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Dripping Springs Weekly Bulletins
"Get Happy...4-7 pm"
This time last year we were gearing up for a battle with those who sought to bring the sale of beverage alcohol into our community. As you know, we lost that battle—by a large margin. Now we drive down the local highway and see “Liquor Store Now Open,” and similar signs on some business establishments.
One sign that drew my attention had the words of our title. “Get happy…4-7 P.M.” I am accustomed to seeing “happy hour” signs in Austin, but it is sad to see them here. I have to wonder: Are we a happier community today than we were last year? Can a person really “Get Happy” from “4-7 P.M.” ?
I have read from sources that discuss how much you must drink before you “get happy,” and I am not real “happy” to discover that those “happy” folks drive on the same roads my family and I must use.
It may be too late to do anything about the alcohol sales, but it is never too late to remind people that alcohol does not, has not, can not and will not bring them happiness. It may bring a momentary “buzz” to them. It may give them a few minutes of separation from their troubles. It may take away some of the pain from their life for a brief moment. It may relieve us of our inhibitions and make us bolder temporarily. But true happiness is not a by-product of drinking beer. No one is made content and filled with peace by “happy hour.”
However, beverage alcohol does provide us with several of the following “amenities” of life.
The “Happy” You Get From Alcohol:
[Sources: USA Today; Austin American-Statesman, Center for Disease Control, National Institute on Alcohol and Alcoholism, National Geographic Society and Journal of American Medical Association.]
- Birth defects: Even “social drinking” is related to birth defects, Alcoholic Organic Brain Syndrome, peptic ulcers and heart muscle damage.
- A good chance of being involved in one of the 123,000,000 “alcohol-impaired driving incidents in the USA” each year.
- The opportunity of being affected by the following:
- 48% of all robberies related to alcohol consumption.
- 40% of all suicides in America contributed to alcohol.
- 54% of violent crimes related to alcohol consumption.
- 72% of all aggravated assaults in America are related to the consumption of alcohol.
- Over 50% of all fatal automobile accidents in America are related to alcohol consumption.
- Over 100 billion dollars costs to U.S. economy are directly related to alcohol consumption.
- 83% of all fire-related deaths are directly contributed to alcohol consumption.
- 70% of all sexual abuse incidents are directly related to alcohol consumption.
- 50% of all spousal abuse incidents are related to the consumption of alcohol.
- 40% of all child abuse incidents are directly related to the consumption of alcohol.
- Over 50,000 babies are born annually with Fetal-alcohol-syndrome in
- America.aOver 68% of all manslaughter and wrongful death cases in America are related to alcohol consumption.
- 69% of all incidents of drowning deaths are attributed to the consumption of alcohol.
These figures are reported in our newspapers each year, and are updated to the current dates. None of them are secret, but many people in our communities continue to consume beverage alcohol. To get happy? Yeah, right!
The figures quoted accompany one more item, the fact that between 16-17 million of our population are either diagnosed alcoholics or abusers of alcohol. We have no way of knowing how many others are at that point, yet not “diagnosed” as such.
Happy? Of course not. There must be a lot of unhappiness in our country for us to spend so much of our money and endanger so many of our friends and associates for that moment of “happy” that’s supposed to be available in “happy hour,” and even then only from “4-7 P.M.”
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Drunkenness is temporary suicide: the happiness it brings is merely negative, a momentary cessation of unhappiness.”
“He that would love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips from speaking deceit: Let him turn away from evil, and do good; let him seek peace, and pursue it.”
“True happiness is founded upon virtue.”
“Happiness is not achieved by the conscious pursuit of happiness; it is the by-product of other activities.”
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God's Bottle of Tears
His reputation had preceded him. When David fled from Saul to take refuge in Gath among the Philistines, he was recognized by the locals as the great warrior of their enemy Israel – David, “who had slain his ten thousands,” 1 Samuel 21:11-13. He was “sore afraid of Achish, king of Gath. And he changed his behavior before them, and feigned himself mad.” Through his resourcefulness and by the grace of God, David escaped and fled to hide in a cave.
This episode in his life caused him a good measure of anxiety and heartache. Tears fell from his face as the Holy Spirit moved him to record his feelings in Psalm 56. It was there he said, “Whenever I am afraid, I will trust in You. In God (I will praise His word), In God I have put my trust; I will not fear. What can flesh do to me?” (56:3-4). Then he expressed these comforting words of confidence: “Thou tellest my wanderings: put thou my tears into thy bottle: are they not in thy book? When I cry unto thee, then shall mine enemies turn back: this I know; for God is for me. In God will I praise his word: in the LORD will I praise his word. In God have I put my trust: I will not be afraid what man can do unto me,” Psalm 56:8-11.
The imagery of God putting David’s tears in a bottle is a touching means of expressing God’s concern for His people and His awareness of our suffering. There may be times when our spirits seem overwhelmed with fear, with cares and concerns that bring tears to our eyes. As our grief drives us to call upon God for relief, we may wonder if He really hears our prayers, if He really knows our tears. David’s words assure us that God keeps a careful record of our hearts and knows every tear that falls. Not only does He know when we’re crying, but our tears of pain are precious to Him, stored up in His own bottle.
We can think of that bottle as God’s way of saying, “I know and I care.” As He said to a sobbing Hezekiah, when he faced the prospect of an imminent death, “I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears,” 2 Kings 20:5.
No wonder Peter urges us to “cast all your care upon Him, for He cares for you,” 1 Peter 5:7. As the very hairs of our heads are numbered, as a sparrow does not light upon the ground without God taking note of it, Matthew 10:29-30, so it is that not a single tear falls without God tenderly collecting them in His bottle.
How great must be His love for us that He would take note of our sorrows. He knows those sorrows because He became a man in Christ and shed not only tears for us (Luke 19:41; Hebrews 5:7), but also His precious blood that we might be delivered from sin and have the hope of being with Him one day where “he shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; and death shall be no more; neither shall be mourning, nor crying, nor pain any more,” Revelation 21:4.
Until that great day, we will have our sorrows. Our tears will fall. But a comfort which eases our pain, calms our fears and dries our tears is knowing our God knows, and He keeps His bottle of our tears near His heart.
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