Last night, my wife asked me what the topic of today’s devotional was going to be.  I said, “I’m writing about taking a drunk girl home…..”.

“You’re doing what,” she said?

“Trust me on this one….”, I replied.

Here goes…..

There’s a song out currently by an artist named Chris Janson.  The song is called “Drunk Girl“.  If you close your eyes, you might think you’re listening to Merle Haggard.  The twangy tones that Janson sings add even more to the lyrics of the song.

I love it and had to write about it today.

Here’s the story within the song.  Guy notices a girl very drunk in a bar.  She’s either part of a bachelorette party or coming off a break up.  Either way, she’s blitzed to put it lightly.

The song could have taken an evil turn at this point.  But it didn’t.

The message is about the guy who takes the girl to her home.  Drops her off.  Makes sure she’s safe.  Leaves his number by her keys on the kitchen counter.

And then he slips away.  Leaves her place.

End of story?

Not quite.

Later, perhaps the next day, when the girl wakes up with most certainly the “hangover of all hangovers”, she calls the guy, leaves a message…..and says “thank you for picking up the life she threw on the floor”.

Is there a Biblical message here?

Of course, otherwise I wouldn’t be writing about it.

I think there’s two sides to the story in this song.

First, there’s the guy.  He could have done a lot of things.  Recall when I said things could have taken an “evil turn”.  But he did the right thing.  He took the girl out of a bad situation and gave he safety.

Golden rule, maybe?

How about this.  We just finished the Advent season and remember that guy named “Joseph”?  Mary came to him and said, “Hey, Joseph….I’m pregnant and by the way, you’re not the daddy.”

Joseph could have done the Olympic backstroke and gotten way out of the picture.  He stuck his neck out, however, even risking the potential public harassment and stoning to Mary.  He did consider divorcing her quietly.

“When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child of the Holy Spirit;  and her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly.”  MATTHEW 1:18-19

An angel appeared to Joseph and convinced him otherwise.

Wonder if the guy in the bar saw an angel too?  Ponder that one.

And then there’s the other side of the song’s story.  That from the point of view of the girl.

What was she thinking?  Have you seen the news lately?  Lots of bad things going on to some famous people.  And that’s only the ones we’re hearing about.

Recall the story about the Samaritan woman at the well.  She’s got a lot going on….and Jesus knows all the details.

She’s holding her prized possession, the clay jar, to draw water.  Jesus calls her out, tells her he knows all about her shortcomings, but offers her “living water” as forgiveness.

He gave her a second chance, much like the guy in our song.

“Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”  JOHN 4:13-14

No one is perfect.  Not the lady in the bar, nor the lady at the well.  And watch me as I drop the stones in my hands right now.

My prayer this week is that my two sons will make the right decisions later on in life, perhaps also “taking a drunk girl home”.  And my second prayer is that my daughter will always know the salvation of “living water” that comes through forgiveness.

And for all of us, my prayers are that we can pick up the lives of those around us, who may have likewise put them on the floor.

Golden rule….yes, indeed!