COLLEGE 101
Avoid the Destructive Path of Alcohol
By Matthew Williams, Biola University
CBN.com – Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.
But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. -
Matthew 7:13-14
The room spun, and my temples pounded. I tried to get up off the floor, but I couldn’t. My head weighed a ton, but I managed to lift it enough to survey my surroundings. The white toilet and gray tiled walls told me I was on the floor of someone’s bathroom. Had I been there a few minutes or a few hours? My head really started to throb as I realized I had no idea where I was or how I got there. An empty beer can to my left jogged my memory. I was at a house party, and I was hammered. I must have gone into the bathroom to throw up and passed out on the floor instead.
I grabbed the edges of the counter and dragged myself to my feet. There I stood in front of the sink, looking at a mirror, which held the grim reflection of someone I didn’t even know. “How did I get here?” I asked my reflection. I didn’t mean my location; I meant my spiritual state. How did I manage to fall so far so fast?
My road down the destructive path started out looking much less dangerous than it was. I was tempted by little things—having a beer with a friend or sharing a cigarette with a coworker. From there, things snowballed uncontrollably. Having a few beers with the guys led to pounding 12-packs at parties. That, in turn, led to experimenting with marijuana and other substances. By the end of my freshman year, I was smoking weed every weekday and getting drunk every weekend—and if God hadn’t gotten a hold of me, that lifestyle might have led to my early death.
The next morning as I drove home from the party, still hung over and reeking of alcohol and vomit, I decided I had to change my life. I asked God for the strength to quit drinking and smoking and for help to come back to Him.
In the next few weeks, the Lord did some amazing things in my life. He led me to an accountability group with some guys on my floor when I got back to college. He blessed me with a new group of friends who were there to build me up and encourage me. I found a fulfillment in Christ that drugs and alcohol could never give.
It is dangerous to let sin begin to creep into our hearts. The devil uses seemingly innocent things to bring us down, and we cannot let him gain a foothold in our lives.
Alcohol and the American College Student
From the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan:
• Forty percent of American college students are classified as heavy drinkers (having five or more drinks in a row at least once during a one-month period).
• Males use alcohol more than females.
• White students drink more frequently than Black or Hispanic students.
From the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism:
• Each year, nearly 2,000 individuals under age 21 are killed in motor vehicle accidents that involve underage drinking.
• Alcohol consumption may permanently affect the intellectual capabilities of students’ developing brains and may also increase their propensity for alcohol addiction.
• Over one million teenagers in 2002 had developed drinking behaviors so serious that they qualified for admission into alcohol treatment programs. (see Note 1 below)
Want more advice for the college years? Check out Student to Student: A Guide to College Life. It makes a great gift for recent high school grads!
From Student to Student: A Guide to College Life © 2008 by Paula Miller and Paul Buchanan. Published by Regal Books, www.regalbooks.com. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Note:
1. “High-Risk Drinking in College: What We Know and What We Need to Learn” (NIAAA College Materials: Panel Report Executive Summary 2002). College Drinking—Changing the Culture website, http://www.collegedrinkingprevention.gov. “Statistics on Underage Drinking,” National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, http://www.niaaa.nih.gov; P. M. O’Malley and L. D. Johnston,, “Epidemiology of Alcohol and Other Drug Use Among American College Students,” J Studies Alcohol Suppl. March 2002. (14):23-39, Pub-Med. National Center for Biotechnology Information homepage, http://www.ncbi.nlm.gov.
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