Working Step Four: Some Preliminary Observations for the Newcomer

Nothing quite compares to solving the drink or drug problem. New life has been given to those of us who have recovered. The 12 Step program puts us in possession of a design for living that really works. We know a new freedom and a new happiness. We wake up every morning in a position of neutrality, safe and protected. We haven’t even sworn off drugs and alcohol. We don’t need to. Instead, the obsession has been removed and no longer exists for us. An incredible sense of freedom pervades us, fills us with gratitude, and compels us to show others how we found this release.

These blessings are unimaginably wonderful, but to get there, we have to work the 12 Steps. And that also includes the big, scary 4th Step! 

Dr. Bob summarized the 12 Step program as “trust God; clean house; help others.” Step 4 is where we begin cleaning house. It individualizes a treatment plan that is personally tailored to fit our specific needs.  It’s like no other therapy or approach. A properly done 4th Step makes harm reduction methods advocated by popular internet gurus – like counting drinks, planning sober days, trigger management, and swapping one drug for another – appear incredibly naive and childish in comparison.

In this step we go way beyond remedial measures that aren’t effective and don’t work. We get down to the "causes and conditions" of our problem. Drinking and drugging are symptoms of a spiritual disease. So, we have to take a long, hard, and honest look at ourselves. Through self-examination and reflection, we discover our character defects. It’s a "moral inventory" about right and wrong, and good and bad. The object is to find out what's broken inside of us so that by working the Steps we can fix it. We’re looking for all of the obstacles that block us from living a spiritual life. We can't change the people, places, and things around us. But by changing what's inside of us, we are amazed at how awesome life becomes on the other side.  

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Caren Barnes Speaks about Recovery, Christmas, and a Little Box Turtle

Meet Caren Barnes! Commencing CORE's one-year recovery program just this past March, Caren manages our 6th Street House for women and also is a member of our Second Mile benevolent group. Her testimony for us was dense with information about her addiction, recovery, and hopes for the future. So, we’ll get straight to the point and write about parts of her testimony that maybe we shouldn’t, i.e., the top secret stuff about CORE! We can’t sit on this (looking both ways) so here goes . . .

Ever wonder how certain things happen at CORE? Not the regular stuff, but like, the BIG events? CORE’s annual Christmas event, for example? This is a truly monumental undertaking. But who actually does this stuff? How do they do it? What actually happens behind the scenes?  

We had no idea how to answer these questions until Caren walked through our door. While we exchanged the usual pleasantries, CORE’s Operations Manager Gary Osborn peeked into the office, said hello, and thanked Caren for all of her hard work. That sure got our attention. What work? It turns out that she and her teams of volunteers – in the middle of summer – have been preparing for Christmas all along!

Every year, CORE sets up a gigantic holiday store where people find toys and household items to last throughout the whole year. It’s all free, and last year’s event was so big that it took four classrooms, a central foyer, and a long hallway at the Hollister School District just to hold everything. Everything was beautifully organized by item and category, too. This year may be even bigger, and the person in charge of organizing this year’s event was sitting right in front of us. As Caren explained:

“The [Branson] warehouse was getting to be kind of a mess. We’d had people every Tuesday picking up donations and putting them there. Little did I know it all had to be separated, marked, and organized. Gary’s like, you know all this has to be organized? He asked if I would take on the project, and I agreed. So the girls from 6th Street, or any other girl who wants to volunteer, have been coming over there. It’s become a huge job. A really huge job.

At first I’d just go over there and play my music and start in. From there, I started having meetings over there where we’d get pizza and stuff. And then people who needed community service started coming over. So now it's Mondays and Tuesdays, and I make sure everybody gets over there for whatever time they need.”

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