This is a GMC
list. Almost everyone in Alcohol-Drugs
recovery has heard of a gratitude list, but there are very few who have heard
of a GMC list. A GMC list was used by a
number of pioneers in AA to list GMC’s (God Manipulated Coincidents) to add
strength to their faith when times were extra tough. This particular list was kept in a 3-ring
spiral notebook long before the website was created.
My favorite
scripture, John 10:27, “I know mine and they know me and no one will snatch
them from me.”
1.
Colonel Klink Story—Hogan’s Heroes_
(Voice and glowing Cross in Church). Because of partying and being car crazy, I
flunked out of high school and my father forced me to join the Air Force—he sold
the car that I had souped-up. Later, out
of guilt, he bought me a brand new Triumph convertible—can you imagine how it
looked for a buck private driving around in a brand new sports car? On or about June 15, 1959, as an enlisted
man in the Air Force in Madison, Wisconsin, I was cited for some serious
traffic citations, including 3 felonies and a DUI. In the police station, while throwing around
chairs, I yelled that Senator Dirksen of Illinois was a good friend of the
family (the police considered it a lie from a drunk—it was a total lie!). The Madison police made sure they told my
commanding officer what I said to get me in more trouble. My commanding officer came down on me with
both feet for the traffic incident and my claiming that the family knew Senator
Dirksen—but what about the new sports car…?
The Air Force was threatening to give me a Bad Conduct Discharge. They were furious and were riding me like
only the military can ride someone with whom they are angry. I was frightened like I had never been
frightened before. I started praying
like I never prayed before and going to church daily. In or around November of 1959 I was in a
church in Madison, Wisconsin. After
services (approximately 7:45 am), the cross appeared to glow brightly to me. At first I thought that someone was fooling
with the light switches, but then I heard a voice say, “It’s alright,
Bill. Just don’t do it again.” I thought I was going insane and just
imagined that I heard God’s voice—maybe it was me talking to myself. It took 15 minutes to get back to the
barracks and start preparing for morning inspection. At 8:05 am, I was called to the public phone
in the barracks (20 total minutes after the glowing cross and voice was heard)
and told that all charges in town had been dropped!!! My commanding officer now
thought that I knew powerful people!
Interestingly, not long afterward, I got into a confrontation with a
captain over something that he had done which was very nasty and unchristian-like. Many on the base knew about the
confrontation. I told the base chaplain,
who was now my very good friend. Two weeks later the captain was transferred to
the Aleutian Islands without a word. My
commander now was definite that I knew very powerful people. He decided to send me back to high school to
keep me out of trouble and out of his hair.
It was arranged that I would go to school during the day and work nights
in the Air Force (I averaged about 5 – 6 hours of sleep a night for the next 3
years). God had turned a very nasty
situation into my getting 3 years of education: a high school diploma and 2
years of college credits (with a B average) at the University of Wisconsin,
Madison. After about 2 ˝ years of going to school days and working
nights, on a whim, I took the qualification test for the Air Force Academy at
the post office. Because of having two years of college, I had an advantage in
taking the test. Because I was a
resident of Illinois, my results were sent back to my home state,
Illinois. When Senator Dirksen received
the results of my test, he nominated me to the Air Force Academy. It was quite amusing to see the look on my
commanding officer’s face when I showed him the beautifully embossed nomination
letter from Senator Dirksen. Because the Air Force Academy would take four more
years I stayed in Madison and graduated from the University of Wisconsin. Shortly thereafter, I was given multiple
decorations in the Air Force.
2.
Troubles then Success with Jesus’
help.
The priest that was working with
me in Wisconsin moved home to Atlanta, Georgia, and I eventually went back to
drinking. Though I was commissioned in
the Air Force and did go on to graduate school, this led to years of torment,
ruined relationships, and loss of self-respect. Due to broken promises by two
senior officers in the USAF (promised and denied flight school twice) and a DUI
citation received when I was a nuclear launch officer, it cost me a year of
pure hell in SAC, and though I received an honorable discharge, the Air Force
put on the discharge a “secret code 509,” as it was called back then. Putting this code on an honorable discharge
is now prohibited by the DOD. After
resigning my commission, I attended law school for two years, nights—I was
going to sue the Air Force! Doing very
well (first student in the history of Kent College of Law, Chicago, that had
two law briefs put on display in the law library), I showed up drunk in my
fourth semester and was put on Pro. I resigned law school because of fear. Attending Loyola University nights for a
master’s in math, a situation developed where my love for Jesus was tested and
I chose Jesus. I ended up obtaining the
highest average of those obtaining their master’s degrees in math.
3.
In Freedom, Wisconsin, May of 1973,
in a drunken rage, I shot and killed my dog and then
turned the gun on my first wife’s head, pulling the trigger over and over. Having emptied the bullets in the dog, all
that happened was click-click, click-click, and click-click. God again had
saved me from the consequences of my insanity.
When I returned to AA and shared my story of the dog and wife, one of
the guys stopped me after the meeting and said to me, “I have been watching you
for a couple of years coming in and out of these doors and I think I can help
you. Who do you call your Higher
Power?” I said, “Jesus.” He said, “You should pray to Jesus to help
you accept in your heart that you are
an alcoholic, not just admit it with your
mouth.” I left that meeting very
angry at him, but I started doing what he said.
4.
