All Saints Generous Heart
“God give me a generous spirit in all I say and do, generous in my words to speak kindly of others, generous in my forgiveness to restore relationships, generous in my support to those in need around me. Let my generosity not be an occasional act, but a way of life, the core from which my behavior emerges, generous in praise, patience and prayer.” Bishop Steven Charleston, Daily Facebook page
Today on the Feast Day of All Saints we remember someone who all in the recovery community in Little Rock know well, Columbus. Every year, usually early in the morning on the birthday of your sobriety, you got a phone call from Columbus. You waited in anticipation for that call, celebrating one more year of new life with someone you only knew over the phone lines.
Columbus’ wife of 46 years would leave him three times before he went into his last rehabilitation after many DWI’s and missed work and days when she described not knowing where he was. Columbus died in the 38th year of his sobriety and was credited with leading thousands of men and women all over the world to sobriety.
Columbus made 15,000 calls a year and almost half a million calls before his death. He also called people he knew were no longer in recovery and told them he cared about them. Many people say they returned to recovery because of Columbus.
Columbus’ wife described his change when he went into recovery as “truly unbelievable. He became a dedicated and involved father and grandfather after he came so close to losing his family.”
When I hear people wonder what they could possibly do to make a difference in the world, I tell them Columbus’ story. One man with a generous heart, picking up the phone every day, and changing lives with a simple phone call.
Joanna joannaseibert.com