Sunday, September 4, 2016

2015 Cruise - Champagne Treetop / Reflections on Alcohol

Love this color against the dark background.

It amazes me how ubiquitous alcohol is in every one of the world's cultures.  To those who argue that moderation is the key (citing the word much in I Timothy 3:8) I would ask, "If everyone in the world suddenly stopped taking in alcohol, not consuming a drop from now on, would the world be a better place or a worse place?"  The answer I think is obvious.

Yet the desire and impulse to drink is there - for some worse than others - and is tied to one's chemistry more than most imagine.  Back in '84, when I was living up in North Texas, an urge crept up on me to drink red wine.  First it entered my mind, then grew into a real desire, then finally in an obsession.  I was making plans to jump in my car and rush to the liquor store.  By the time it got that bad I was asking myself, "Where's this coming from?!?  I've never experienced anything like this before...what's different now?"  Then I remembered that a couple of weeks earlier I changed my multi-vitamin in the mornings with breakfast, from Centrum to One-A-Day's.  Just to see what would happen I went back to the Centrum and the desire for red wine, much to my relief, disappeared.

Years later - somewhere around '07 or '08 - I was talking to a work colleague in Columbus, Texas, who was a severe, hopeless alcoholic until he discovered pantothenic acid (vitamin B5).  After diligently following a regiment of B5, and also diligently exercising his faith, all desire for alcohol likewise disappeared.  He went on to become a respected member of his community and did more than most to help direct the youth of Colorado County away from the darker paths of life.

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