Fr Jim Cogley
John was MD of a very successful company. His tolerance for alcohol had increased with the years and it was obvious to everyone except himself that he had a problem. Whether it was success or failure it was an excuse for drinking and both at home and at work he had become irritable and intolerant. Everyone was wrong, except himself. Eventually he lost his job and within a year his wife could take no more and decided to leave him. With each body blow he descended even deeper into the despair of addiction. Some concerned friends got together and realizing that if he were to reach rock bottom he might never come up so they decided to raise the bottom. They confronted him collectively and broke through his denial with truth of his addiction. The support they offered worked, and he was introduced to AA with its twelve steps recovery programme. There he acknowledged his powerlessness over alcohol and surrendered his life to a higher power in the belief that this alone could restore his sanity. Through this he found sobriety, reunited with his family, and resumed his career, but all as a different person. He was now a humbled, broken man but alive in spirit. His addiction, while it had brought him to his knees had also brought him to his God.