Some people are "morning people", some people are "night people" and some people just smile in both the night and the day to annoy me. I am what you would call "not a morning person" and thus I like to drink coffee. Mocha's have always been my taste of choice and thus I own my own little espresso machine and make myself espresso mocha's a lot to make this "night person" a little more alive in the mornings of life. This is nothing new, I have been like this for years. When I was Pioneering I use to always show up to service with Mocha in hand. I would joke around that my life did not begin until the Mocha hit my lips. Of course, people knew me for this and they would joke around and make comments. One day I was at a meeting and one of the elders said he needed to speak to me in the back room. Of course at those moments you are trying to think of "what did they catch me on" and to be honest I could not think of anything. Well we get back there and him and another elder are sitting there looking all serious. I sit down and ask, "is there something wrong?" To which they got that serious elder look and began to speak to me about addictions. They mentioned how alcohol and cigarettes were not the only dangerous addictions. One of the elders even had copies of Watchtower articles on addictions and the dangers of letting things and substances lead our life. It seemed obvious that these men had spent hours and perhaps days working on this talk they were having with me. We even went so far as to pray for Jehovah guidance in the matter and looked up scriptures they felt applied. Of course, we got to the end and they asked the simple question, "do you know what we are getting at?" I was sitting there trying to be polite and nice, yet I had to say what I thought, "no, to be honest I do not. You have mentioned alcohol and I hardly ever drink and you mentioned cigarettes and I have never smoked. So what's up?" Well they leaned back in their seat with that, "we are going to spring the real truth on you now, since you wouldn't confess it" and proceeded to speak. "Well more then one person in the congregation has mentioned that you drink coffee every single morning and mention that it gets you going." Well there was no hiding that, so I responded, "well you heard right, I do like my morning coffee I am not a morning person" Well the council was just boiling in their heads ready to explode, "Well we feel that caffeine is a drug and over doing it and depending on it is a addiction." Oh God!! I suddenly realized I was in the Witness version of an intervention. I was just wondering when was all the hugs were going to be happening. When were people going to stand up and say, "we are there for you man" and "be strong!" with tears flowing down there eyes. Instead, being the little typical scared Witness, I said something more like, "okay I will be careful then and not say anything, and try to cut back on my public coffee consumption." Which seemed to be what they wanted to hear. So what did I learn from this. It seems that elders have a lot of time to waste. With all the trouble going on in the world, and troubles in their own congregation. They had time to council this poor man who was drinking one cup of coffee each morning before he went in service. They had time to make sure the monkey of caffeine was off my back, that the "Betty Ford Clinic" did not get another Pepsi-Coffee addict at their door steps. Yes, these men of God were doing their thing to make sure that "no one" have a caffeine buzz smile while they preach from door to door. God bless these righteous men who wasted so much precious time for my caffeine addiction. Well in all that I did from that day forward in field service I always wondered who was the one who ratted me out. Was it the sister who always had a "evil" Coke with lunch, or that devilish younger brother who was always sipping on the Pepsi. I guess in the end, I knew one day their addiction would get the best of them too. So as I sit in the post-Witness life drinking the evil java of nature, with a happy caffeine buzz smile. My thoughts reflect on that council I miss so much, the useless yet interesting bust of my evil "caffeine addiction." So what odd things were you counseled for? My thought Dragon
Edited by - kenpodragon on 15 October 2002 23:25:33