Binge drinking isn't about the alcohol
Project Exodus, through Jesus Christ, supports, guides and encourages people seeking deliverance from addictions.
Stonecroft meetings embrace various stimulating topics, sometimes light, other times more challenging and this month the theme was ‘Binge drinking and the functioning alcoholic’.
Mike Fanner and Mark Smith from Project Exodus at Norwegian Settlers Church spoke with compassion and humour to bring insight and the ultimate message that there is hope for recovery from addiction.
With candor, wit and self depreciation Mike shared his story but began by stressing that it is not about him but about a loving God who takes people from brokenness to wholeness.
He was raised in a home where alcohol abuse was a serious issue but as a child he thought that was normal.
At only 15 years old he trained to become a jockey and God protected him through all the difficulties and temptations of that period.
Mike shared that through a tumultuous time of failed relationships, military service and some wrong choices God always had His hand on him and kept him safe.
Later, he became interested in God’s word and was helped to understand it by a local Christian man who was also praying for him.
Through that Mike said ‘for the first time in my life it all became clear to me’ and he has faithfully been serving the Lord ever since. In closing he said that ‘God uses you even when you may not believe in Him, He can take you through such darkness and He will bring you through’.
Mark Smith, in full time ministry at Norwegian Settlers Church and leader at Project Exodus, spoke on the functioning alcoholic and binge drinking.
He said in Project Exodus he sees the faithfulness of God and the impact that He has on people’s lives as they strive to be free from addiction. He said that he too ‘had walked a rocky road giving him compassion and understanding for the lost’.
Mark said that for the addict and binge drinker it isn’t about the alcohol.
“No one decides to be an alcoholic, the alcohol is a perceived solution to another bigger problem. We are all good at pretending to be okay when we are not and alcoholics seem to manage using alcohol to cope until one day they just can’t anymore and don’t realise until too late how bad they are. There is really no such thing as a functioning alcoholic.”
Mark said most people who come to Exodus are highly gifted but the truth is the alcohol is in control.
Project Exodus aids people to look at why they are drinking and asks ‘how can we help you realise that you are not functioning?’ He emphasised that their real hope is in a relationship with Jesus Christ.
The next meeting will be at Shelly Beach Methodist Church on Friday, August 21 at 09:30.
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