About 45 years ago I met a 60-year-old Bridgeport WV man who was working to maintain his status as a recovering alcoholic. Attending a retreat for alcoholics at the Cenacle Retreat House in Charleston, he went along.

He had returned to Bridgeport to live in a small apartment, essentially broke, after traveling around the world for 30 years, imbued with his bottle of booze.

He was fortunate to have been the heir of his families multi-million dollar estate, they once owning much of the land on which Bridgeport was built.

After returning to his hometown he was watching the TV healing gospel of the Rev. Oral Roberts from Tulsa, Oklahoma. Rev. Roberts prayed over tens of thousands of seekers through his longtime ministry.

My friend described himself as a hopeless alcoholic and called Oral Roberts University to seek his "laying on of hands." He got an appointment and headed west of a Greyhound bus.

Rev. Roberts, with my friend kneeling, prayed an awesome prayer for the disease of Alcoholism to be removed from his soul.

He never had another drink.

Unfortunately, after returning to West Virginia, he picked up cocaine to nearly being destroyed by that addiction.

We shouldn't fault Rev. Roberts for just using alcohol in his prayer, not being all inclusive to cover the Disease of Addiction.

At the end of my friend's life he was sober and clean.

This tortuous tale has a happy ending.