More Than a Coincidence

The turn of events in this story was more than a coincidence.

I think about an interesting incident that happened during my last weekend of drinking. A bartender from another bar I frequented came into the bar just before closing time. It was probably around 3 AM when he told me that another bartender I knew had been sober in AA for two years but was going off the wagon that night.

I knew the man. He had worked as a bartender in another bar I used to frequent. He was opinionated, sarcastic, and, frankly, not an easy person to like. Still, I felt sorry for him. At the time, I didn’t understand much about alcoholism or what it meant to be a dry drunk. I only knew that he had been sober for two years and was drinking again.

Going on and off the wagon seemed commonplace in the bars I frequented. There was a general belief among drinkers that whenever someone really wanted to stop drinking, all it took was a little willpower. We didn’t understand alcoholism, and most of us certainly didn’t understand AA.

The Next Day

The interesting part of this story is what happened the next day. That day became my last day of drinking. And guess who I called? I called AA Intergroup to find out where I could attend a meeting.

I had no preconceived idea about AA as a solution to my drinking problem. I had never been to a meeting. I knew very little about the program. Yet the night before, someone had casually mentioned AA to me while I was sitting in a bar at three in the morning. The very next day, I was looking for an AA meeting.

After many years around AA, I don’t think that is an odd story. I’ve heard too many stories of seemingly unrelated events coming together at just the right moment. I can’t chalk it up to luck or coincidence. For me, it was simply too much to explain.

I believe God’s grace is always there. Sometimes we just have to open our eyes and ears enough to recognize it. I am truly blessed, as so many of us are.

And there is one more part of the story worth telling. That other bartender eventually returned to AA, sobered up, and had a terrific story to share about his own recovery.

Looking back, I can only say, thank you, God.