Acceptance of Alcoholism. One month later, on June 29, 1973, I woke up
with an incredible hangover. I started
watching the Phil Donahue Show on WGN TV and Donahue’s guest was a psychiatrist
who was talking about alcoholism. He
said an alcoholic use excuses to drink. It hit me square in the face. I used to use my wife as an excuse, but she
was gone. I used to use my kids as an
excuse, but they were gone. I used to
use my neighbors as an excuse, but I was living in 40 acres of woods, so I
couldn’t blame my neighbors—there were none.
I used to use my job as an excuse, but I was a teacher on summer
vacation, so I couldn’t use my job as an excuse. Every
excuse that I had ever used was gone and I was still drunk. It was then that I finally accepted the fact
that I am an alcoholic. I
admitted total defeat and begged God for help.
He took away my addiction to alcohol.
I was looking at Sallman’s picture of Christ (the picture with 7 symbols
painted into it) and crying like a baby because of all the bad things I had
done—but also crying in joy because I knew that something special had
happened. The compulsion to drink had
been lifted from me and it has never returned—I joined AA, and it is Jesus who
has saved me.
5.
Joining AA, I got my first sponsor,
Les Kapheim, a Methodist PK, and started working the program seriously. Please don’t get me wrong. Though I owe a lot to AA, I believe that it
is Jesus that keeps me sober. Les took
me to a charismatic prayer meeting early in my sobriety and there was a guy
there who made the statement to the group, “Any time you are confused and
hurting, go into your room, close the door, and open the Bible at random, and
without looking, point to a verse in the Bible.” He went on to say, “If you are in trouble at
work, for example, it won’t say, ‘Get your resumes out and start interviewing,’
but it will state a spiritual principle which, if you meditate on it, it will
help you.” I thought the guy was
nuts. However, the day quickly came,
when in total confusion and fearful about staying sober, I tried what he
said. I pointed to Matthew 10:32. Jesus says, “If you deny me before men, I
will deny you before the Father.” At
that instant in time, I knew that I had a deal with Jesus. If I would mention that He was the one who
was keeping me sober at every meeting—not get on a soap box and preach—simply
state that He is the one who keeps me sober, I would stay sober. At this point in time, it is 47+ years later
and He has kept His end of the deal, and I have kept my part of the deal. I have over 47+ years of continuous sobriety.
6.
A vision of the Israelites crossing
the Jordan River on Christmas Eve and a premonition I was going to Israel. In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, December of 1976,
while reading the book of Joshua in the Bible, in my mind’s eye I was swooped
up to 10,000 feet and was looking down at the Jews crossing the Jordan River—at
that point in time, I knew that I was going to go to Jerusalem. I had no money and there was a shooting war
going on over there, but I knew that I was going to Jerusalem. I came into a tidy sum of $14,000 (from a
sale of my house) and immediately bought a round trip ticket to Jerusalem
(pilgrimage) for Easter. The trip was
cancelled twice because of the war, but I never lost faith that I was going to
go if it was God’s will—I was there at Easter!!!!
7.
A GMC in the Garden of Gethsemane on
Easter Morning. On
Easter morning I walked down to the Garden of Gethsemane by myself. In the garden there was a cement pillar there
with a hand print in it. A sign
underneath the handprint talked about Jesus’ doing the Father’s will. The sign said that the imprint was Jesus’
hand at the time of His terrible passion. Another sign at the gate of the
garden said, “Please do not take any souvenirs.” Looking around, I did not see anyone present,
so I selfishly chipped a stone off of the bottom of the pillar. The stone was about
the size of the tip of your little finger.
I was planning to have it set in a ring for my mother, even though I
knew I was wrong in what I was doing. I
placed the stone in a jeweler’s bag along with several other items that I had
placed in there. A week later, when we
were taking off in the 747 from Israel, heading back to the U. S., I said to
the woman sitting next to me that I had chipped a stone off of the pillar in
the Garden of Gethsemane and that I was taking it home to be set in a ring for
my mother. She asked to see it. When I opened the jeweler’s bag everything
was in the bag except the stone (my mother tried to get Reader’s Digest to print the story but they refused, saying that
they did not print religious stories).
8.
Saved from death by two angels. After the above incident took place in the Garden of Gethsemane, I
walked on the path of the Kidron Valley, thinking that I was walking on a path
that Jesus had walked 2000 years ago. Walking up the hill, I entered the East
Gate, the Muslim section of Jerusalem.
Immediately, Muslims were angrily shouting and pointing at me. Please remember there was a shooting war
going on and the previous night a Muslim was killed in Jerusalem. I felt that death was very close, and said,
“Jesus, please help me.” Instantly two
women with British accents appeared to me and said, “Do you need help?” I told them that I had walked up the Kidron
Valley and that I was frightened. They
told me to follow them. We quickly took
some stairs to the roof of the closest building. After that we ran across all of the roofs in
the Moslem section until we arrived at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. They said, “Go down this fire escape.” Going
down the stairs, I looked back and they were gone (angels?)—I entered the
Church at the back. There were hundreds
of people trying to get into the church, and I attended services about 10 feet
from the altar (first pew first seat). I
could see a mist coming out of the mouths of the clergymen. I felt closeness to
God that I have not felt very often.
9.
Feeling the nearness of Christ
(God).
In 1981 I went on an extremely
intense retreat. On the last day of the
retreat I felt the closeness of Jesus.
