Spring Break Cautions

Good morning, Happy Souls!

Bill Keller wrote a devotional today that I
recommend to you.  He has given me permission to
copy his e-mails, and I'm sure he would be happy if
you would share this with people you know as well.

Are you or someone you know headed for Spring
Break?  There are a lot of temptations there. 
Please read on.

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL    FRIDAY MARCH 10, 2006
(1 Corinthians 6:18, 2 Timothy 2:22, Ephesians 5:18,
James 4:7)

***TODAY'S DEVOTIONAL ON "SPRING BREAK" IS ONE THAT
EVERY YOUNG ADULT, ESPECIALLY THOSE WHO ARE
PREPARING TO GO AWAY FOR SPRING BREAK IN A FEW
WEEKS MUST READ!  THESE WORDS COULD LITERALLY SAVE
SOMEONE'S LIFE.  PLEASE FORWARD THIS AND GET IT IN
THE HANDS OF EVERY YOUNG ADULT AND PARENT OF A
YOUNG ADULT THAT YOU KNOW!!!

Spring Break, and girls (and boys) gone wild!  In
just a few weeks, young men and women will be
flocking to places like South Padre Island in
Texas, Panama City in the Florida Panhandle,
Daytona Beach in Florida, various hot spots in
Mexico, as well as places like Jamaica and other
beach front destinations in the U.S. and abroad. 
While the official reason for these few days away
from family and school is "Spring Break," the real
reason for going is to let loose and party.  Young
adults go to Spring Break for three things, SEX,
ALCOHOL, AND DRUGS, or what I simply call...SAD.

Is it unfair to say that the only reason young
adults go to Spring Break is to have sex, drink,
and do drugs?  Yes, but sadly the statistics over
the past decade clearly tell us that is what the
vast majority end up doing whether that was their
initial goal or not.  Even "good kids" who would
never think of having sex until they get married,
who don't drink, who would never do drugs, find
themselves away from home in a far-off place where
nobody really knows them, being immersed in a
scene that is promoting sex, alcohol, and drugs
non-stop, and around other kids who have clearly
come to have wild uninhibited sex, drink until
they pass out, and take illegal drugs.

It reminds me of that passage of Scripture that
says to "flee from temptation."  If sex, alcohol,
and drugs are not your goal during Spring Break,
why would you ever want to put yourself in an
environment and around others who clearly have
that as their stated desires?  Can a young adult
go to Spring Break and not have sex, not drink,
not do drugs?  Of course!  However, knowing that
is what Spring Break is all about, knowing that
is what most young adults go to Spring Break for,
if in fact you are not interested in those things
why would you go to begin with?

Joseph didn't stand around in the presence of
Potiphar's wife who came on to him and wanted to
have sex with him.  He literally RAN from her. 
Let's be honest.  Joseph was a man of flesh and
blood.  My guess is Potiphar's wife was probably a
gorgeous woman.  On top of that, this gorgeous
MARRIED woman made it very clear that she wanted to
have sex with Joseph.  At that point he really only
had two choices.  Stay and probably fall into sin
with this woman, or run from her and honor God. 
Could Joseph have stayed, tried to reason with her,
and not had sex?  Of course!  However Joseph knew
that he was weak, and rather than try to see how
strong he was, got up and ran from temptation.

Listen, every year after Spring Break I get deluged
with emails from young men and women who are back
home or back in school after Spring Break.  Some
know the Lord, others don't, but the emails every
year are the same.  They are riddled with guilt
because they ended up having sex with someone.  Oh,
and this just in, oral sex is sex!  Many drank for
the first time or did drugs for the first time.  Those
who have drank and/or done drugs in the past, drank
more than ever and did drugs they have never used
before while on Spring Break.

It would be bad enough if some guilt and shame were
the only aftermath of Spring Break, but those are
the ones who got off the easiest from their time of
rebellion by indulging in the pleasures of the flesh. 
Most were dealing with more dire consequences from
their sins.  Things like unwanted pregnancies,
sexually transmitted diseases (some that they will
have the rest of their life), girls who had pictures
or videos taken of them flashing their bodies, men
and some women who got into fights, finances ruined
by maxing out credit cards and using funds needed
for school, various injuries, auto accidents, are
just a few of the real life consequences many young
adults had to face after Spring Break.

What clearly drives this sinful, hedonistic behavior
during Spring Break is alcohol and illegal drugs. 
As a matter of fact, let me tell you that well over
90% of the sins I deal with each day in people's
lives involve alcohol and/or drugs.  Most young
adults are not experienced at drinking, and under
the influence of alcohol make choices, do things
they would never dream of doing while sober.  The
same goes for the use of illegal drugs.  Each
drug affects a person in different ways, and young
adults on Spring Break using illegal drugs
recreationally will have their minds altered to
the extent they will make choices, do things that
they would never even consider doing if they were
not high.

IT IS THE CHOICES YOU MAKE, THE THINGS YOU DO WHILE
DRUNK AND/OR HIGH THAT CAN  CHANGE THE REST OF YOUR
LIFE, OR LITERALLY COST YOU YOUR VERY LIFE!!!

