I just finished an arrest at the jail. It was finally time to go home and relax.  But, as drunks so often do, one found a way to interrupt my plans. I hadn’t made it two blocks from the jail. A man in a beat-up Buick was stopped in the middle of the road. The driver’s door was open with a leg hanging out. He left me no choice. 

What is it about quitting time that draws every drunk in town to police cars? Intoxicated drivers from all corners of the County begin their end-of-shift migration toward our route home. They must coordinate with each other to intercept us along the way. I think they intentionally drive in front of off-duty patrol cars, swerving from lane to lane. “Oh no you don’t, Mr. Policeman, you’re not going home. Not on my watch!” 

I got out, hoping this guy was just broken down. That’s when the reverse lights came on. Then his old jalopy rolled backward, right into the patrol car. “Sir, put it in park,” I yelled. “Put the car in park!” 

He tried to change the gear out of reverse, but it wasn’t working. I could have reached in and helped, but he had vomit all over the front of his shirt. Yep, he’s drunk, I thought. Thankfully, we were close to the jail. “Come on, sir.” I said, “You can ride with me.”

At the jail, I sat him down for a breath test. I had done this a gazillion times, but I wasn’t prepared for what happened next. A blood alcohol reading of .08 was all that was needed to show legal intoxication. This guy’s reading was .40. I almost fell out of the chair. 

The first thing I said was, “Sir, do you feel ok!?” What I meant was, “You should be dead right now. How are you still talking to me?” He looked at me through opaque, yellow eyes and mumbled, “I feel pretty good.” 

At the time, this was the highest blood alcohol reading I had ever seen. It’s certainly not something you see every day. Most people can’t tolerate that level of alcohol in their system. The only reason this guy was still upright was a lifetime of alcohol abuse. He was an older man and probably had been drinking heavily for decades. His body built up a tolerance for alcohol.  

The sad part of the story was that this old man spent a lifetime seeking satisfaction from something that had no ability to give it. We can judge him for his lack of wisdom, but he is no different than the rest of us. We all seek satisfaction in things that were never meant to fill us. God created us so that only He can do that. But we don’t believe it, so we try other things anyway.

Jesus met a woman in Samaria who searched for fulfillment in relationships. She’d been married five times and was living with a sixth guy. Jesus told her she was drawing from the wrong well. “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again.” (John 4:13) Relationships would never satisfy her thirst. 

Jesus told her something that applies to us as well. Only He can provide that which satisfies the soul. Jesus says, “Whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (John 4:13,14) There is nothing else in life that can do that. 

“You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.” – Augustine