It's safe to say that a lot of people have been very judgmental towards the fact that I drink and I am active in youth activities in church. Everyone feels it contradicts the whole point of me serving in church and I even had people telling me to not post about my drinking session on the social media as it will confuse other people. Mind you that these people include family, close friends, strangers and people who are involved in the church and drinking too (pot calling the kettle black much?) Anyways after months of the emotional roller coaster of getting pissed to just letting it slide, I have decided to put my point of view out there. I am not trying to point fingers at anybody but I think the least you can do besides talking behind my back and telling me what to do is to just hear me out.
Firstly I will start by introducing myself. By year, I am considered 21 but my birthday is in a few months time. I was raised by both my parents till I was 16 and then they separated and as of this year, are officially divorced. I was brought up in a household where my parents were both drinkers and my dad is a smoker. They brought me to a pub before I could even walk and I had my fair share of birthday, Christmas and every other festival celebration there. But guess what was my order every Friday night? A Sprite or Coke. Yes there were nights when I was cheeky and my parents would allow me a sip of their drink but that was about it. I knew that I would only be able to start drinking when I was older because they raised me in such a manner. Even when they separated, I could have gone down the road of drinking and smoking - everyone would have just blamed my parents right? But I didn't because I knew better. I was raised better.
So fast forward a little bit to after SPM, I started helping out in Sunday School in the confirmation class with 2 other friends. My friend was turning 21 and he was having a party so I drank Shandy. Imagine at the age of 19 I was getting tipsy from a little bit of Shandy, but that was the first time I was drinking. My friends would remember how I laughed for no reason. Then the next time was during Christmas and New Year. So I only started drinking during occasions. No big deal because hardly any photos were surfacing on my Facebook account. Mind you, I was going for youth camps, giving testimonies and helping out at Sunday School at this time. Was I drawing further away from God? No, in fact I was drawing closer to Him because I know none of this could ever comfort me like God's love does.
Now this year, I became part of the core team in the youths and I'm at church almost every day of the week. I have found my true joy in the God and nothing can take that away from me. Not even alcohol. This year, I also started drinking with my friends every month. We would go over to drink at someone's house or head over to a rented apartment. No we did not go clubbing. Instead, we drink, eat, talk, dance and just let loose. Yes sometimes someone over drinks and ends up puking but we take care of each other, I over drank too when I didn't know my limits. It's a learning process. We even discuss about religion sometimes, relationships and every other topic possible. I'm not saying you need to drink to have a good time and talk things out but what's wrong in drinking? I see young people who are still in school drinking and I'm like wow when I was your age, all I drank was Sprite to get a sugar rush. I'm not judging people based on their age but the fact remains that I am 21 and I can think for myself. 5 years down the road, I might be married. What drinking session will I be having then? There will be way more responsibilities as I get older and I'll eventually even need to support my family. Am I influencing others to drink? OF course not. I saw my own youth leaders drinking last time but that didn't influence me to drink. I made a choice to start drinking, no one forced me to and I always walk away from this.
I would like to say thank you to the people who are concerned about my well being. I get where you are coming from but please understand that you cannot dictate my life. I have to make choices and experience my own life. I will always go back to God no matter what because those drinking sessions are temporary but He is permanent and everlasting.
No comments:
Post a Comment