I have a friend who is trying to stop drinking, but not having much success. His father died of cirrhosis and he’s heading down that same path and seems helpless to stop with the booze. I read on the Internet that according to the Center for Disease Control, we’re becoming a nation of drunks. Check out this story:
Booze Hounds on Benders
New data reveals that one in every six Americans downs eight mixed drinks within a few hours, four times a month. Twenty-eight percent of young people between the ages of 18 and 24 binge-drink five times a month, putting away seven drinks in one sitting. And 13 percent of those between the ages of 45 and 65 binge drink five times a month, too.
News of the magnitude of this intoxication—resulting in frequently and dramatically altered states of consciousness for tens of millions of Americans—is no different than if we were to learn that a quarter of our young people were snorting half-a-gram of cocaine more than once-a-week or injecting heroin on that schedule. The psychological/cognitive effects of seven or eight drinks are no less intense, and, possibly, even more dramatic.
I had a young lady who worked for me that got pregnant and I overheard her telling others that her doctor told her that she needed to quit drinking while she was pregnant. She was distraught and telling her friends, “I need to have something, a beer, a joint – Something!
She squealed, “What am I going to do? I can’t do this!”
Geez Louise – What’s a poor girl to do – nine months is a long time. I remember when I was attempting to quit drinking. I’d started drinking when I was 12 and had been an alcoholic since 15. To say I liked getting a little buzz going was an understatement; I liked getting drunk. I was similar to old Hank Williams I liked cold beer and loud music and one of his songs kind of summed up my approach.
“I’ve got a good woman at home who thinks I do no wrong
But sometimes lord, she just ain’t always around
And you know that’s when I fall, I can’t help myself at all
And I get whiskey bent and hell bound
Play me some songs about a ramblin’ man, put a cold one in my hand,
’cause you know I love to hear those guitar sounds
Don’t you play ‘I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry’ cause I’ll get all balled up
inside
And I’ll get whiskey bent and hell bound
Sure enough about closing time, (I’m) about stoned out of my mind
And I end up with some honky-tonk special I found
Just as sure as the morning sun come, thinking of my sweet girl at home
And I need to get whiskey bent and hell bound
Play me some songs about a ramblin’ man, put old Jim Beam in my hand
’cause you know I still love to get drunk and hear country sounds
But don’t you play ‘Your Cheatin’ Heart’ cause that’ll tear me all apart
I’ll get whiskey bent and hell bound
Yeah, old Hank’s songs always make me feel low down”
The sobering thought about “gittin’ drunk and hearing country sounds” are the consequences. Excessive drinking ends badly and if you are drinking excessively too often you need to think long and hard about those consequences. If you were addicted to cocaine or heroin, (the CDC states that alcoholism is a frighteningly similar addiction), what would you think of yourself? I guarantee it would be in much different terms, and just the shame of it would likely motivate you to quit, (and if it proved impossible to quit on your own to seek help).
God didn’t create us to spend our lives mired in slavery to addictions that destroy lives. Satan wants that for you and he’s the one playing lead guitar for those enticing songs, or perhaps he’s that green eyed beauty doing the Texas two step with you right into hell.
No one will ever drink their way to success. That young lady who exclaimed that she HAD to have something should try Jesus, and get her tail into church where she can raise her kids to understand that the peace, joy, and love she seeks won’t be found in a 12 pack of beer, bottle of wine, jigger of rum, bottle of Jim Beam, joint, or in a bedroom for that matter.
Ahhh… but I ramble this fine morning; the sun is coming up, and I have other things to do and so do you. Besides, God sums it up quite nicely and puts it so much more succinctly than I do…
Eph. 5:18
Don’t be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit,