Booze & Expensive Gas: A Dangerous Combination

Two Tennessee men are in jail today after a physical altercation. While walking to get gas for their empty car, the two acquaintances started fighting over who should pay for the gas. Police said both David A. Lundsford of Sweetwater, Tennessee and Roger Gifford of Athens, Tennessee remain in custody pending a court appearance today.

A police report shows Lundsford suffered a minor stab wound in the abdomen, apparently inflicted with Gifford's pocket knife early Wednesday. A witness told police that she saw Lundsford punching Gifford.

Lundsford told officers that he and Gifford were walking north on Congress Parkway after running out of gas and they started arguing about who should pay when they got to the pump.

Both men are charged with public intoxication, which pretty well explains this whole bizarre scenario. Just another example of the unmatched wisdom of God's word...

Wine is a mocker, strong drink a brawler, and whoever is led astray by it is not wise. (Proverbs 20:1, ESV)

Has any man in the history of the world been made better by the consumption of alcoholic beverage? No, not one. How many have seen their lives ruined by strong drink? Far too many to count.

We all know drinking on a "social" level is the "norm" in our time, but following norms is just one way among many that strong drink leads one astray (see verse above). Alcohol use is alcohol abuse.

Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.
(1 Peter 2:11, ESV)

r2

Pummeled By Pickles

For some of you "pickle haters" out there, this story may be too much for you to read. For those of us who enjoy a good pickle (such as myself), this report out of Niles, Michigan will be good for a laugh. For those of you who despise pickles to their very core -- if they had a core -- this may disturb you.

Two friends became involved in an altercation that will go down in the court logs as one of the strangest ever. Jody Lee complained to friend Bobby Lee Bolen when Bolen went to Lee's refrigerator and began eating pickles. Lee told Bolen that he could not afford to feed everyone. Bolen proceeded to storm out of the house, only to return moments later. He grabbed two more pickles and threw them at Lee, yelling something to the effect of, "Here are your pickles!" (edited for profanity).

Bolen was arrested and imprisoned for 54 days on charges of assault......with pickles. If only he had used the sweet kind. Surprisingly, alcohol was involved (tongue firmly implanted in cheek).

I know for some of you, being attacked with pickles would be a fate worse than death. How silly, though, is the behavior of Mr. Bolen? Perhaps we understand even more fully in cases such as this what God meant when he breathed the following words through the writing of Solomon:

Wine is a mocker, strong drink is a brawler, and whoever is led astray by it is not wise.
Proverbs 20:1, NKJV

Be sober friend -- both in mind and in body -- and your regrets will be far fewer.

r2

Don't Adjust Your Computer Screen...

Did we really need another reason to avoid Amsterdam? The following story out of the Netherlands' most recognizable city is a genuine "head-scratcher."

After a long day of hunting, there's nothing like wrapping your paw around a cold bottle of beer. So Terrie Berenden, a pet shop owner in the Southern Dutch town of Zelhem, created a beer for her Weimeraners made from beef extract and malt.

"Once a year we go to Austria to hunt with our dogs, and at the end of the day we sit on the veranda and drink a beer. So we thought, my dog also has earned it," she said.

Berenden consigned a local brewery to make and bottle the nonalcoholic beer, branded and Kwispelbier. It was introduced to the market last week and advertised as "a beer for your best friend."

"Kwispel" is the Dutch word for wagging a tail.

The beer is fit for human consumption, Berenden said. But at euro1.65 ($2.14) per bottle, it's about four times more expensive than a Heineken.

Yes, this is a real story!

A beverage responsible for ruining a countless number of men, women, and families appears poised to contribute the downfall of the canine species. As the story says, this this is a non-alcoholic beverage......for now. I suppose it won't be long until we hear barks and growls from all over Europe demanding the full fermented version.

I can see it now.....an inebriated Dachshund is beaten to death after he charges a 100-pound Rottweiler due to the fact that he didn't like his "tone" of barking. A once respected Dalmatian loses his job at the fire station because he could not show up for work on time without a hangover. A black Lab seeing eye dog leads his handler into oncoming traffic after a late night at Fido's Tavern.

Ridiculous? Sure. That's the point. Yet, is it really any more ridiculous than succumbing to the manifold dangers of strong drink? Study the text of the Bible on this subject and you will be presented with a crystal clear picture of shattered lives, dangerous situations, and a condemned soul. The Bible says:

Wine is a mocker, strong drink a brawler, and whoever is led astray by it is not wise.
Proverbs 20:1, ESV

Organizations such as P.E.T.A. and the A.S.P.C.A. (the latter of which I am a
big fan) would be "out for blood" if someone were to coax an animal to ingest an intoxicating substance such as alcohol........and rightly so! How strange, then, is our society's affinity for glamorizing the alcohol industry? Strange indeed. Personally, I wouldn't pour anything down my own throat that I would refuse to allow my canine sons (Angus and Louis) to drink!!

r2