DECISIONS
«Do not look on the wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it swirls around smoothly; at the last it bites like a serpent, and stings like a viper. Your eyes will see strange things, and your heart will utter perverse things» (Proverbs 23:31—33).
Ian Thorpe was born in New South Wales (Australia) in 1982. Since childhood he showed enormous skills in sports, but it would be in swimming where he was going to shine in a spectacular way. At the age of fourteen he became the youngest representative of the Australian swimming team. The young man’s thrust surprised his competitors and, in 1998, he took two gold medals at the World Swimming Championships in Pert (Australia). He immediately attracted the spotlight of the local and international press. In the year 2000, he won three gold and two silver medals during the Olympic Games in Sydney. By then he was an idol. He was the image of a perfect man. Hundreds of companies were competing to convince him to promote their products. But the great champion began to fall into the clutches of alcohol. At first it all seemed like a game. But the problem was growing. Still, Thorpe continued to reap wins in international competitions and, in the Athens Olympics in 2004, won two gold medals, one silver, and one bronze. Later, the brilliant swimmer succumbed to a strong addiction to alcohol, which led to terrible depressive crises that almost ended his life. One day the police stopped him when he was drunk wandering the streets. He was a pitiful sight of a human being. His name still made news, although not the news he would have wanted.
Alcohol is not harmless, especially for young people. It is a deceitful enemy that never tells you the devastating results that your life will come to. It is also capable of ruining the future of highly promising young people in different areas of their existence. As if that were not enough, it also seriously affects the lives of the relatives of the alcoholic, leaving them with deep emotional wounds, as well as serious economic problems.
Life is full of challenges and difficult times, but it is not in alcohol where the real solutions to our problems are found. That’s never the way out. Instead, the apostle Paul reveals the attitude of a true son of God in the fase of difficulties: «I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me» (Philippians 4:12, 13).
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Take From: Daily Devotions for Youth 2020
«A New You»
From: Alejandro Medina Villareal
