Drunk Again

Renee was drunk again. She had told me how sorry she was and that she promised to be sober tomorrow. I told her not to make any promises that she could not keep. Renee is very bad off, even her fellow friends on the street are encouraging her to sober up! One time I went to talk to her and she was drunk and sick, sitting next to her own vomit. Remember that this woman is a grandma, she has children and grandchildren, yet she chooses to live like this, under a bridge and drunk all the time. There is no fence keeping Renee in this prison under the bridge, there are no guards watching her to make sure she doesn't leave, yet she stays? No one forces her to spend every last penny on liquor. I get the impression that she hates what she is doing yet she continues? She is not there to watch her children and grandchildren grow up and enjoy life, she is being held captive by something that is robbing her of all her freedoms and joys! Alcohol. Renee doesn't know what she is up against, she is up against a force that is much stronger than her. She needs someone stronger than alcohol to help her.

I think of two Bible passages that explain what Renee is going through:

Pro 23:29 Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes?
Pro 23:30 They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine.
Pro 23:31 Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright.
Pro 23:32 At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder.
Pro 23:33 Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things.
Pro 23:34 Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast.
Pro 23:35 They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not sick; they have beaten me, and I felt it not: when shall I awake? I will seek it yet again.

This is very descriptive of Renne and anyone else controlled by "strong drink." In spite of all the problems, wounds, and sorrows alcohol brings, it has such a control on its captives that after it has robbed them of all that is good and precious to them they continue to say, "I will seek it yet again."

This describes the control or the "addiction" of alcohol, now the other Bible verse that comes to mind is this:

Luk 11:21 When a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace:
Luk 11:22 But when a stronger than he shall come upon him, and overcome him, he taketh from him all his armour wherein he trusted, and divideth his spoils.

This seems to represent Renee and others metaphorically. Renee is controlled by the "strong man armed" the alcohol. This strong man conrols her, her only hope is that a stonger man comes and overtakes the strong man. The only one I know that is stronger than alcohol is Jesus Christ! This is who Renee needs.