Drinking shrinks the brain???

WEDNESDAY, May 2 (HealthDay News) -- While it might help your heart, drinking even moderately could shrink your brain, U.S. researchers say.

Really? They did a study to figure this out? What kind of study? An evening in the corner bar? And I couldn't help chuckling at this statement a little further in the article.

"Brain shrinkage was slightly greater in female drinkers than in male drinkers... the researchers found."

I am pretty sure every guy that walks into that bar where they did their "study" is counting on this.

I know... bad joke.

Seriously, though, I find it sadly ironic that much of western Christianity will measure one's "freedom in Christ" by whether or not they will consume alcohol. If you are a teetotaler you can end up with that most dreaded of titles... religious. We know that alcohol is dangerous on many levels, and science only continues to confirm it.

And yet we love its effects.

Don't get me wrong. I will have the occasional beer, or glass of wine. I am not legalistic about it. I am just wondering about the place it has taken in much of American church life.

Why do we need it?

I remember a statement I made in my search for "meaning" in life as a young man in college. I was pretty serious about my drug and alcohol consumption in those days. Seven days a week, usually a couple of times a day, I was finding some way to get loaded. I wasn't homeless. My outward life wasn't falling apart. I was pretty much a straight A student, drove a nice car, and had lots of friends. But I loved to get high. No... I had to get high to feel happy and free from all my hidden fears and inhibitions. And it brought me to a point where I made this statement to myself and my closest friends.

"I should be able to fully enjoy life without having to alter my consciousness in any way."

I really did say that. Often. It was a bit of a mantra with me in that last year before I encountered Jesus. Actually, I have always believed that it was a thought dropped into my mind by the Holy Spirit. It drove me to pursue that inner freedom. And it ultimately led me to Him.

I will never forget what happened the next day after I surrendered my life to Jesus. It happened late one night in a friends basement. He prayed for me, and I experienced a power that moved through my entire being. It pretty much left me speechless, and I basically went straight home to bed. I had to be at work at 6:00 a.m., to begin my glorious day of washing dishes in a hospital kitchen.

That afternoon, I was standing at the conveyor belt where the trays come through after they come off the food carts, and it suddenly hit me.

"I dont need to get high. I dont want to get high!"

I was free. Finally. It was one of the most exciting moments of my life.

So... I ask again. Why do we do it? Why do we need it?