chip

I want to try and put this thought into words...

I couldn't count the times I drank and drove. I was so lucky I didn't kill or hurt someone. It was truly the grace of God..... I always thought about it as God protecting ME from harm. Really, the important thing was that God protected innocent people from ME harming them.

I don't deserve God's grace. I guess thats why it's grace. I'm thankful that God spared innocent people pain and suffering because of MY drinking problem. Nobody deserves to have a car accident because I drink and drive.
chip

nandm

Thank you for the honesty and sincerity in your post. During the time I spent working as a paramedic we had a saying that all too often proved to be true: The drunks just bounce around and never get hurt but the people they hit wind up in intensive care or dead.

I am fortunate as well for all the times I drove while drunk that I did not harm anyone else or myself.

Your post was a good reminder of one thing I do not have to worry about today, hurting someone because I got behind the wheel drunk.

kelsh

Same here. It seemed like I saw more cops on the road near me after I quit drinking than before. It is amazing I didn't have a wreck & hurt someone else. :ghug2

The last four years of my drinking I drank at home for that very reason. Before I left for work, I would check my supply and buy more if needed on my way home from work. Then I didn't need to go out for me.

kelsh

Tazman53

No need going into how often I drove drunk, looking back even one time was to many.

Chip a post from the heart, I too look back now with amazement that I never hurt or killed anyone including myself, I am grateful for the grace granted to me and the thousands of others I exposed to danger as I indulged in my own selfish insane pleasure.

I make my amends to all the around me as I drive down the road today stone cold sober, I can not change the past, that is done, but I do control the present, and in the present I do not drink and drive because in the present I do not drink.

We have a guy in my area that after 22 years sober decided that he could drink safely again about 5 months ago. In that short time he has gotten 2 DUIs, totalled his bike, and just recently killed an 8 year old girl when he T-boned the car her mom was driving drunk. But for the grace of God go I.

lostbutterfly

It's one of the things I am most ashamed of. Still feels too uncomfortable to say much about it.

Texasblind

What an amazing post. Grace is something I've been thinking about quite a bit.

I'm thankful I never hurt anyone with my drinking and driving as well.

Thank you Chip.

Isaiah

I just met with a lawyer today.

I always intended to be cautious and to always be sure I was in for the night. The problem is that when you're really drunk you are sometimes incapable of caution. All your intentions get sucked down by whatever subconscious part of your brain takes over.

doorknob

I too, am ashamed to say that I drove under the influence many times, but was lucky enough to have never hurt anyone, including myself. I don't believe that any outside intervention was involved, I just happened to be more fortunate than some, and for that I am thankful.

least

Chip, you hit the nail right on the head! I always thought I was never 'too drunk' to drive, til my college kid daughter told me about the many times I'd picked her up from school obviously drunk. I too thank God for sparing innocent people from my stupidity! I too felt I didn't deserve God's grace, but that's the whole point of His grace - He gives it to us whether we deserve it or not!

:praying Thank you God for keeping me from hurting anyone.

Kimmers927

This is a subject that hits home every time. I cannot express how much gratititude that I did not kill myself and mainly that I did not kill others while drinking and driving. You talk of insanity. It is completely insane to get behind the wheel of a car and drive after drinking like I did. But I did it too numerous of times to even count. And when I think of it, that alone is enough to keep me sober one more day. If you need an insanity check, heres a few: Insane to hit guardrails and continuing to drive home on rims, waking up and checking the car bumpers to see if there may be remnants of something you hit the night before because you can't remember, pulling into a garage halfway and closing the door down on your car, blacking out and waking up on a strange road behind the wheel. It was like a murderer on the loose when I drove drunk...

BaldHeadedJohn

Thanks Chip.
My father was killed by a drunk driver, and yet I still drove.