The Old Drunk

Many of you will remember him from history. He was the hero of Texas, Sam Houston. That’s not what the Cherokee Indians used to call him, however. They used to call him, “The Old Drunk.” You see, while Sam was the governor of Tennessee, his wife left him. In great despair, he resigned as governor and tried to escape his problem by living among the Cherokee Indians. It was said that when the Indians walked through the forest, they would often have to move him out of the path where he lay in a drunken stupor.

Later, he went to Texas, where he became the great hero of the Texas revolution, routing General Santa Ana and his Mexican army. It was Houston’s battle cry, “Remember the Alamo!” that helped him win independence. He went on to marry the daughter of a Baptist preacher and later trusted Christ as his Savior, but he still had some of his old tendencies. One day as he rode along a trail, his horse stumbled. Houston spontaneously cursed, reverting to his old habit. Immediately he was convicted of his sin. he got off his horse, knelt down on the trail, and cried out to God for forgiveness. Houston had already received Christ, but God was teaching him to live in fellowship with him moment by moment. And as soon as the Holy Spirit made Sam Houston aware of his sin, he confessed it. That, my friend, is brokenness. It is a gift of the Holy Spirit to those who respond in repentance to His conviction. It comes when God reveals the presence of our sin. But it also comes when God shows us