To Drink or Not to Drink

I remember a number of years ago my husband was a groomsman in a friend’s wedding. Both my father-in-law and I went to the wedding while my husband stood up with his friend. During the reception, my husband sat with the wedding party, while my father-in-law and I sat at a table together. Champagne glasses were passed out and champagne served to everyone. I’d never tasted champagne before, so I thought I’d try it. My father-in-law, sitting next to me, tried his, so I decided to be brave and try mine. My father-in-law took a sip, so I went for it and took a sip, just when my husband was coming over to our table to say hello. It freaked him out just a little. Just as he arrived to the table, he sees his dad and wife taking sips of champagne. I only took two sips, but I had to do it right when the hubby caught me.

I don’t drink. That’s why the hubby was freaked out just a little. It’s not because I’m a Christian that I don’t drink. Though the Bible tells us not to get drunk. Ephesians 5:18. I don’t drink because I am from Alaska and I’ve seen what alcohol abuse does. Alaska may be the land of the midnight sun, but it has a very dark side to it. I’ve had many close relatives die from alcoholism. When you see people actually die from the stuff, it’s sobering. Alcohol kills. And based on the record on my dad’s side of the family, we all apparently have fragile livers.

There is a lot of alcoholism in Alaska. If you think about it, it makes sense. Alaska has long, dark, cold winters where no one wants to go out of the house. Cabin fever is a real problem. During the cold deep of winter, you can go to work when it’s still dark outside, then get off of work and it’s dark again. That’s a lot of darkness. Our human bodies need some sun. It’s dark AND cold outside. So if one has a chance to go outside, one may be deterred based on the severity of the low temperature outside.

If I wasn’t a Christian, growing up in Alaska, I probably would have been a drinker. It’s what everyone else was doing. All the kids in high school talked about getting drunk over the weekend when they got back to school on Monday. The foyer of the grocery store had drunks in there all the time. When I worked at the grocery store, I got proposed to at least once a month by some drunk who followed me down the aisles of the grocery store. I grew up in a town of about 1500 people. For a town that small, we had two bars and a liquor store. We were grand central station for all of the dry villages around us. (Dry villages are when a village outlaws all liquor in their town).

My mom used to play the piano for our little church. She would drive out to the church about once a week and practice. I was usually the tag along. If mom needed company, I was it. One particular night we were coming out of the church to go to the truck when my mom and I spotted a drunk up at by the stop sign of the road. My mom said to hurry up because the drunk spotted us and started staggering our way. As I tried to open my side of the truck, I realized the window had been shattered. There were little pieces of glass everywhere. Distracted with the broken window, we weren’t fast enough to beat the drunk that was headed our way. He caught up to us and demanded we give him a ride. My mom said ok. Oh great mom! Thanks, I get to sit next to a drunk. He hopped in the cab of the truck with me stuck in the middle. He smelled of alcohol and kept picking up pieces of glass, leaning on me, and yelling, “Who broke my window!” I was miffed sitting next to him thinking, “Well you did you moron!” He kept breathing his boozy breath on me and yelling about the broken glass. Thankfully we didn’t have far to go to drop him off at the beginning of town.

So drunks and drinking was everywhere in the town I grew up in. I accepted the Lord Jesus as my savior when I was nine years old. And with my conversion I discovered the power of the Holy Spirit. God says not to be drunk with wine, but be filled with the Holy Spirit, Ephesians 5:18. I really knew what that meant at a young age. I had seen drunks everywhere. I had seen them make fools of themselves. The Holy Spirit was working in my life, teaching me, that I never needed booze. The power of the Holy Spirit in my life has no side effects. Under the influence of the Holy Spirit, we never make fools of ourselves. We don’t wake up with hangovers or a long list of guilt and apologies. And the fruit of the Spirit is: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and self control. The fruit of too much alcohol is: hate, self-loathing, fried livers, sickness, guilt, weight gain and no self control. Can you see why I don’t drink?