It was so sweet and overwhelming that I began to cry with pure joy. I asked Him to back off a bit because it was
so intense—it was wonderful—I have never felt His nearness to that extreme.
10.
Praying for a wife. After praying for 14 years to God for a wife,
I said to God, “When are you going to give me a wife?” He said to me, “When you are ready to have a
wife, I will give you one.” I said,
“O.K.” The following week (1988) I met
Chris at a church function—we got engaged in church (1989). We were married in church on July 1, 1990. We have been active members of a church ever
since. Once when we were in Lake Geneva,
Wisconsin, we were looking in the window of a very expensive store. I noticed out of the corner of my eye that
Chris was bent over looking at a picture of a little Dutch girl sniffing a
tulip. I said a little prayer to Jesus,
“Jesus, please help me give Chris a little baby girl.” Keep this prayer in mind as you read on.
11.
Jesus constantly helped me in my
work. As a computer
programmer there have been enumerable problems in which I didn’t have any idea
of how to solve them. After a prayer to
Jesus, a strange, new idea would come out of the blue and it would be the
solution to the problem.
12.
The
airplane crash at Kenosha, Wisconsin.
On Memorial Day in 1990, before taking off in a KR2 (experimental
airplane), I said a prayer to Jesus, “Jesus, you know I am crazy and I know
that I am crazy. Please watch over me.”
Five minutes later, after the airplane crashed, my leg was severely injured (it
needed 300 stitches to put it back together again). When they were wheeling me into the operating
room, the nurse said, “Nobody knows why you are alive. God must have a plan for you.” (Two years previous I had asked Jesus to help
me give Chris a baby girl.) At that
point in time I cried like a baby because I knew that God was going to give
Chris and myself a daughter. With Jesus’
help, after the first day using Darvon, I used Tylenol for nine weeks (at night
to sleep) while my leg was mending—this has helped me in countless other
situations where painkillers were tempting.
13.
On August 20, 1992 God gave Chris
and me a beautiful baby girl.
14.
A GMC saves me from deadly melanoma. In 1993 I was given 7 months to live because
of cancer (melanoma nodular—stage 4). At
the very next AA meeting I went to, an oncologist research specialist sat at my
right hand and told me not to take the chemo—that it would kill me. He said that I should run for my life—that at
the pain barrier the body produces massive endorphins which are pain killers,
but that they are also cancer killers.
Twenty-eight years, and 10 marathons later, I am still kicking.
15.
Sadly, our dog dies but is replaced
by a beautiful puppy. LG was my 12 year
old, 110 lb., German shepherd, who did exactly what he wanted to do when he
wanted to do it. We got him at a shelter 3 hours before he was to be put
down. We named him Let Go and Let God (LG for short). A short story. We were in St. Augustine
(about 175 miles from home, Lakeland, FL), when he was about 3 years old
and he ran off. We thought he was gone for good--at the time, I had mixed
emotions (I was mad at him, but as time went on, I felt really bad).
At about 9:00 p.m. our room phone rang and a woman in the lobby was wondering
if we had lost our dog! As it turns
out, she worked at a restaurant down the street and found LG digging in the
garbage, and noticed his tags from Lakeland (knew he was from out of town,
and started calling all of the hotels and motels in the area, asking if anyone
was missing a German shepherd). Being really pretty and probably quite
busy with life, I asked her why she did such a nice deed. She said that
she belonged to a fellowship which believed in doing good acts and not being
found out! I asked her, "Are you a friend of Bill
Wilson?" She said, "Why, yes. Are you?" An update to this GMC. LG died when he was 12 years old. He was very sick and lying in the living
room. I said to him, “Hey, LG how are
you doing? He licked my hand as if to
say good-bye (I am crying right now) and he walked out into the yard and laid
down and died. When we got our new
puppy, I asked Chris if we should name him “LG” and she said, “No, there was
only one LG”. So we named him LT, for L-Two, or my rank in the Air
Force, or in Roman Numerals, 52, or added together “7,” my very lucky
number. I was just telling Chris that he is the happiest dog I have ever
seen. He just goes crazy when we let him outside in the snow—he uses his nose
as sort of like a snow plow and runs across the yard scooping all of the snow
aside. He is constantly chasing Chris and nipping at her pants, with Chris
yelling at him.
16.
Win an employment case that three
lawyers said could not be won.
In the summer of 2000 I went to work for AIC in Indianapolis IN. When the project was coming to an end and
Lilly and AIC were playing games, I quit, took my family, and went back home to
Florida. AIC said that because I quit
they would not pay unemployment. Florida
refused to pay me the unemployment.
Three Florida lawyers refused to take my case—they said that there was
no way that I could win. With Jesus’
help I kept digging and found a lawyer that gave me some tips. I went ahead and did the research
online. Practicing Jesus’ presence I
participated at the hearing (phone hearing) alone and won the case.
17.
Close-call in traffic, but all ends
well with a mini-GMC. On New Year’s Eve
of 2004, Chris and I decided to stay a night at the Comfort Inn in order to
avoid all of the drunken parties and fireworks in our neighborhood. On our way to the motel, a car came from
nowhere (neither Chris nor I saw the car coming) and missed us by inches—it
must have been going sixty miles per hour.
When we got to the motel, we were given a two room suite for $62 dollars
per night—about a third of the normal price.
Later that evening we went to a local restaurant and bought three steak
meals that stretched out to two more meals.
