God sent opportunity

Last night I flew up to Minneapolis. That morning I got up early, (3:00 AM), in order to get some things done prior to my trip. I had a couple of very important meetings that I attended that morning and unfortunately was trying to address several other very serious and stressful situations that have developed to which there seems to be no good solution. I worked like a mad-man right up until I left for the airport and was talking on the cell phone all of the way there. By the time I got checked in and through security where my toothpaste was confiscated, and on down to the gate where I sat for an hour and a half with what appeared to be the characters in the “Adam’s Family” television show in front of a trash can that compacted trash every time anyone put anything into it which was every two minutes, I was exhausted before I ever got on the plane. I was facing a two and one half hour flight and then I had to go to dinner in the freezing cold, (which lasted until eleven o’clock EST), with a bunch of prospective clients whom I had never met.

When I got on the plane I was tired and surly and just wanted to relax and as soon as we took off I wanted to try and catch a power nap’ during the long flight. The plane was a regional jet which translates into little seats crammed closely together. Sure enough here comes an overweight guy to sit right next to me. “Great!” I thought. “This is all I need.” He immediately launched into an animated conversation. “Great!” I thought now I can listen to this guy talk the entire flight. Try as I might I could not ignore him. Finally I put down the reports I had been reviewing and I engaged in conversation.

Almost immediately the conversation turned to drinking alcohol. I relayed to him that I quit drinking any and all alcohol over five years ago, (six years April 1st), and I was much happier and healthier since I had done so. He then began pouring his heart out and as it turned out he was an alcoholic and had finally got to the point, (that day), whereby he could admit it to himself. He had put on tremendous weight and his blood pressure was skyrocketing, he had been blacking out and had actually fallen off a deck in a drunken stupor and practically killed himself. His wife was an alcoholic and she was running with a crowd that was partying hard during the week and then all weekend and she was going out by herself or with the girls’ and staying out until the wee hours of the morning. All of the while his teenage kids were soaking this in and were getting into trouble in their own right.

He had been trying to quit drinking but his wife had no interest and was adamant that he should not quit either. He had tried and failed several times to quit. I spent the next couple of hours telling him what worked for me. It is not easy to quit drinking primarily because of peer pressure. It seems if someone else drinks they want everyone to drink. I am not uncomfortable around moderate drinkers but they seem to be very uncomfortable around me. If you take a client out to eat, have friends over, attend a dinner party, or whatever it always seems to create a small uncomfortable problem when they find out you are not having a drink.

I will spare you the details but we had a great conversation and I witnessed to him and suggested he make new friends in church that were not obsessed with drinking at every opportunity. It is near impossible to quit if everyone in your inner circle continues to do so and you do not change friends. I told him as an alcoholic that there was no such thing as social drinking. Give it up entirely and admittedly it will be hard to do but just take it a day at a time. He is going to seek help through AA and professional counseling.

He told me on four separate occasions that he felt God put me next to him on that plane and what I told him was exactly what he needed to hear. Fortunately I did not treat him like a jerk even though that is exactly what I felt like doing and I thank God for that. God gave me a wonderful opportunity to help someone. I really like this guy and my heart goes out to him and he is in my prayers today. This gentleman has my business card and I am his official encourager and told him I was available 24/7 to help if needed. I learned from this experience that when tired and discouraged to keep my guard up because there are people all around me that make my little problems seem like a cakewalk. My hope is that he learned that he needs to make some new friends in church and use God in his life to help him combat this serious problem in his life.

1 Cor. 5:11
But now I have written to you
not to keep company with anyone
named a brother, who is sexually
immoral, or covetous, or an idolater,
or a reviler, or a drunkard