Until the Flailing Stops

Right now I'm sitting back, helplessly watching someone I know systematically unravel his life over drugs. His marriage is gone, kids don't want to be around him, he's had several arrests, lost his business and is selling everything he owns for pennies on the dollar... and he can't see the problem. I'm not "judging" him... I've been there and got the scars on my life to prove where I've been. I find myself constantly wanting to reach out to him but I know that at this point it is futile. It's like something I learned years ago when I studied and became an Emergency Medical Technician/Ambulance... when a person is in the water flailing at the water, DO NOT go in there after them. If you do, they will wear you both out and both of you will drown. You have to wait until they stop fighting and flailing. And I know after more than 7 years working as a Substance Abuse Counselor and 25 years as a pastor that it is the same thing with the addict/alcoholic. You cannot rescue someone until they are ready to be rescued. All I can do is pray for him and his family at this time, but it is "killing me " to see his life go down the drain piece by piece, day by day. I pray he wakes up before it is too late.