When we returned to the house to get LG there was a letter from the
Hearing Officer of Polk County telling me that there would be no points and no
school for a recent speeding ticket that I was worried about.
18.
GMC with a friend from 40 years in
the past. Greg M. After not talking to Greg for almost 40 years
(we sort of drifted our different ways after I resigned my commission in the
air force in 1966), I started telling Chris about my best friend in elementary
school and high school. Two days later,
I had this overpowering feeling that I should try to call Greg. Looking up his name on the internet, I found
a number of Greg M’s, but one stuck out in New Jersey. Calling the number given, there was an
answer, “Hello.” I asked, “Is this the
Greg M. from Chicago?” He said,
“Yes.” I asked, “Is this the Greg
M. from Grace Street Elementary School?” He asked, “Oh my God, who is this?” Neither one of us realized that it was God
calling Greg. I asked, “Do you remember
Dan Peters?” He said, “Yes.” I said that I was his next door neighbor and
at one time Greg’s best friend. I then
asked Greg, “How are you doing?” He
said, “It is amazing that you called. I
just got out of the hospital today—I almost left this world.” I asked, “What happened?” He said that he had gone through alcohol
withdrawal and had gone into seizures and that he almost died. He later said,
“It was good to hear from you and I have to admit the timing was very curious,
you reaching me practically as I walked in the door from the hospital where I
came so close to shuffling off this mortal soil.” Again, he said, “In any case,
it was good to hear from you and I'm very curious as to how you chose a time to
call when things were as they were.”
Unfortunately, in recent years it has been impossible to reach Greg by
phone or any other way.
19.
GMC during Hurricane Jean. Hurricane Jean (Sept of 2004) was coming
through Lakeland and the watery driven winds were reaching to 60 or 70
miles/hr. Chris, Chrissy, and I held
hands and prayed to the Father in Jesus’ name that He watch over us. When Jean passed through, she had damaged the
roof of every house around ours and even tore down some pool houses. She also destroyed a good part of Widow
Margaret’s house (inside) after tearing the roof off. The four houses closest to us all had to have
their roofs replaced as a minimum. The
only damage to our property was that an old rotten tree lost a large branch—we
later cut the tree down.
20.
Receiving Communion with adoration
and reverence. On Sunday, September
23, 2007, Chris and I were discussing the possibility of going back to a church
in Zionsville. As we spoke I mentioned
that I could not return to that church as long as a friend of mine felt that it
was OK to be chewing gum while he received the Body and Blood of Christ (he was
an elder). Chris called Ruth (the man’s
wife) and talked to her about the situation.
Ruth said that if Chris said so, Ruth would call the church office and
ask them how they felt about the situation, and Chris told her that it was not
necessary. I was very upset and called
Vinney. Vinney agreed with me 100% and
he quoted 1 Corinthians 11:23. He said
that it was very disrespectful to Jesus for the man to do that. On the way to Church I had Chris read 1 Corinthians
11:23. When we got to the church in
Indianapolis, the church was crowded and we had to share the row with a man who
was by himself—he was very demonstrative in his worship. As we were sitting during the preaching of
the pastor, the inner voice told me to look at the Bible the man next to me was
reading. He was on the page that
contained 1 Corinthians 11. When he put
his Bible down, I asked him if he was reading 1 Corinthians 11:23 and he said
that he didn’t know. Picking up his
Bible, he turned to the page at which he was previously reading. He scanned the page and said, “Yes, it is 1
Corinthians 11:23.
21.
GMC while seeking God’s will. On November 4, 2008 I was getting dressed to
vote. Realizing that I was going to the
Royal Run Club House to vote, it was possible that I might see Carlos (a next
door neighbor with whom I had had some problems). I said to the Father that if He put Carlos in
my path today, I would wave to him. He was standing in front of me in the line
for people waiting to vote. We shook
hands and each of us apologized for our behavior.
22.
A GMC of picking up my spirits. On March 31, 2009, at 9:45 a.m. I was
disappointed by a fellow member of AA who I thought had long term
sobriety. He asked me to borrow $10 or
$20 (he may have long term sobriety, in spite of asking me for money). At the breakfast table, in front of Chris and
Chrissy, I said a prayer: “Jesus, please
help me. You know that I have been
terribly disappointed.” Within 5 minutes
George, a recovering alcoholic (a professed Christian and 10 months sober),
called me and lifted my spirits tremendously.
23.
GMC of reading the same scriptures. On October 15, 2009, as I was reading the
introduction to the Gospel in the Daily Missal, Jesus was warning the Jews and
quoted 2 Chronicles 24: 20-24 about Zechariah’s death. I said to me, “We just read that.” Looking it up in the big Bible, sure enough,
I had read it on Tuesday, October 13, 2009.
I called Chris and told her that I really felt anointed and that God the
Father is happy with us.
24.
Two GMCs in two days. On February 5, 2010 I worked at Stokes
Elementary and a horrific snow storm hit that day. After work I spent about an hour plowing and
shoveling out the driveway. When Chris
and Chrissy came home, Chris said that I had some mail. It turned out to be the printed reports from
the VA. In the reports Dr. Bhagar
states, “50 % or more probability that each diagnosed disability is the result
of injury or disease incurred or aggravated in the service…” Dr. Bhagar also states, “This illness first
manifested itself while he was in the service.
