Going to Whisky River?

I overheard the young lady say to her friend, “We went to Whisky River last Saturday night.  We had a blast.  The bourbon was flowing freely.  I was so tipsy when I left that I could hardly make it to the car!”  

She didn’t indicate if someone drove her home or she drove herself.  I certainly hope she was chauffeured by someone less inebriated as alcohol and automobiles don’t mix, a lethal combination that can result in death on the highways, oftentimes destroying the lives of innocent people.  

I doubt if the young lady made it to church the next day.  She probably suffered an excruciating hangover that left her severely depressed all day Sunday.  On Monday, her nerves were probably so frayed she was in no condition to go to work and, if she did, certainly not as a productive employee.

There are those who drink and are still able to make it to church on Sunday, but they don’t enjoy a meaningful worship experience. Old Taylor and Wild Turkey have a way of dulling your spiritual receptors.  In other words you just can’t seem to ‘get with the program’ when your head hurts, your stomach is queasy and your brain is still staggering from the effects of the night before.  

A preacher friend of mine once told me he was appalled at the number of people in his church that drank excessively.  I would imagine that, if everyone who entered church on Sunday had to excuse themselves from the service if they drank the night before, the number of people setting in the pews would be significantly reduced.  Church goers have ingenious ways of obtaining spirits without being seen doing so. 

Many will justify drinking by saying that Jesus turned the water into wine at the wedding in Cannaan or that Paul wrote Timothy to take a little wine for his infirmities.  An uncle once told me that “the Bible states it’s better to drink it than to crave it.”  

Knowing this wasn’t in the Scriptures, I replied that the verse must have come from Hezekiah to which he agreed.  Incidentally, Hezekiah was a king of Judah not a book of the Bible.   

Trying to get a person to quit drinking is close to impossible.  Tell them that the CDC in Atlanta estimates that drinking (or smoking) shortens the average person’s life span by 12-years and they will counter with the example of Uncle Bud who drank every day of his life, was making daily treks down to the pool room at age 95 to get his midday mug of beer and who lived to be 106.  

Actuarial departments of  major insurance companies simply say that “the more you drink, the quicker you die.” You can never convince a person that running on his or her own steam—at peace with self, fellowman and God—is a superior state to the ‘buzz’ of a chemical fix.  

Unfortunately, with the exception of long-term fervent prayer, there is really very little you can do to get a person to stop drinking.  Usually, nothing short of direct intervention by God will cause a person to quit.  And sometimes God’s remedy may not be the preferred alternative. 

The Holy Scriptures warn us that strong drink is a mocker and a destroyer of lives.  Personally, I do not condemn those who suffer this addiction.  It is my fervent prayer that, through God’s wonderful plan for their lives, they will find a way to quit.