Lewand Speaks At Church On Problem With Alcohol, Redemption Through Faith
By Ashley Dunkak
@AshleyDunkak
CBS DETROIT - More than four years removed from an arrest for drunk driving that resulted in a suspension and $100,000 fine, Detroit Lions team president Tom Lewand spoke at Kensington Church about his struggle with alcohol and how faith has helped him get past it.
"My name's Tom Lewand, I'm the president of the Detroit Lions, I'm a proud husband, father, son, brother," Lewand said, beginning his address. "And I'm an alcoholic."
Lewand said he started drinking in high school, like many people, partied in college, and then as an adult he would have wine with dinner, cocktails with friends. He used alcohol to relax and escape.
"It became a habit," Lewand said, "then it became something I consumed that pretty quickly consumed me, and as I progressed throughout the course of my career, I thought everything was fine. I graduated with three degrees from Michigan, lots of honors, I had a great job, and by the standards that the world judges us, I was doing just fine. My salary was going up, my house got bigger, my cars got fancier, my kids were doing fine, but I wasn't. I kept that to myself.
"That was my secret," Lewand continued. "A lot of times I would cover up my drinking, hide it, but I couldn't hide the consequences. I couldn't hide the negative consequences from my family, my friends, myself - the people that I hurt. About seven or eight years ago, some of my friends and family confronted me at different times, encouraged me to take a look at what I was doing, and I said, 'You know what, I got this.'"
On June 25, 2010, Lewand was at an event in northern Michigan and was arrested for drunk driving. He called the night spent in jail one of the worst and one of the best nights of his life.
"One of the worst because I didn't know when I left that cell if I would have a job, if I would have a wife, what my relationship would be with my family or what my future was going to be, but one of the best because I finally gave up," Lewand said. "I knew that I couldn't do it. I had a relationship with God growing up, at least I thought. I think my relationship was, 'I don't bother you, you don't bother me,' and that night, I said, 'Look, I give up.'
"I didn't know it then, I think I know it now, what I felt that night for the first time was God's amazing grace in my life," Lewand continued. "That burden was lifted from me, and I knew I still had a lot of stuff to deal with ... but I knew it was going to be all right. And that night I began a journey that has been nothing short of phenomenal."
