Summer 2011

for all of us to read about in John 2:5, be the one where He turns the water into wine?'

Why would He do that, if He … - and this goes back 2000 years before His birth on Earth … when God tells us repeatedly in the book of Proverbs not to be drinking it?"

He just stared at me and said nothing for long moment. Then he patted me on the knee and smiled before speaking.

"What's really going on brother? You didn't want to meet with me to debate about drinking wine, did you?" Pastor Dukes astutely inquired.

"Not really, no, I'm just confused about why I can't drink it, that's all. I'm at TRC, that recovery facility I told you about when we first met. And drinking is out of the question for anyone in recovery and yet I gotta tell you, Pastor, I really liked the red wine. I liked the buzz I got from it, the relaxed way it made me feel, and I do miss it."

“You miss it like you miss a person you're in love with. If you're not careful, the wine can become your mistress John. You might have a wife, but you're having a love affair with the wine, and when you're told you can't have it, you're mourning the loss of that relationship."

"Wow, that's heavy," I sighed.

"There ain’t nothing heavy about it - it's simple. When anything takes up too much of your thought life, whether it's wine, women, gambling, even good things, anything … then you've got to ask yourself, 'Am I worshipping this thing more than my God? Has it become the focus of my thought life? Has it become one of my gods?"

"I hear you," I agreed.

"Brother John, He tell us in Ephesians 5:18, "Be not drunk on wine, but be filled with the Holy Spirit. That's the key, brother, we gotta be filled with His Spirit, spirit-filled, prayed up and filled up, and then we won't have these covetous thoughts. And it doesn't sound like wine's your friend anyway, Big John, cause you're up here at that recovery place. The Bible says a lot about why being filled up with wine instead of Him, can get you in all sorts of trouble."

"Tell me what I need to hear preacher, so I'll be less tempted, or if I'm still tempted, at least I'll remember the verses that tell me about this trouble."

"Well, here, let's open His word, and let's pray brother."

We put our hands on one another's shoulders and hung our heads with eyes shut, as 29