How does an addict on the precipice of divorce, destruction, or even death keep making poor decisions? To most who watched Josh Hamilton or Whitney Houston make choices, they simply say, “Why didn’t they just chose something different?” If it were only that simple. The choice is still given to us who wrestle with addiction, but it must be realized that there is a brain-chemistry element going on as well. Few who have never wrestled with addiction will ever be able to understand this. Even our closest loved ones get very frustrated with us. They asked, “If you loved us, how you could you could relapse once again? To them the equation is simply:

If love us > love yourself = you won’t relapse.

If love youself > love us = you’ll relapse.

But if you have an addiction, you wonder why this straightforward equation doesn’t seem to work in your own brain. You long for it to work like this. You so wish it were that simple. I have questioned my own soul at this very point. How can I head toward participating in something that I abhor even as I head toward it. At times, my addiction feels like I was heading to put my hand on the stove with a strange mixture of curiosity and fear, yet I went ahead and did it knowing the pain and consequences that might occur. I am willing to bet Josh Hamilton and Whitney Houston thought the same thing as they tipped up a mug or heard the crack of the prescription pill bottle lid, a mixture of dread and delight. That is the wretched part of addiction.

That doesn’t let us out of the decision. It simply makes it more complex one than a non-addict understands. God never promises us an easy escape in 1 Corinthians 10:13 (<-mouseover), but one nevertheless. We DO have Christ’s power available to us through daily and momentary surrender to Him.

My prayers go out to the family of Whitney Houston and to Josh Hamilton and family. Fight on Josh.