Do You Have to Drink to Be Somebody?

A few years ago Toby Keith had a hit song entitled “Let’s Get Drunk and Be Somebody.”  It was a jukebox favorite.  He sang about everyday folks that he called “nobodies” who became “somebody” on the weekend when they got drunk!  Really?

The song said they were “the star of the show.”  It was a catchy tune that  repeated the refrain over and over again, “Let’s get drunk and be somebody!”

I’m thinking that Josh Brent and the family of Jerry Brown might disagree.  Brent and Brown were friends and teammates on the Dallas Cowboy’s Football team.  Saturday night an intoxicated Brent had an automobile accident in which his friend Jerry Brown was killed.
Following his release from jail on Sunday, after being charged with manslaughter and posting a $500,000 bond, Brent was asked by a reporter if he had anything to say to Brown’s family.  The distraught Cowboy defensive lineman stopped briefly and said, “Jerry Brown was my very best friend, and I’m just trying to deal with his death right now.”

This is the second tragic death in the NFL in the past week.  Recently ThePreachersWord addressed the murder-suicide  of Kansas City Chief linebacker Jovan Belcher who shot his live-in girl friend, Kasandra Perkins  and mother of his three-month old daughter, then ended his own life. Since we wrote, it was revealed that both Belcher and Perkins were out separately partying and drinking the night before.

Candi  Lightner, the founder of Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) whose daughter, Cari was killed by a drunk driver, might also disagree that getting drunk makes you somebody.  As well as the families of the 16,000 people who are killed every year in accidents involving alcohol.

Ironically during this holiday season many will imbibe in strong drink and find themselves in embarrassing, regrettable or even tragic situations.  It’s also ironic that some people will drink to be happy and become unhappy.

They will drink to be social and become argumentative.  They will drink for friendship and become enemies.  They will drink to relax and be shaken.  They will drink to gain confidence, and become doubtful.   They will drink to escape problems and find more problems.  They will drink for fun and it will end in tragedy.

The wise man, 3000 years ago, observed the problems with intoxicating beverages that is still true today.

“Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaining? Who has wounds without cause?  Who has redness of eyes?  Those who tarry long over wine; Those who go to try mixed wine.  Do not look at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup and goes down smoothly. In the end it bites like a serpent and stings like an adder. Your eyes will see strange things, and your heart utter perverse things.”  (Prov. 23:29-33)

Finally the admonition of the apostle Paul is appropriate during this holiday season. “Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.” (Eph 5;18-19)

–Ken Weliever, The Preacherman