How Far Are We Willing To Go?

I mentioned that I met a new friend at Starbucks, named James who has special needs.  James is 38 and is living at home with his parents.  James struggles with alcohol addiction.  The other night we had a painful encounter.  We have made a deal stating that he was not allowed to come to Friday dinners drunk.  When Andrew and I picked him up a few weeks ago it was obvious he was drunk and still had a bottle of whiskey in his pocket.  I told James as much as it pains me he was not allowed to come over and that we would try again next week.  We had a chance to pray with him and then he asked us for a ride to his house.  We got to his house and he changed his mind about going home and instead wanted to go to a local restaurant.  We dropped him off at the restaurant and he then wanted to go back home.  By this time it was getting late, Andrew had to get on the road to Louisville and I had to get back to the dinner guests.  James refused to get out of the car so I had to be a bit forceful with him, which is not what I wanted to do.  After Andrew and I left James, the encounter with him burned in our minds and bothered us the entire week.

Before you know it the week flew by as usual and it was Friday again.  James called me to get picked up and he was sober!  This was a huge deal for him.  While he was sitting at my house people were amazed at the difference between drunken James and sober James.  James needs some sort of long-term residential living with a Christian influence.  It's different because not only is he special needs but also has an alcohol addiction.  Andrew and I have even flirted with the idea of having him live with us when we move into a bigger place.  A prerequisite would be to find like-minded guys who would be willing to journey with James.  Please continue to pray for James and Embrace as we gain wisdom to know how to journey with him.