There is no record of him having [problems] prior to his military
service.” The doctor also says, “He
continued to drink while in service and he received a DUI in 1965. There is more than 50% probability that its
course worsened for him during his 2nd tour, due to the rejection of
not being allowed to become a pilot, (before the DUI in 1965) and the
harassment (after the DUI).” It took almost
10 years to have the VA admit that I have a service connected disability. The second highest appellate court in the
land found in my favor and granted me a disability because of the atrocious
behavior of 4 high ranking officers in the Air Force. Six months later, the
disability was raised to 100%. With all
income considered, my pensions are equivalent to that of a Captain who flew for
20 years in the Air Force and retired—exactly what I wanted when I re-entered
the USAF. Talking to Chris and Chrissy
about the present situation and that there is probably going to be a
considerable amount of money received for the service connected disability and
the 10 years of strife with the VA, it occurred to me that God had brought this
about so that we (Chris, Chrissy, Patrick and his family, and I) would be able
to go to Jerusalem—I cried with joy.
Early the next morning (say about 4:00 am) I got up to go to the
bathroom and started reading a book that I had been reading, Soul Harvest, a religious book by Tim LaHaye
and Jerry B. Jenkins. When I got to page
169 the author talks about a hospital in Palatine, Illinois (where Chris and I
lived) and Kenosha, Wisconsin (where GMC 11 took place when we were living in
Palatine). What are the odds of an
author mentioning these two locations?
These two locations were separated by only one sentence. I told Chris that if God wasn’t telling us
that the thought that I had was real about Jerusalem, He was telling us that He
is totally in charge!
25.
GMCs in law disputes. At this site under the link Contact Bill Goss by phone or email in the education area, it can be seen that I
attended night law school (1967-1969), and did pretty well at writing law
briefs—was the first student in history of the school to have two briefs put on
display in the law library. On the other hand, I committed adultery and
drank my way out of law school. Many years after Jesus got me sober and
keeps me sober, on Wednesday, 02/24/10, I was writing a certiorari (fancy name for a fancy
law brief) to the U S Supreme Court because of a dispute a member of my family
has had with a former employer in Lakeland, FL. This employer is
ruthless, and because of the poor employment opportunities in Florida, denies
unemployment compensation as a regular practice. Not being a lawyer, I
was looking for examples in the docket at the U S Supreme Court website.
The very first pertinent example I brought up was by a man who resides in
Lakeland, FL (we had lived in Lakeland, FL for 12 years and moved from
Lakeland, FL to Zionsville, Indiana, in 2006 ). Calling him, he stated that
he is a devout Christian. Out of all of the cities and all of the people
living in them, what are the odds that I would have chosen a certiorari written by a Christian
from the last town we lived in 1100 miles away?
26.
GMC of the host and my favorite
scripture. Because Communion is
extremely important in my life, it is especially gratifying for me to receive a
piece of the original host blessed by the clergyman during Consecration. For 7 weeks I received a wafer, and no matter
what I did, I received a wafer—my feelings were hurt to the point of looking
for another church for my family to attend.
After discussing this with the clergymen of my church, I received emails
from them saying that they would work with me to obtain my goal. To my embarrassment, I wasn’t sure that they
were sincere. During the following week Chris, Chrissy, and I were watching
Charles Stanley and his message was, “Walking with God.” Charles stated that in order to walk with
God, we must listen to God. He said that
a good beginning would be to start with your favorite verse in the Bible. I told Chris and Chrissy that my favorite
verse was John 10:27, “I know mine and they know me and no one will snatch them
from me.” The following Sunday I didn’t
want to go back to the church (with the problem with the host), but I prayed
about it and talked to Chris and Chrissy.
They indicated that we should go back.
When I went back to the church, one of the clergymen gave me a
suggestion of what to do to obtain the original host. When it was time for the Gospel to be read,
you could have knocked me over with a feather!
It was John 10:27, “I know mine
and they know me and no one will snatch them from me.” At the
time of the Eucharist I received the Original Host! Tears came down my cheek and, from time to
time, kept coming down my cheek. Jesus
was saying to me, “Calm down, Bill.
Everything is under control.”
Thank you, Jesus.
27.
The GMC of intuition. On Wednesday, May 12, 2010, the subject for
the meditation for the day in Daily
Reflections was “THE PAST IS OVER.”
When I read it, I said, “Are you trying to tell me something,
Lord?” We had been waiting for over 9
years for the VA to determine if and how much my service-connected disability
would be and end the 45 years of nastiness caused by the alleged DUI mentioned
in #2 above. That night I jokingly said
to Chris, “Do you think that God the Father has been holding back the
disability money until you make a Cursillo?” A Cursillo, or in this case “Great
Banquet” is an extremely intensive retreat.
It is so emotionally draining that one needs to be sponsored to the
retreat. The following night I took
Chris to the three day retreat. The
following morning I was getting ready for work and I scanned our bank account. There were a lot of zeroes there! The money was there! Thank you, Jesus.
28.
Reading scripture talked about at
lunch. On September 12,
2010, Chris and I visited Chrissy at Indiana University and went to church with
her. There was a delightful sermon mixed
with an interview of two elderly people who are presently working in Ghana,
Africa as missionaries. The woman came
down with breast cancer but is in remission at the present time. After church Chris, Chrissy and I went to
Olive Gardens for lunch. Our server was
a pleasant young man named Joshua, who is in graduate school. I started joking with him about his “best friend”
Caleb and he said, “It looks like we speak the same language.” We spent two hours at Olive Gardens talking
and sharing spiritual experiences, one of which is Chrissy’s Christian Calling,
and headed back to Chrissy’s place on campus.
