Yesterday morning two of the guys had a tiny spat about one of them getting woken up early. One of them, we'll call Barry, went with me to the church we're affiliated with to set up tables and chairs for a lunch.
I asked Barry if we could talk, and we stepped aside to talk about the strife between him and the other guy that morning. We've been talking about loving our brothers (or enemies), so I brought up some ways to love the other guy; forgive him, pray for him, humbly go to him, love him like Jesus would. I thought the talk went really well. Barry thought he would ask the other guy how they could get along better and work through this. He then asked to pray together about it and planned on asking God to help him in it.
After talking we went back to work, got the tables and chairs set up, got lunch going, etc. I found out I needed to pick up a load of donated food, so I made one last check on Barry before leaving. As I expected he was sitting out behind the church smoking on the smoking pad (they're allowed to smoke). He was talking when I opened the door and he explained how he like to pray out loud and was talking things over with God.
When I got back after a couple hours I found a couple of the guys doing dishes. Barry wasn't with them.
"He's in the sanctuary working, I think." they said.
I walked into the sanctuary to find Barry snoring super loudly on a back pew. I smiled and went back to work by the kitchen. In a few minutes one of the other guys, Jeff, and I started tearing down the chairs. Barry didn't wake up. After a while, I knew he'd slept plenty long enough so I shouted for him to get up. He didn't wake up. I walked closer and shouted. No response. I got closer and closer shouting his name and clapping my hands.
Finally he sort of groggily woke up and started f-bombing me and swearing with a slur. I thought he must be really mad for me waking him up so I let him cool off. He fell right back asleep. I got him awake again and started saying some silly joke. Finally I got him to sit up and he started singing. I'm thinking to myself, "What in the world is going on??? This is crazy!" His eyes were all weird and he couldn't stay awake. When I asked him what the problem was he said his head hurt.
Finally I got the cook to talk to him and the cook thought he should go to the emergency room to find out what was the matter. We woke Barry up and got him to put his arms over our shoulders as we helped him wobble his way my car.
It was then, that we smelled the alcohol.
He we drunk out of his head.
I drove him to the ER and by the end of the night he was in the Intensive Care Unit with a breathing tube down his throat. They said he had outrageously high alcohol levels. The one guy, Jeff and I late that evening went back by the church and found a bottle of vodka hidden behind a shed.
People ask me if I think it's wrong to drink alcohol if your not getting drunk. I quote Proverbs 20:1 and say, "Why even go down that road?"
Sure, alcohol wasn't Barry's root problem. His problem was not being focused and believing on Jesus and giving Jesus his problems.
But still, why even go down the alcohol road?
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