Million to One: A God Shot

There’s a popular TV game show that I used to enjoy. I hadn’t watched it in maybe ten years, but recently my wife and the national news were excited about it because a professional sports gambler from Las Vegas was wowing the world, having already won just under a million dollars in only thirteen appearances. He was playing again on Tuesday, April 23, so I watched for the first time in a decade. I was not disappointed.

He was on his way to another runaway victory, when he landed an opportunity to place a high-stakes bet. The category this time was Do ‘Over’. The answer? “This organization says its only requirement for membership is a desire to stop consuming food compulsively.”

I blurted, “What is Overeaters Anonymous!?” and that was his response too! We were right! I smiled. I laughed. I high fived my wife. How does that happen? The only time I’ve watched this show in close to a decade, and I knew the answer for a pivotal clue.

Then I thought of Rozanne S., the founder of OA, who must have been grinning from the great beyond. Not only was the correct question “What is Overeaters Anonymous?” but here was a sports gambler from Las Vegas giving it as the answer. It was when Rozanne attended a Gamblers Anonymous meeting that she first connected the Twelve Steps to her overeating and founded our Fellowship.

Until God brought me into the rooms of Overeaters Anonymous, I was definitely in jeopardy— in danger of loss, harm, and failure. I was a dead man. But ever since April 19, 2007, my life has been, like the category on that show, a do-over. And God has done for me what I could not do for myself.

At the end the game, the champion won again. His winnings now totaled over a million dollars. And me? I was still abstinent and grateful, and, frankly, a much richer man from working the Steps with each of you, one day at a time.

Thank you, game-show champ, for this lesson. Thank you, Rozanne, for this program. And thank you, God, for my recovery. God bless you all.

— Cliff