Walk the Line

Just recently Dawn and I watched Walk the Line – the Johnny Cash story.  (Great movie, I might add!) 

                                                                                                                                                   

Toward the end of the movie we are invited to Thanksgiving dinner at Johnny’s new house with his mother and father along with the parents of June Carter.  Johnny, who has been sober for a short while, relapses. 

At the dinner table with an intoxicated Johnny, we learn that the death of his older brother in a terrible saw mill accident was at the core of Johnny’s drinking problem.  Most alcoholics/addict self-medicate to relieve some form of pain of the past. 

We also learn that this same incident was at the core of the father’s sobriety!  Most alcoholics/addicts have to “bottom out” before they will acknowledge that their life is out of control and decide to do something about getting their life back!

I find it very interesting how the perception of one event can deeply WOUND one person and cause another one to WAKE UP. 

We all experience “triggers” in life – those people, circumstances, words, things that create a response within our souls.  When we experience a “trigger,” it creates a thought.  That thought then creates an emotion.  The emotion manifests itself in a behavioral response. 

The key to change is NOT changing our circumstances or how “we feel” about our circumstances or other “triggers.”  The way to change our behavior is to change the way we think.

Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think (Romans 12.2/NLT)