My thoughts on addiction-- Chandy

This past Sunday night was a reminder that alcoholism is a big deal here at Cross & Crown. During our worship time one of our precious men, William, was so drunk that he dropped to the floor and began seizing. He does that often. As some people in the crowd began to panic, we continued to worship. We are used to it. When Paul got up to share the message for the night, he explained the reason we didn't call 911 or freak out. He shared that William was in the best place to pass out because at least he would be warm and wouldn't have passed out in the cold and frozen to death. Scenarios like this seem all too normal to me and the rest of the staff.

We try to combat addiction with our weekly AA meetings, which are a huge help, but the only people that can be helped are the people who want it. We don't withhold our services until people are clean or go to rehab, anyone and everyone is welcome. I think that's what Jesus would do.

Many of the men and women are homeless because of their addiction. They didn't just one day run out of money and decide to live on the streets. For most of them it was a process of alienating their families, using their entire paychecks on booze or drugs, and getting in major debt. Their addiction became such a big deal that they could no longer function in a normal society. I'm going to make a generalization. I would say that of all the homeless people we know, 90% have some sort of addiction. And the reason they are homeless is because they got tired of letting people down. They decided that it was easier to live on their own in the street than continue to hurt the people around them. Many of the alcoholics we deal with have some sort of anxiety disorder about being around people.

Addiction is a prison. It makes me sad to see some of my street friends wither away. I believe without a doubt there is only one way to be free from that prison. Jesus. He's the only one that can offer true freedom. One of my friends, Roy, is a homeless alcoholic. His addiction is so bad that he rarely ever drinks actual liquor, but instead chugs listerine. Roy has an amazing heart and has given his life to the Lord. My favorite encouragement to Roy is that "Satan has his earthly body, but the Lord has his heavenly body and that's all that matters."

I know this blog was kind of all over the place, but I just wanted to vent about the sadness I've seen lately. Please pray for all our friends with addictions.. pray that the Lord would set them free from the bondage they live in.

"The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me,
because the LORD has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners." -Isaiah 61:1