“I turned away from the Lord because grog was available. I became an alcoholic. I knew that I was doing wrong things, and I’ve done wrong things in my life, but I couldn’t stop. I tried to give up the drink many times, in my own strength, but I couldn’t do it. I was a slave to alcohol. I had jobs – droving and in the army – but I couldn’t keep them down. It was a big problem.”

In one night of drinking, a home intruder attempted to kill Richard and he almost died. He could not defend himself properly. The Royal Flying Doctors airlifted Richard to Alice Springs Hospital.

“While I was lying there, all those things that I’d heard in Sunday School came flooding back to me. I knew about the Lord, and I knew what would have happened if I’d died. I was that far away from the Lord. But it was there that the Lord began to touch my life. He began to speak to me… ”

“I gave my life to the Lord, and everything changed from then – the grog, the work, everything. ”

“I had no desire to drink anymore, ever again. It was good.”

“But then two years later, in 1986, I went blind…. I can’t preach anymore, so I’m no use to anyone. It’s all over. That’s what I thought.”

“From the beginning, my favourite Bible verse was Proverbs 3:5-6. It says, ‘Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight.’ I first read that Bible verse after I lost my sight. It helped me more than anything. It helped me cope with the blindness. Lean not on your own understanding, it says. ”

“We both smiled as Richard talked, and later that evening, as I said goodbye, I thanked him for the glimpse into his quiet, humble story, lived out in the red dust of central Australia. He wasn’t waving a big flag, saying look at me. He has been just looking to the Lord daily, and memorising Bible verses, and blessing his people, for decades. It made me want to do the same. ”

Naomi Reed, 6 Sep. 2018, Eternity News, “I was a slave to alcohol”

God and H.G. Guinness

Henry Grattan Guinness stated: “It is, I trust, temperance, in the Bible sense — that is, the government of the passions — which is leading to the careful abstinence from intoxicating drinks; they avoid them as temptations by which the inhabitants of this province have been led into terrible evils; and this revival has cured many drunkards, who have stood out against all temperance societies.”

(Henry G. Guinness, 1860, The Revival In Ireland)

• Henry’s grandfather Arthur Guinness started the Guinness brewery.
• Henry’s step-brother John Grattan II Guinness was dismissed by the brewery for “drunkenness and mixing in degrading company.”
• But Henry himself endorsed abstinence from alcohol. He was delighted by the evangelical revival God brought to Ireland.

Interviewer: “Mr Bradman, you must have a wonderful physique to be capable of endurance required in your amazing world’s record.”
Don Bradman: “Well, I don’t think so. I don’t think my physique is any different to anybody else’s. I think one of the main reasons why I am able to carry on so long is the fact that I don’t drink, and I don’t smoke. I don’t do anything to get myself out of condition. Consequently, I haven’t got to train to get myself into condition to play a match.”

Don Bradman informal interview (1930)

George Foreman says: how I quit drinking – former heavyweight boxing champion

On my nineteenth birthday, I got so drunk that I couldn’t remember what happened that night. The next day, I ran into my friend who had been badly beaten up. He had a swollen eye and other bruises. I asked what happened.

“Don’t you remember?” he asked. “You beat me up last night!”

That stunned me. It shook me so much that I decided to never take another drink of alcohol. And I never have since then. I wouldn’t be where I am today if I hadn’t quit smoking and drinking.

George Foreman, God In My Corner, Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2007, p. 169.