eXtreme sobriety
In response to the question of why one stays on the streets, Steve has often said, … because it’s working for him. Extreme Sobriety asked what he means by that. How is a bed on a cold sidewalk working for him?
The homeless drunk doesn’t know how cold the side walk is when he passes out. Next morning, though, he is desperate for another fix or a drink to shut off the pain. I did anything I could to keep it down. My goal was to be numb. Mom and family were looking for me, I was running from the marine corp, and I had abandoned my son – the pain just built and got worse. Most of the guys on the street don’t come out of it. For a while, that’s where I was. We have to remember though, that while it may be working for them, they’re still God’s creatures.
Thank God what He saved me from. A nun at a silent retreat center that I attended last year said, You’ll receive the miracles when you’re ready. It was true for me. When I had come to my end, when the alcohol and cocaine were no longer working, I fell to my knees and begged God for help. By the end of that day I had met Father Nyer, who found me on the street. He started me on my long journey to sobriety. It was 20 years this past Thanksgiving that I moved into his cabin on Bainbridge Island.
If I would have written down my future 12 years ago and what I wanted my life to be, I would have shortchanged myself. I had no idea what a sober life would bring. The third step is, I turn my will and my life over to the care of God, as I understand him.
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eXtreme sobriety 
Steve, you are a miracle. Your story brings hope to all those Monicas praying for their Augustines.
Posted by Carmel | January 23, 2014, 6:19 pm