"God lumped"
- Marvello V
- Feb 22, 2020
- 4 min read
This blog is a transcript of an interview I did with my recovery brother Gary Bailey. I consider Gary the founder of Project HEAL, a Sacramento recovery group located in Oak Park. Gary is the one who came up with the acronym H-E-A-L, Helping Excel Abundant Life.
Enjoy the interview transcript!
Marvello (M): Alright so…we were talking earlier, um…
Gary (G): And you’re absolutely right it goes right with Step 2 so…
M: Oh, is that right?! So let me kind of open up with an intro…so you’ve been what clean & sober if I remember right about, you’re coming up on 6 years, right?
G: No, I’m coming up on 7.
M: Coming up on 7?! Wow! Good job, Gary. Yeah, for whatever reason I thought it was 6, but maybe that’s Brenda, but all good. Alright so, tell us a little bit about the phrase God lumps and how that came about. Where’d that actually come from?
G: Well, okay, so, March 7, 2013, I was…I was at the point where I tried everything and uh, I was powerless. I was powerless over everything, uh, drugs, alcohol, my life was unmanageable. I didn’t know any other way and that’s when I pretty much surrendered everything to God.
M: Yeah, that’s basically Step 2, right?
G: Yeah, that’s Step 1, I surrendered, uh, well first off, first part I’m saying is I was powerless which is Step 1.
M: Oh, okay, gotchu.
G: Right, right, so then I surrendered everything to God which is Step 2.
M: There we go.
G: And God lumped me up.
Both: LOL!
M: So was that a phrase you came up with? Or…
G: Yeah, that’s a phrase I came up with because I got to watch miracles happen. You know I got to watch people come in and into Salvation Army come in and uh they were like these gangsters, these you know these atheists, agnostic, different many different backgrounds would come in and they would just be like uh oh I don’t think this is gonna work. You know and I would be just give it a shot you know, surrender to God.
M: Yeah, yeah.
G: You know. And uh, the next week I’m seeing them walking to the altar holding their hands up crying out to God and <sigh> the next day they’d been lumped up, they’d been God lumped cause God done lumped them up and done changed and be renewed, they you know, uh-huh, that was the phrase 'God lump' that’s what I call it. And what it is that in Alcoholics Anonymous they call it that total psychic change.
M: Yeah, yeah.
G: But it’s more than a psychic change…
M: Exactly.
G: …it’s uh, a total transformation where God takes everything that you thought was real and turns it into <chuckles> you know something that’s…real!
M: More real, right?
G: Right.
M: So that kind of turns to the next question…so why is God real to you? I mean you say it with such passion and heart but, you know, help people that may not know God understand why is He real to you?
G: <pause><sighs> Why is He real to me?
M: Yes sir.
G: Because there’s no other explanation…for me to be able to change like I did. <chuckles> There’s there’s there’s…I’ve tried everything, you know I’ve tried getting clean & sober and doing it on my own and and it never worked and I always ended back up in institutions, and prisons. And then God came in and once I surrendered to Him and it’s like the life I used to live for I can’t even remember anymore the way I was, it’s like it’s gone. And, and I’m just totally renewed and its God’s so real, so real this world looks fake now. <chuckles>
M: <laugh> Yeah, I know, huh?! That’s beautiful, Gary. That’s perfect bro. I appreciate that man.
I paused our interview, but we started talking again and I knew Gary had more nuggets to share about God lumps, so the transcript picks up mid-conversation.
G: Dude, Rodrigo and I when we’d watch people change, I’d say, ”Look it, dude just got God lumped!” <laughter> And he’d go, he goes, what do you mean bro? And I’d go, “Look at him! The guy that said that he wouldn’t accept Jesus Christ or change his life, look it, he’s over there crying, praying by himself”.
M: Got God lumped.
Both: LOL
M: Yeah, what was that you said earlier, you said, “God lumps up your heart”. Right?
G: Yup. He, He, lumps up your heart in a way that you’ll never be the same.
M: Oh man! That’s beautiful right there and you know that’s why I kind of thought it related to Step 2 bro because you know I always think change isn’t in the mind it’s in the heart. Right? To where what we feel inside, because you know we can’t be the same anymore. You know, it just doesn’t feel good. It doesn’t feel right. You know what, the things we used to do that’s, that you know felt so normal you know like be violent, go back to prison, and you know beat on women whatever. It just doesn’t feel good anymore. Or it’s just, just not aligned with God and that’s why I thought that’s God lumpin’ us up man, you know?
G: Yeah. That’s exactly it. It’s not in the physical form that He lumps us up, but He He, He comes in and says, “You know what? This is my house. I’m taking it from you. You ain’t been living it right. And I’m gonna change everything the way it’s supposed to be and, uh, and I do it you’re going to change to. Automatically. So, this is what’s happening. And I’m doing this cause I love you”. So you’d been LUMPED. <chuckles>
M: Nice! LOL! Alright, Gary, I appreciate that bro that was beautiful man!
G: Man, uh, I knew it was awesome when you said how does this affect…those questions like, I said how do these go together? And, after God spoke to you, and then He spoke to me how He spoke to you. That’s crazy.
M: That is crazy. You see that…I mean yeah, that’s why God is real right? I mean there’s things that happen like what you were just sayin’ that we can’t even explain. Like even our lives colliding and the people that we know in common. You know, it’s just kind of trippy. Yeah, I appreciate that man, that’s good.
Interview held on 2/22/2020.
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