LETTERS TO A YOUNGER ME

What is college without a good party? My first semester of college I suffered from FOMO (fear of missing out) which propelled the desire to want to be at every party. I didn’t want to hear about how much fun the party was last night, I wanted to experience it for myself! Even more than a good party, I enjoyed a good kickback. I’d get there and play all kinds of drinking games like Beer Pong and King’s Cup. For myself, and many others alike, drinking and partying went hand in hand. It may start as a drink or two while you’re at a party and before you know it you feel the need to pregame before ever stepping out. I do believe that it is ok to have a drink every now and then, but in Eph. 5:18 it instructs us not to be drunk because it will ruin your life. Unfortunately, I experienced alcohol’s life ruining effects first hand. During Spring Break of my last semester, I made the terrible decision to get behind the wheel of my car after a long night of dancing and drinking a few too many Long Islands. I refused a ride home and insisted that I was sober enough to drive. I didn’t make it too far up the road before getting pulled over, thank God! Looking back, I realize that I not only put my life in danger, but also that of everybody else who was on the road as well. I spent the night in jail, almost too drunk to even register what was happening. Once I sobered up, the reality of what I did hit me like a ton of bricks and an overwhelming feeling of shame and disappointment engulfed me. That one decision cost me money, peace, freedom and my license! I can confidently say that there is not one party worth going to jail over. Habitually partying also put a strain on my spiritual life. I was more concerned with where the next party was going to be instead of where Holy Spirit wanted me to be. I would find myself ruminating over how much skin to show in order to be the right amount of sexy and still be considered saved. Which is hilarious! It was obvious that my heart had strayed far from the Lord as I sought out the pleasures of this world in what I considered a good time. It’s not surprising that the bible talks about wild parties and warns against them. Romans 13:13 admonishes us not to participate in the darkness of wild parties, drunkenness, sexual promiscuity, immoral living or quarreling. It compares participating in these things to living in darkness. Throughout my college tenure, I saw Romans 13:13 come to life as I pursued what I then saw as a good time. Drunkenness, drugs, hypersexuality and fighting was an expected norm amongst most party goers. Although drugs and alcohol are presented as a way to enhance your experience, they often lead you to make decisions you wouldn’t normally make and leave you open to both physical and spiritual attacks. Over the years I’ve noticed that there are always spiritual implications to what we do in the physical. Don’t allow yourself to indulge in the debaucheries of our culture that will inevitably drive you away from the heart of the Father. As I rekindled my enthusiasm for my relationship with the Lord, He began to open my eyes to the darkness of it all. The harmful influences can be seen and felt from the music that is played, to the revealing clothes women are expected to wear. On almost every party flyer you can see the promotion of lasciviousness and immorality with images of half naked girls and bottles of alcohol often used in the marketing. Once you become aware of the demonic influences at play, it’s hard not to see the spiritual aspects of the things going on around you in those environments. It didn’t take long for the desire of going out to the club to begin to dwindle. There was almost always the same food, alcohol, music and drinking games present. Most of the time I would even see the same people! It all became monotonous after a while and I concluded that there wasn’t much I'd be missing at all.