We don't tend to pay as much attention to Dr. Bob as to the other co-founder of AA, Bill Wilson. Yet Dr. Bob presents us with the earliest example of the fact that a spiritual commitment alone can't make us well. We must also change the way we behave -- the focus of Step 10.

Dr. Bob, after something of a rocky start in life, had settled down as a proctologist in a home you can still visit in Akron, Ohio. Further, he had made a serious commitment to the Christian life as a member of the Oxford Group. It is worth learning more of the Oxford Group, not only because it was the spiritual cradle of AA but because it was an uncompromising approach to the Christian faith, having many of the characteristics of first-century Christianity. We know from what others said about Dr. Bob that there could be no question about his faith. And yet he could not stay sober.

According to the story, it was upon his return drunk from a medical convention that Dr. Bob "got it." Unbeknownst to Bill, he effectively worked Steps 4 thru 9 in a matter of hours as he went around the town making amends for what he had done in the past. That marked the founding of the AA Fellowship and the origins of its sister movements that have changed the lives of all of us.

Dr. Bob's story is a warning to all of us that think that a spiritual focus -- faith alone -- can ensure spiritual progress. These daily thoughts emphasize strongly the practice of the last three Steps, but the fact is that Step 10 cannot be done at all unless there has been a significant clearing of the wreckage of the past and an ongoing commitment to do better. As an early Christian writer -- one whose name nearly became the name of the AA Fellowship -- said: Faith without works is dead.