The Heat of Temptation - Looking for Life

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by Bethany Beebe

God has saved me from traps that I never saw coming. They were traps that had been set for generations. We think that we have to only fight about things that we are living day by day, but that is simply not true. There are things we are fighting that originated in the time our great grandparents were children and even further on down the generational line. My family is no exception.

My father is, or I should say was, an alcoholic. Some people say that “once an alcoholic, always one”, but not in my father’s case. That is not my story to tell; it is his. I, however, am his daughter and according to some researchers, alcoholism is passed on from generation to generation. Great for me, right? I mean, it seems only right that if my dad was one, and his dad was one, and so on and so forth, that would make me one. That is just not the case.

See, I found something when I was five years old that stopped the generational curse right at its root. What I found was Jesus. At such a young age, I was invited to a summer Sunday school thing at my cousin’s church and there I accepted Jesus into my heart. I had no idea that doing that then would save me now. I would like to say that my father stopped the curse when he got saved, but that didn’t truly happen until I was about eleven or twelve.

The devil tried all that he could to keep that curse in our family. I was surrounded by alcohol my whole life. My mother was a bartender and my dad was a drummer in a band that only really played in bars or at parties where there were more drinks than in a bar. That was a normal life situation for me. I had no idea there were people out there that didn’t do this; that kids spent there Saturdays with their families at parks and stuff instead of some dimly lit, stuffy stale, smoke-filled bar watching their dad play with his band.

Until I was twelve, that was what I did. Don’t get me wrong; that was not my whole life. I spent days exploring woods, going to the lakes and ponds with my family, and all that stuff, too, but I had this other part inside that most kids didn’t know existed. And yet when I got to that age of rebel drinking, I chose not to.

Can you believe it? I was fifteen/sixteen and I didn’t go to parties and drink. Instead I went to church and to youth groups. Wow, God’s hand had protected me. And He did, but the enemy is so smart, or so he thinks. If he couldn’t get me by submerging me in it, he would have it happen some other way.

Still using my family, who are closer to me than any friend, he tried peer pressure. I had about six guy cousins that were like older brothers to me, and of course my real brother, that all tried to get me to drink. If that wasn’t bad enough, my best friend and cousin Elizabeth tried as well, and she was relentless. I mean, it was a constant thing that happened every time we got together. They were like, “Here, try this,” or “Come join our drinking game, or, how about I make you a drink; I think you will like this one.” It was just never-ending.

I have to be honest; I was getting tired. I didn’t want to have to say “no” anymore because I said it so many times. And at the time when I thought I couldn’t say it anymore, it would come out one more time. I know that I could have separated myself from them and that I could have closed them out along with the alcohol, but the truth is that they were my friends and family, and I didn’t want to isolate myself just because they wanted to party. I had fun when we were together. Yes, it was hard and tiring, but I still liked it. I loved them.

I won’t lie and say that I was perfect and never faltered; they got to me. These people could get to anyone. I did it for one night. I played their drinking games and laughed and all that but I felt it lingering in my spirit. Something wasn’t right and I never let myself drink to the point of being drunk. I stopped after a few hands and just watched them play. This was a huge mistake.

Once they saw me drink that one time, the pressure was turned up. It was like they had me on low heat and then once I showed I was slightly interested, they turned it up to boil. They brought me to a party that one of my cousins was having for my brother. It was his going-away party; he was leaving for the Air Force. Well, I was there but I knew I didn’t want to drink. But that didn’t stop them from putting a beer in my hand. I know it was stupid to be there; what kind of witness was this to them? They were turning me, not me turning them. So, since I was the youngest, I wanted to be cool so I walked around with the beer in my hand and I would spill a little out to make it look like I drank some and then I would put some in to make it look like I filled a new cup.

This got them off my back, but not God. I was sitting in the living room and one of my cousin’s friends sat down near me. He looked at me with the beer sitting next to me and said, “What are you doing here; you are supposed to be the Christian one.” Well, this just cut me to the marrow. I know I had the deer in headlights look. I didn’t know what to say. He was right. I was the Christian one; what was I doing?

After that, everything changed. I no longer played along. When they offered me a drink, I said “no”. They would bring up the whole thing about me having some once, why stop now? But I would refuse. I wouldn’t even carry one around just to have them leave me alone. I wanted to show them that I was serious about God, that I didn’t want to party. I didn’t want any of that and that I could have just as much fun without it as they had with it, if not more. Let me tell you; I had fun and I never had those horrible mornings.

See, the thing is, this alcohol is something that the devil has placed in my family for who knows how long, and because I was saved and I believed in Jesus no matter how hard things got, or even if I did slip up Jesus was there. Because of that one decision, a five-year old child helped stop me from carrying some disease that was supposed to be passed down from generation to generation. I believe that has been permanently removed from my bloodline.

What does this have to do with working at a film company, you ask. Everything. Because God has spared me from that, I know no matter where it is that this company takes me, I know God has me in His hands. If He can save me from something that was supposed to be generational, how much more can He save me from the attacks that I am getting from day to day? Not to mention that the film industry is known for its party life-style and for just reeking havoc on people. God has me. I know that I don’t need any of that to have fun. If I can handle my family’s pressure, I know that with God I can handle anything that the film industry can throw at me!

Bethany Beebe has worked with Christian WYSIWYG Filmworks in set production and prop-making.
She currently is working with Final Cut Pro, editing a DVD series.

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