*I can guarantee you that almost 100% of the people
who email me for prayer each year after Spring Break
would not be in the situation they were in if they
had not been drinking and/or using illegal drugs.

For those of you who are laughing right now, thinking
that I am making a big deal out of nothing, that
Spring Break is just harmless fun, let me share
with you a recent example from the news to drive home
the point that we are talking about something that
could literally cost you your very life.  A couple
weeks ago, a 24-year-old grad student in New York went
out on a Saturday night drinking.  A few days later
they found her dead body in a garbage dump.  She had
been sexually assaulted, tortured, butchered,
killed, and her dead, mutilated, bound body discarded
in an empty lot like an old sofa.

As this tragic story has been unfolding, what is
known is that this young woman began the last night
of her life out drinking with friends.  As one bar
closed, she went by herself to another bar and was
there drinking until it closed at 4 a.m.   At some
point after leaving the bar in a highly intoxicated
state, she was abducted by a sick and demented
predator, sexually violated, tortured, and killed. 
Does a woman who uses poor judgment by getting drunk
and being alone at 4 a.m. deserve to be killed?
Am I blaming this woman who was killed?  Absolutely
not!  However, they become the easy prey these sick
and demented predators are looking for.

It is dangerous enough for a woman to be out alone
at 4 a.m.  When you add being intoxicated or high
on drugs, you now have a very dangerous situation
where someone could easily lose their life.  Young
women and men in a strange city or even strange
country for Spring Break that are out in the bars
in the early morning hours become easy targets for
rapists, robbers, and predators of all kinds who
are looking for people in a vulnerable state to
take advantage of.  Being out in the early morning
hours, especially drunk and/or high, is very
dangerous and can even cost you your life.

I love you and care about you so much.  What I am
sharing with you today is not meant to keep people
from having fun in their life, it is to insure
people have fun in their life.  Don't ever forget,
satan is a liar and his goal is to kill, steal,
and destroy...YOU!  Satan says having sex outside
of marriage is fun.  Tell me how much fun it is to
be young, not married and having the responsibility
of caring for and raising a baby, or how much fun
it is to have a STD for the rest of your life, or
how much fun it is to deal with all the emotions of
being involved with a person sexually you are not
committed to for life in marriage, or how much fun
it is to carry the guilt of knowing you are living
in rebellion to God by having sex outside of God's
plan for marriage.

Satan says getting drunk and high are fun  Tell me
how much fun it is to drink or get high and start
saying and doing things you would never do with a
clear mind, or how much fun it is to have a hangover
or the hard "down" from being high, or how much fun
it is to get a DUI, or how much fun it is to get
sick and throw up all over the place, or how much
fun it is to wake up and not remember what you did
the night before, or how much fun it is when you
get into bondage to alcohol and/or drugs and need
it every day.

Satan uses illicit sex, drinking, and illegal drugs
to destroy lives at every age, especially young
adults who get caught up in these activities before
they really understand life or how dangerous they
are.  Spring Break has become that time of the year
when satan tempts many good kids who are away from
home and in an environment where they can easily have
sex, drink, do drugs without anyone knowing. 
Another lie, since God knows!  Spring Break has
become a trap to lure young adults into the world of
illicit sex, alcohol, and drugs under the guise of
just having fun when engaging in these activities
can bring you great harm, destroy, and even cost
you your life.

I will be praying for you today, especially
those young adults preparing to go to Spring Break
in a few weeks who are  reading these words.  God
loves you so much.  He only wants the best for your
life.  He has a wonderful plan and purpose for your
life.  That plan and purpose will only unfold as
you yield your life to Him.  God gave you life and
life abundantly.  The lie of this world is that to
have fun you have to engage in acts of rebellion
to God.  In reality, those acts of rebellion aren't
fun at all, they are harmful.

There are tons of things young adults can do to have
true fun that don't include acts of rebellion against
God.  In these last days when the lie has been told
so long and so loud, and most young adults have
fallen for the lies of the satan that enjoyment is
found in sex, alcohol, and drugs, I am praying that
those young men and women who know the Lord will take
a stand for Christ this Spring Break.  You can show
your peers that you can still have fun without having
sex, you can still have fun without alcohol, and you
can still have fun without doing drugs.  This Spring
Break, I pray there will be plenty of girls (and
guys) gone wild...for Jesus!!!

In His love and service,
Your friend and brother in Christ,
Bill Keller

***If I can help you in any way you can contact me
through my personal email at bkeller@liveprayer.com

***ARE YOU 100% CERTAIN WHERE YOU WILL SPEND
ETERNITY?  The fact is you will die one day.  At
that moment, you will either spend eternity with
the Lord or be cast into everlasting darkness
forever separated from God your creator.  To know
for certain you will be forever with Jesus, go to:
http://www.liveprayer.com/bdy_salvatn.html

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(C) Copyright 2006, Bill Keller Ministries.
All rights reserved


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May God bless you as you learn from this message!

Donald W. Mitchell, Your Dream Concierge

Copyright 2006 Donald W. Mitchell