Lent Day 9

Today's focus: One early symptom of alcoholism is driving under the influence of alcohol.  With alcoholics, and addicts in general, the use of the drug becomes primary.  Safety, health and relationships become very low importance.  Then it just so happened that the first listing I saw on news.google.com today, was about a drunk driver at SXSW music festival who killed 2 people and sent 23 others to hospital trying to outrun police who saw him driving the wrong way down a one-way street.  Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) estimates that approximately every hour someone is killed in a drunk driving accident.  That's 1 in 3 traffic deaths is attributed to drunk driving (9878 in 2011).  More than that, repeat offenders make up 1/3 of all drunk driving problems, which includes: arrests, crashes, deaths, and injuries.  Alcoholism is insidious because taking the drunk drivers to jail, taking away their licenses, and increasing insurance doesn't stop or change dangerous behavior.  Demonstrating that the addiction over-rides any common sense, logic, or conscience.

Today's positive action: When you see or hear a siren from an ambulance or fire engine, after you make way for the vehicles, pray for the people they on their way to rescue.

Lord, in this day of Lent we are reminded that our addictions are not "victimless" crimes.  Obviously when alcoholics drink and drive they take the lives of everyone around them into their hands.  Shopping and Gambling addicts spend the future of their children on their dopamine rush.  As addicts, we destroy the trust and love of our family and friends.  Lord, ontinue to remind us when we find the hole of our addiction we are not alone - we drag everyone in our lives into that hole with us.  Help us, all addicts, to find a way out of this hole.  Then, once we make our way out of that hole, help us to keep our focus on you so that we can stay out of the hole.  It has been said the day our sobriety starts is the day it starts for our children.  Help us to break the chain of our addiction.  Don't let our legacy be our addiction.  Don't let our addiction be the thing we pass on to our children.  Instead let us share the light of Your word, Lord.  Thank you for Your mercy and Your grace, the offer of a new life, without addiction.  Thank you for the offer a new life in Your word.  All these things I pray in your sons name - AMEN.

Thanks for letting me share.