We parked in the shade of a tree outside and Chrissy opened the
scriptures to do our daily reading.
Guess what it was! It was Sirach
46--Joshua, Caleb and the judges! What
are the odds of our very next reading in Scriptures being exactly what was
spoken of in a casual lunch conversation?
29.
GMC while parenting. On November 4, 2010 at 11:30 pm, Chris and I
arrived at Bloomington Indiana to recover the car we had loaned to Chrissy—she
had disobeyed us in a very serious situation.
The car was gone. After waiting
for Chrissy to return for about an hour (it was now November 5, 2010 at 12:30
am), we decided to leave. After exiting
the parking facility of her dorm (fairly complicated), we were about to turn
right on the main thoroughfare when I had the strong instinct that a car,
coming in our direction, about ˝ of a mile down the street (to the left) was
Chrissy. I made a left turn and headed
north. When the car passed us, we
recognized the car and Chrissy!
30.
GMC of old friends. On December 26, 2010, at approximately 8 pm,
we were packing to return to Indianapolis from Orlando, FL. We had spent the Christmas days there going
to all the Disney parks and Universal Studios (a wonderful gift from God). My cellular phone rang and though I was
tempted to not answer it, I got a very strong feeling that I should answer this
call. Answering it, I heard a voice that
I hadn’t heard in years. It was Bill D
from The Friends of Bill W, my home group in Orlando FL when we lived in Florida. The Friends had asked me to speak at their 10
am meeting. I was pleased to do it. Bill
D stated that he was at an evening meeting and happened to mention that he knew
a guy by the name of Bill Goss who used to strongly speak of Jesus Christ as
his Higher Power. It just so happened
that at Bill D’s meeting there was a man there who was at the morning meeting
in which I spoke and said that I am still speaking of Jesus Christ as my
Savior. Bill D said that he got my
number and had to call me and tell me about the incredible “coincidence.” I call it an “act of love by God the Father.”
31.
GMC of duplicate Valentine Cards. For Valentine’s Day this year (2011), Chris
went to the Christian Book store in Carmel, IN to buy her card. Because I had been sick with the flu, I
stayed in bed the whole weekend (except to go to church) and ventured out on
Valentine’s Day at around noon. I went
to Hall Mark in Zionsville, IN. When we
exchanged cards in the evening it turned out that both of our cards had exactly
the same scripture quotes: Philippians 1:7 (You have a very special place in my
heart. We have shared together the
blessings of God).
32.
GMC of same seat as in Jerusalem’ s
Church of the Holy Sepulcher.
On Easter Morning, April 24, 2011, Chris and I were going to a church in
Westfield, IN. Dropping her off at the
door, I told her to try to get a seat—telling her to pray to Jesus for a seat
because she normally didn’t pick good seats (really in a bad mood, huh?). Coming in to the church, she couldn’t be
found. I saw the pastor and asked him if
he had seen her and he said no. I told
him that Chris was supposed to have prayed for a good seat. Walking halfway up the aisle, someone was
waving from the very first pew—it was Chris!
I was actually sitting in the first pew, first seat. Then it hit me! This is exactly what happened to me at the
Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem 44 years ago on Easter Day (see #6
and #7 above).
33.
GMC of becoming a pilot and getting
a pension equivalent to that of a Captain. On September 7, 2011 we were notified that
my pension was increased. What is really beautiful about this situation is that
I originally wanted to make a career in the Air Force as a fighter pilot but
lost my commission and wings. In AA, with
the help of Jesus (and my ex-marine sponsor of 31 years), I flew as a civilian
pilot and ultimately obtained a pension from the government. On September 9, 2011, Chris submitted her
letter of resignation with two weeks’ notice and retired from her job. In Jesus name, thank you, Father God.
34.
GMC of Meetings. On January 6, 2012, I lead a 7:00 pm AA
meeting because one of the regular leaders didn’t make it. I said a personal prayer, “Jesus, please help
me give glory to you for the many good things that you have done for me and my
family and not glorify myself.” The
meeting turned out to be filled with GMCs.
First of all, there was a man who was the first to share and he
mentioned that he used to go to an AA meeting at a Church in Barrington, IL on
Saturday mornings (St. Ann’s is the only church that has an AA meeting on
Saturday mornings). When it came time
for me to speak, I asked him if the name of the church was St. Ann’s. With a surprised look on his face, he said,
“Why, yes.” I told him that I used to go
to that meeting in Illinois—what are the odds that two people at a small AA
meeting in Indiana went to the very same meeting in Illinois? I also asked him if he knew a Mike M, who was
a very good friend of mine. After the
meeting I asked the man if he had ever gone to the Palatine Club in the Chicago
area. He said, “Why, yes. In fact I led a meeting at the Palatine
Club.” I asked him, “Which one?” He said,
“The Tuesday night 7:00 pm meeting.” I
said to him that 3 guys, including myself, started that meeting—because all the
other meetings in the area started at 8:30 pm, it was very hard to get people
to go to that meeting. For a year the 3
of us would show up—rarely would the number at the meeting be greater than 5. But on our first anniversary the meeting
exploded to 40 people and within the month several other 7:00 pm meetings were
started. Again, what are the odds of
meeting someone in a small group in Indiana that went to two different meetings
(one of which three of my friends and I started) in Illinois.
