Day 379 ~ I Am Second Challenge Day 2 of 22

This is Day 2 of my challenge... {and} my second video...

.. David McKenna, who drank his first beer at the age of twelve, arrested countless times, parties like there was no tomorrow, who had parents who did not give up on him, and finally turned to God for guidance..  

David McKenna: I am Second

After watching David's story, I wanted to know who he was.  Was he the same David McKenna who wrote American History X?  No, he is not.  Is he famous?  No, not that I could find.

I checked out his bio on  the I Am Second website and found out that he was no different than many people I knew growing up, myself included.  I have to be completely honest here, not only with you, but with myself.  

I did not take my first drink and party the way David did at the age of twelve. I had been allowed to taste my father's Bloody Marys [heck, I'd eventually make one for him at the end of each day!] and we did have wine and soda (50/50) or with seven-up with dinner.  


My father was Argentinian, you could say it was a culture/family thing I guess... where it was acceptable for children to have wine with dinner.  At least, that's how his family was.

{and} as I said, I was not twelve... I was fourteen.  {and} It wasn't beer... it was screwdrivers (vodka and orange juice- HEAVY on the vodka!).]... the first time I became inebriated {with my friends}, became the first of many meetings with the ever so great, porcelain king!

After that experience, I never drank another screwdriver again.  Seriously... never to this day.

From the age of sixteen to twenty-one... maybe twenty-two... I loved to party!   

All joking aside... I do remember blacking out once.  I was around twenty.  I woke up on a unknown neighbor's walkway (wrong house) to half a dozen firemen and paramedics standing over me.  I drank way too much that day.  My friends and I were all partying the day away... beer ... tequila... 


Honestly... I am so blessed that's the worse thing that has happened to me.

{and} Then of course there was "the pot", as my father would say... he never did know or found out that I had gotten into cocaine, dropped a few hits of acid, was give angel dust [without my knowledge] {I had smoked a joint that had been laced with it}...  


I hid it all my partying pretty well.  I just stayed away from my family...  I never was arrested either.

By the time I turned twenty-one, I looked around at my life.  I realized that I hadn't worked in a couple of years (because I was making money dealing drugs)... the people I called my friends, all partook in the same activities... what kind of life was I leading?  Where was I headed?  

I decided to sober up... after all I wanted to one day get married, have kids... so I cleaned up my life.

I never did party like that again.

As I look back on it all, I drank to forget.  I drank to not think about my life and how it had changed so much and what it had become.

Funny... I have blocked out certain bad experiences as a defense mechanism.  Then I discovered that if I drank I didn't feel the pain as much... I did not have to think about it all.. I was able to forget ... and I did!!  

The irony of it all is that there are many periods of my life that I do not remember.  I swear I don't.  I remember very little from about ... I can't even tell you because there are blocks of periods of time missing here and there.

Sometimes I think back and wonder, how am I alive?  God must have been watching out for me, He must have.  There really isn't another answer.

I have used the same coping mechanisms most of my life... except for the cocaine, acid, etc  I pretty much stuck to drinking.  {and} nothing like back then!  I did get heavy on the bottle again back in the late 90s when I was fighting my ex for my children to be with me...

So... as David said... "There might not be a later..."... don't wait to start a relationship with God, you may not have a later.  It's never too late.

I have to say that I am pretty blessed to have a "later"... some people don't get that opportunity.

We are Second when we put Jesus First. Seconds are bold to lift up Jesus and tell others. Are you ready to become a stronger Second?

I challenge YOU to take the I Am Second [22] Day Challenge... Can you spare maybe fifteen minutes in a day?

I AM SECOND.

[here's to you finding your... ]

Peace...

... for a, l & c.  You are my sunshine(s).  

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