A Conversation With a Drunk Friend

“Are you judging me?”

This was the start of the very interesting conversation I had with my drunk friend on his 21st birthday about faith and Christianity. I did not understand why my friend thought I was judging him. Does the simple fact of me being there and not drinking make him feel judged? I have my opinion on drinking: drinking under age is against the law and, therefore, sinning against God. Am I automatically judging other people by having that opinion? Him asking me that made me uneasy because I didn’t think I was judging him, but somehow he felt like he was being judged by me. Did I unconsciously give him a certain “judemental” look? Did I do that to all my friends who were drinking under age?! Gahh! Iunno. I hope not.

But pretty much we began to talk about God, salvation through grace vs. salvation through works. It’s too much to share right now. But I was really glad to hear about where he’s at in terms of his faith. He says he’s still a believer, in that he believes that God has forgiven his sins through Jesus Christ, but he still feels that he needs to work to make up for it. Or at least that’s what I understood. But anyway, I got to share about how it’s by grace alone that we can be saved. Not by what we do or don’t do. And for some reason he couldn’t accept that. He thinks he’s fallen too deep. He kept repeating that night, “I’m a terrible person, I’m a terrible person, I’m a terrible person.”

There’s too much to share about, but I guess a prayer request for me would be to just care about him enough to keep reaching out to him, even if its gunna be hard. It might be putting our friendship on the line if I keep persisting to talk about God with him, maybe not, I might be overdramatizing this. But I know he’s hurting and desires something more than what this world has to offer. I realized last weekend that there are SO many people like him. We see them in our dorms, in our classes. People who are searching, wanting more, unsatisfied. That’s what I was like before becoming a Christian.

God gave me that opportunity to share the Gospel last weekend to my friend. But it shouldn’t just end with that one conversation. I hope there will be more of those conversations to come, and pray that I will initiate them. I think God brought me to him last weekend for a purpose. Maybe God wants to use me in the process of bringing my friend to Him. It’s exciting, yet, I’m a lil scared. I’ve failed before, when God wanted to use me but I got scared and backed down. So, what’s the difference this time around? I know that it’s not about me, it’s about God. (I hope that made sense). God has given me another opportunity to be used by Him despite my failure! Praise God! He is gracious indeed.