35.
GMC of making needed meeting for the
week in Israel. Forty-seven years
ago, at my first fifth step, I promised my sponsor, Les, that I would not go
more than a week without making a meeting—Les, claimed that that was how so
many alcoholics go back to drinking—missing one meeting, then two, etc. In the forty-seven years of my sobriety, I
have missed 3 meetings in 3 weeks (twice because of having a body temperature
of more than 103 degrees, and once because I was in Jerusalem on Easter
Sunday). On our Christian Pilgrimage
(June of 2012), it was the 7th day of the trip and I was fearful I
would break my promise to Les. Chris and
I were in beautiful Tiberias and were walking to an ATM that we were familiar
with in the city. As we were walking,
two of the people from our pilgrimage group were walking behind us and out of
desperation I shouted out to them: “Do you people know anything about Bill
Wilson or Doctor Bob? The woman said
that she was in AA and her father, walking beside her, was in Alanon! We had a meeting on the spot! Later, I calculated the time zones and
discovered that at the exact time that we were having our meeting, my regular
meeting in Indiana was taking place!
36.
GMC of making church in Jerusalem. On Saturday, 2012, the day before the night
we were to come back to the states from Israel, we asked at the desk of the
hotel in Jerusalem if there were any churches available on Saturday night. The clerk seemed very knowledgeable and gave
us the directions to get to a church in Old Jerusalem. The enemy attacked us in several ways
(threats and delays), but we managed to get to the church at the prescribed
time services were to begin. The church
was closed. We really felt bad. The next morning, Sunday, Chris and I took a
cab to Old Jerusalem to visit the Church of Gethsemane. As we walked into the church, services
began—thank, you Jesus! He rewarded us
for our efforts!
37.
GMC of seeing the number ‘7’. During the night of October 14, 2012, being
almost 72 years old, I had to relieve myself three times and then again in the
morning when I got up. Every time I
looked at the clock, the numbers on the clock would add up to 7. The number seven is very dear to me—I was
born on the Seventh of January, and the Bible speaks about the number 7 as
being a very good number. When I see the
number seven on the clock, or any other time, I take it as a special gift from
God, saying, “I love you, Bill.”
38.
GMCs help fix Chrissy’s Car. After Chrissy’s car’s electronic system went
down with about 20 wires and fuses that had gone bad, Jesus helped me fix the
car in about 3 weeks.
39.
Palatine GMC. After a very stressful drive from Zionsville, IN, to Palatine, IL (and
some dread going to the Club) we arrived at the Thanksgiving Dinner sponsored
by the Club. The first words out of
Peter, the host, were, “Praise, Jesus.”
Originally, there were only two people at the Club when we arrived: Peter and Christopher. I felt so grateful to the Father for the
Christian Greeting.
40.
Employment Location of Patrick GMC. On December 2, 2013, I sent Patrick, my son, our Itinerary for the
Christmas Holidays in Orlando, FL. Of
all the thousands of motels and hotels in the Orlando area, the Itinerary that
Chris and I planned in Zionsville, IN, is where Patrick works. Chris, Patrick, and I were totally surprised
at our selection. Thank you, Jesus.
41.
Twosome AA Meeting at the old
Westside Clubhouse in Indianapolis with Terry. – On March 27, 2014, with 42+ years of sobriety, I was going
to the Westside 10:30 a.m. meeting and for reasons I will not go into, was full
of fear and trepidation (yes, some people with long term sobriety sometimes do
fear going to a meeting, but hopefully, they realize then is when they really
need a meeting). On the way to the
meeting I was praying and remembering what my sponsor told me 47 years
ago: “Fear is a boogie man. Stand up to him and he will run away.” I knew
that I had to face fear, as I had done so many times before, by practicing His
Presence. When I got to the club, it was
padlocked. The first thing I did was
laugh and joke with my Higher Power:
“You really have a sense of humor.” Remembering something else my
sponsor had told me 42 years ago, “It only takes two (2) to have an AA
meeting,” I smiled and started looking for a fellow-AAer. At a house near the club there was a car
parked and inside the house the light was on.
I knocked on the door, and a really nice guy, Terry answered it. After a while, I asked him if he was in AA
and he said, “Yes.” I said, “Did you
ever hear of a man named Clarence Snyder?”
He said, “Yes.” I told him that
Clarence was my sponsor—later, we both agreed that Clarence had held the first
AA meeting ever held. Remembering the
“two rule,” I asked him if he would say the Lord’s Prayer with me to make it an
official meeting and he said, “Sure.”
What a great guy! I hope you are
reading this, Terry! Please contact me
if you have any problems with my explanation of how the daily 10th
step is done—it is only found in this site--it has helped keep me sober for at
least the last 30 years out of 47+. It
is in the Discussion
of Tenth Steps which is in “How it Works” (my
adjusted copy of the Big Book).
42.
Opening the Bible to exactly what
Charles Stanley was talking about in his sermon. On June 1, 2014 I was watching Charles Stanley (we love his
sermons) and he was talking about perfect faith. Charles said that Abraham had perfect faith
in God when he went to sacrifice Isaac.
I remembered reading about the planned sacrifice at least 20 times and
thought: What is the big deal with that
situation? Charles went on: Abraham said to his servants, “Stay here with
the donkey while I and the boy go over there.
