Proverbs 20:1
Wine is a mocker,
Strong drink is a brawler,
And whoever is led astray by it is not wise.

Eighteen was once the legal drinking age. I’ll admit I did some alcoholic drinking at that age.
However, I also accepted Jesus earlier that same year and the idea of drinking conflicted within me.
You see, I had quite a few “social drinkers” in my family, though one might call them alcoholics.
They always had a beer or mixed drink in their hands.
I knew the inherited tendency to drink was in me.
I decided I could live without it and when I moved to East Texas in 1975, I’ve only had one drink when my grandmother gave me a small tumbler of wine saying, “It’ll build up your blood!”
I was right!
I can live without it and I know I’m not impaired by what I do drink.

I remember a young man telling me one time he enjoys a beer when he gets home from work. Why? It helped him to relax.
I find relaxation in sitting on the front porch with my wife and a glass of sweet tea on a cool summer evening as the lighting bugs begin to appear.
Perhaps sitting in my living room with my wife on a blustery, cold evening with a cup of hot chocolate by the glow of the wood heater.
Yep, that’s relaxing to me and I always keep my wits.