful charge to the attendees to share the love and healing of Christ with their community.

We are grateful to the PREDISAN staff, the church in Catacamas, and our generous contributors for the opportunity to serve. Most of all, we are grateful to Jesus for the grace and healing he has provided for us - so much that it can overflow into the lives of others.

Grateful Believer,
Dan

Thanks for the Facebook shout out Mac Owen!

Click here to read our blog post on Internet Filtering & Accountability Software!  It's a good one!


Grateful Believers,
MRCC CR TEAM

Upcoming Missions Trip

Mi nombre es Sheldon Adkins, soy un agradecido creyente de Jesús Cristo y lucho con el alcoholismo.

My name is Sheldon Adkins, I am a grateful believer in Jesus Christ and I struggle with alcoholism.

On Saturday July 9, 2011 ten members of Memorial Road Church of Christ Celebrate Recovery will go to Honduras to provide Celebrate Recovery training to the people of Catacamas, Honduras at Mission Predisan. Every afternoon and evening we will provide training on the seven “keys” to an effective CR program and we will provide additional trainings on leading small groups, leading a step study, how to take someone through the fourth step, and many more trainings. We will also have CR large group and open share meetings on three different evenings while we are there. Two of these evenings will be led predominantly by our CR group and the third night will be led by Hondurans who have already been active in a CR step study.

While in Honduras we will also be building a low ROPES course at CEREPA addiction treatment center. A ROPES course is a therapy tool that involves team-building, communication skills, trust, overcoming fear, problem solving and other challenges people face in everyday life. The ROPES course gives the facilitator a safe environment for participants to face very real challenges in a structured setting. We will be spending the first half of each day we are in Honduras building this course. This mode of therapy can be especially effective with those that struggle with addictions.

Please pray that this mission will happen in accordance with God’s will. Pray that we will get out of the way and let God be fully in control of the work that is done. And most importantly, please pray that the people that come to the training and that receive treatment at CEREPA will learn to know and love our savior, Jesus Christ.

Thank you for your prayers!

Grateful Believer,

Sheldon

Ask Andrew & Karyn

It's the second installment of Ask Karyn & Andrew!  I know you're so excited, you can hardly stand it! (Insert smirk here.)

We had another great question this week...

If I got a chip for an issue that turns out to have a deeper root cause, do I celebrate the first anniversary, the second, or both with chips?

 

{From Karyn}

Celebrate both. Recovery is all about steps! Taking steps that are leading you to be the person Christ intended you to be.  So I would say get two chips (or more) and celebrate ALL victories.  An example might be an alcoholic - they receive chips along the way for abstaining from alcohol BUT as they work their recovery they might receive other chips relating to why they started drinking in the first place (anger over abuse, fear, anxiety, control...etc.)

                                                                  

{From Andrew}

This is a great opportunity to remind everyone that we need to be Celebrating!  Make sure you are keeping track of your progress and get your accountability partners involved.  When you get a blue chip maybe tell them you want to go out for coffee when you get your 30 day chip.

This is called Celebrate Recovery after all!  It is an important part of our recovery and may be the most often overlooked.  Have a great one!

Until next time...