We will worship and then we will come back to you.” That hit me like a ton of bricks. Chris and I didn’t remember the Bible saying
that they both would come back. I said,
“Let’s look at the Bible. Where do you
think it would be?” Chris answered;
“Probably in Genesis.” I grabbed the
Bible and split Genesis to begin the search.
The Bible opened at exactly Genesis, chapter 22. Chris
and I were dumbfounded and grateful. God the Father was happy with us and wanted
to reward us with his favor.
43.
Chris and I in Ben Gurion Airport
when a missile was fired at it. On July 11, 2014 Chris and I were at Ben
Gurion Air Port, Tel Aviv, Israel, waiting to take off on our flight back to
the United States. Suddenly the air raid
sirens started screaming. That was the
third time for them to go off in Tel Aviv that morning. When everyone was scrambling for the
shelters, the cleanup man and I were the only ones that ignored the
sirens. Later, on the plane heading back
to the States, one of the employees of the United Airlines showed me his
Tablet. It was a picture of the Iron
Dome (Israel’s Defense System) missile exploding and knocking out a Gaza
missile that was shot at the airport above our heads. After that incident the FAA cancelled all
flights to and from Israel for at least a week.
I was too stupid to be scared, but Jesus was watching over us again.
44.
Jesus saves the vision of Chris’s
right eye. On Sunday, Sept. 21,
and Monday, Sept. 22, I had a scare with my right eye. I had extreme
pressure around my right eye all day Sunday, with a headache and blurred
vision, and woke up with it on Monday. Since I am entitled to VA health
benefits, I called the main phone
number at the VA Hospital to get an appointment with my primary care doctor,
and after no return calls from my primary care nurse or doctor, Bill suggested
that I should call the VA again. The
woman that answered at the VA Hospital suggested that I talk to a triage
nurse. The triage nurse, Anita, told me
to go to the eye clinic as a walk-in patient, which is at the VA
Hospital. It just so happens that I have an assigned eye doctor
(ophthalmologist) at the VA, because I have pre-glaucoma in my left eye.
I was able to see my doctor, because there was a cancellation. It turned out, that had I not seen my eye
doctor, I could have lost my vision in my right eye. It turned out that
the pressure in my eye was so high, that it was causing the pressure around the
eye and caused me to have blurred vision in that eye. It turned out to be an infection in my right
eye, which since 1999 flairs up from time to time, and to calm down the eye
pressure and get rid of the infection; I have to take special eye drops and a
pill. Monday turned out to flow so
easily from one thing to the next. I am
so grateful for Bill’s praying and doing the Eleventh Step in Jesus’ Name
concerning that I call the VA and that we go directly to the eye clinic.
45.
Because
of the problem of the anti-Christ movement within AA, Chris and I have been
searching for a new church (the one we had been attending didn’t seem to care
about the issue). We specifically did
not want to attend a church that had AA groups without some sort of
surveillance on the anti-Christ situation.
Two of the churches we were considering had the problem and wouldn’t
face it. We wrote 3 letters to 3
different churches of the same denomination and we were completely ignored by
all three. On one of the trips to
Orlando, we made friends with the pastor of a church who appears to be very
spiritual. Returning home, I called him
and told him about the problem we were having finding a Bible based church. The next day I received a letter from him directing
us to a Church in Carmel, where the pastor is a friend of our friend and to sum
up the situation humorously, we had to travel 1000 miles from home in order to
get the church that we wanted back home.
46.
During
a particularly bad time with the VA, I was hoping to make it plain that I had
fought at the highest levels in the courts, including the US Appellate Court
and the Wisconsin Supreme Court. I
already had the Appellate Courts covered with winning my disability, but I
wanted to cover a dispute I had won at the Wisconsin Supreme Court. I went to the Wisconsin Supreme Court on the
internet and spent hours trying to find the Case that I won with no
success. As a last ditch effort, I got
on Firefox and did a search for Gosy and Wisconsin Supreme Court. It was a hit! Thank you, Jesus. There are approximately 34 pages to the case
and it shows that I was correct in the decision I made. After the court reversed the decision of the
lower courts, and decided in my favor, the Chief Justice said, “We should have
more teachers like this man who corrected a hoodlum.”
47.
On
10/6/2015, even though I had much experience in working in plumbing in the
houses I built, I had been working on fixing the plumbing in our house for three
days and beginning to get completely overwhelmed. Chris and I went to Lowe’s and ended up
buying some very expensive plumbing that we didn’t expect to buy. I must tell you that I was totally in
fear. I prayed to Jesus and told him how
frightened I was at that time. Believe
it or not, I looked out the window and there was a plumber’s truck parked in
the street next to our house. I went
over and told the plumber what I was doing and asked him how much he would
charge me to do this very difficult job.
He said that he would charge me $175.
That was half of what I was expecting him to say. He finished the job in about 40 minutes. Thank you, Jesus. What a beautiful GMC.
48.
For
those of you who are not Catholic, Please realize that I am not Catholic, but I
was raised a Catholic and have a deep love and devotion to Mary, the mother of
Jesus. The wedding at Cana shows that
Mary has been used as an intercessor to Jesus for many centuries. On Monday,
November 16, 2015, Chris and I were facing four difficult situations and in my
morning prayers I prayed to Mary to intercede to Jesus for His Help. Within 24 hours every one of the problems
were completely turned around and yesterday, November 18, 2015, I shed some
very grateful tears and thanked Her for helping Chris and myself.