Showing posts with label renewal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label renewal. Show all posts

Friday, June 11, 2010

Why can't we have a good time without getting whissy drunk?

He was so drunk he could not stand; so he fell and kept falling.

I tried to help a man once who was whissy drunk. He was so drunk he could not put one foot in front of the other; he fell each time he made a step. He caught my attention because he was sitting on the church step at 4 a.m. in the morning. I put him in my car and carried him home, but he couldn't walk in so I had to help him do that, too. In all of his clumsiness he kept laughing, slobbering at the mouth and holding on to a 40 ounce bottle of beer which he held high even when he flopped down on the sofa of his house.

I checked back the next day and he couldn't remember any of it. He didn't remember me bringing him home or how he got there. I asked why he felt the need to get whissy drunk so often. He said it helps him forget for a while who he has "f--ked up my life."

We talked about changing, regrouping, starting fresh. He agreed that I was right. He even promised to begin a regular worship routine and get his act together. When I talked about the Spirit of God I noticed a twinkle in his eye at the sound of the word "spirit." He smiled.

I wonder about those who can't have a good time without a drink or two or three. Alcohol is an awful crutch and a pain generator. It kills slowly and methodically as it gives its victims an escape for the moment.

I thought about that this morning as I read Ephesians 5:18 "And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit"

A short time after that encounter, I saw the man again; sitting on the church step. He was whissy drunk again.

He sat on the church step but he never came inside or let God inside.

He was filled with the spirits.

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

I spill, you spill, oil spills; who cleans it up?

I spill things sometimes, who cleans it up?

Occasionally, I spill things: a glass a water here, a can of soda there. Often not much damage is done except the time I spilled a can of Coke on my lap top computer. I once spilled spaghetti on my necktie, it dropped right off the spoon. A trash bag burst once and all of the contents spilled on to my wife's newly waxed floor. I spilled a whole glass of water once on the crouch area of my pants once; people stared because it looked as if I had wet myself. It was a big spot.

We all spill things, the question is: "Who cleans up afterwards?"

I usually grab a towel or whatever is available and try to clean up behind myself, but my wife says my efforts to cleanup only mess up more. She has to take over to get it done right.

When I spill something, it's usually small. What if I spilled something bigger?

In New Orleans there is a massive oil spill that is devastating the Louisiana Coast. An oil well owned by British Petroleum, Inc. (BP) exploded, killed many workers and is spewing over 210,000 gallons of oil a day into the Gulf of Mexico. Birds, fish and livelihoods are being threatened. BP has promised to clean it up and pay everyone for their losses including the state and individual businesses and families.

Even that huge commitment is not enough at present because the oil is still spewing into the water and it appears to worsen daily. The complaints are multiplying.

When it's all over who will clean it up? Except for the lives lost, BP promises to restore everything. It may be too big a job for BP alone. Some want that government to take over and manage the recovery.

Sometimes we mess up in our lives. Like a giant spill we mess up everything. Like BP, we promise to make it all right but despite our best plans we can't stop the massive seepage everyday.

It's obvious that we need a higher power to take over and manage our recovery. We can't save ourselves from ourselves. We need God's help. He has the power to get the job done. We need God's power for restoration.

There is a bible passage that says, "Psalms 51:10-12 "Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit."

That can of Coke that spilled on my laptop cost me about $1,500 to replace the unit. That's one spill that won't happen again.

My life spills costs a lot too; that's why I'm taking extra caution to insure that they don't happen again.