by Ed Welch

In Addictions: A Banquet in the Grave (2001), I tried to identify the basics of a theology of addiction.  I was thinking primarily of counselors, pastors, addiction’s group leaders – people who wanted to see more of Scripture’s depth as it applied to the thorny, complex problems of addictions.  I was certainly thinking of addicts themselves, but I knew that they would have to be highly motivated and already committed to change for the book to be helpful to them.

I was imagining helpers reading the book while addicts were looking over their shoulders.

Crossroads reverses the picture. Now I want addicts to read the book with helpers looking over the addict’s shoulder, perhaps curious about what kind of literature could hold an addict’s attention.  My goal was to speak to a person struggling with an addiction in a way that was faithful to the way God communicates with us.  In other words, I attempted

…to speak directly at times

…to ask questions in the way Jesus would often ask questions

…to teach and lead, surprise or, even better, amaze

…to point out the path of beauty

…to provide warnings

…to have hope come through on every page because all of God’s words to the addict are summed up in the good news given to us by Jesus Christ.

The title comes from one of the recurring images in the book.  When you read through Proverbs you notice that we are always standing at a crossroads, with wisdom taking us to the Kingdom of Heaven and folly trying to seduce us away from it.  At that decision point, we better be absolutely wide awake, with all our wits about us, because our natural instinct is to veer off onto the path of folly.

There are other images that run through the book as well: light, darkness, wilderness journey, and banquets.  Any of them could be the organizing theme, but crossroads was the one I kept returning to in earlier drafts of the book, and I found it personally helpful to be brought into Scripture with that image in mind.

The book, of course, is unapologetically God-oriented and Christ-focused.  This might be too much for a secular drug and alcohol counselor, but it should suit addicts just fine.  They know they need help, and they know they need God.

In the Table of Contents, you will notice that the steps that specifically talk about the God of Scripture come in the middle of the book.  I do that for two reasons.  Primarily, I want addicts to see themselves more accurately before really considering the character of God.  Otherwise, they could miss how God says exactly what they need to hear.  A lesser reason for the placement of this section, the Hebrew style of writing often places the climax in the middle.  I didn’t consciously intend to place the specifics of God and the gospel there, but I am sure there is something in my DNA at this point that does such things.

All the basics should be there: reading Scripture, prayer, confession, and hope through knowing Jesus Christ and responding to him.  The means of change for the addict are the same as they are for everyone else.

That’s what I was thinking about when I wrote Crossroads.

If you have used it, I would be interested in hearing about it. What worked? What could be changed?  I’d be glad to get your thoughts.