Make All Things New

It’s about 10 p.m. on a weeknight and I run out to the local convenience store to get something to drink for Jill and myself. I park my car and quickly take in the scene. There’s almost always someone out front of this store asking for change so I looked to see if it would be the guy who doesn’t talk (just puts out his hand) our the drunk guy with the the basketball-sized growth in his abdomen. To my surprise, it was neither. It was a young girl. My heart sank. “She shouldn’t be out here by herself. What’s she doing out here by herself. She’s probably only 19 or 21 years-old.”

I saw her approach a couple other guys coming out of the store and they handed her some change. I said a short prayer and grabbed all the coins I keep in my cup holder. Got out of the car and headed in.

“Hey baby. Hey baby, Do you have a quarter honey? I’m just a little short and can use some help.” That was her opening line. Once again, my heart sank because that seemed entirely too forward an approach for a young girl to take.

“I have a few quarters. Here, this is all I have right now. Take it. We all come up short and I’m glad I can be of help.” I said to her as I was walking toward the door.
“Thank you baby” she said. It wasn’t so much what she said (really don’t think anyone has called me baby since I was in diapers!) but the way she said it that made me feel very uncomfortable. I have been propositioned by prostitutes on multiple occasion when I lived in California. This girl probably wasn’t doing that on this night. It was just the overtly sexual way she requested money that made me uncomfortable. Not that I thought she may be coming on to me but that she would use her sexuality to extract money from me (or anyone else). I wasn’t angry, jut sad. Sad that this girl was going up to lots of different guys and talking them up just to get a quarter. Sad that there wasn’t much I could do.

I went inside and bought our drinks and prayed again. Before I headed back outside, it hit me. “Dummy, you can give her something. You can give her the hope beyond what she is doing. The problem isn’t merely that she is putting herself into dangerous situations, it’s that she is settling for this as the way to live her life. I can talk to her and listen. By God’s grace, I can show her how Christ has changed me from someone who would at best dismiss her and at worst objectify her into someone who is compelled to serve her and tell her about the Gospel.

She engaged me again with the “Hey baby” stuff and poured on a bunch of compliments. I handed her the change I just got from the store, looked her right in the eye and said, “What are you doing out here? Are you okay?”
“Yeah, baby, I’m fine,” she answered.
“Seriously, what are you doing out here and how can I help you?”
“I’m just trying to get some cigarettes. That’s why I am out here. Just getting some change.” She proceeded to ask me what I do for a living. I told her that I work as a chiropractor and am in training to be a pastor. She responded as I would have expected.
“I hope you don’t think bad of me. I’m not really a bad person. I just do this to get by. I use to go to church. We’re Christians. Just stopped going. Wish I had listened to my mom. She gave me lots of good advice and I just didn’t listen to her and now I know she was right all along. I mean you’re a pastor and all, you probably think I am doing something horrible here.”
“Well, actually, I am not sure what you are doing out here. I am just concerned that you are alright out here by yourself.”

What followed was her pouring her heart out. I heard of how she struggled in her childhood with a learning disability, how she is still on SSI, how she has to live a life she doesn’t like at all because that’s the way it is. I just listened. She cried and laughed but the wall came down a bit. Sure, she still paused to ask others for change but in the moments when no one came by, she shared quite openly.

She told me that her life went really bad when she was young. Her dad drank a lot and completely neglected her and her twin sister. He would only pay attention to them when he would do crazy stuff in his drunken highs. At about this time, a man in his late forties rode by on his bicycle. She stopped him and said to me, “I want you to meet my boyfriend.” She introduced me to the guy on the bicycle as “a pastor” and he shook my hand saying, “God bless you,” in an alcohol-slurred dialect and rode away.

She continued on with how she doesn’t like living with him but doesn’t have anywhere else to go right now. She wants to go back to school and “straighten out her life”.

“You probably think I’m a mess, don’t you?” She asked me,
“Not really. None of us are good. We are all a mess. Believe me, I no better than you, I just have been forgiven because of Jesus.”
“Oh, I believe in Jesus Christ. He is my Lord and Savior. I just don’t go to church anymore. I love the Lord though.”
“That’s great. Can I just ask you one thing? If you love the Lord, what in your life shows that?” I don’t think I asked it as an accusation. I believe it was said in love.
“Yeah, I don’t really know. I guess I just like things that don’t make me look good or I’ve made bad decision and love other stuff too. I swear I’m not a bad person.”
“You know, it doesn’t really matter what I think of you. It’s what God see that matters the most. And you know what? He thinks you are settling for less than the best He has for you. You are finding joy in lesser things. He wants you to know that He is the ultimate joy. He loves you and will provide people to help you and care for you.”

She was a bit shocked. She’s spent her whole young life seeking pleasure and I was telling her that she wasn’t aiming high enough. I told her more about the gospel and she listened. I’d like to tell you that she repented and came to faith right then but I have no way of knowing. The Spirit moves where and when He wants. But I can tell you what happened next. She teared up and asked if she could use my phone. She wanted to call her sister. I let her. And she talked to her sister who apparently was in a worse situation than she. Her sister was crying and the girl told her she was talking with a “pastor” and handed me the phone. Her sister didn’t really want to talk to me (she was just crying) so I didn’t get to say much. She looked at me and said, “She needs to talk to a man, it would be good for her.” I told her that if she needed someone to talk to I would listen but if she needs a man just to make her feel better, I’m not that guy.

She ended the conversation with her sister and talked to me a bit more. Turns out she lives in the neighborhood where our church has a cafe. She knows about it. I invited her to stop by, to come meet some of the people there and meet some of the ladies that would love to talk with her and help her out. She said she would. Then she turned and walk over to a group of guys and started the whole act over again.

I was sorrowful and rejoicing at the same time. I was sad that she had been the victim of her dad’s sin. That she had been so abused. Sad that this city is so fully of homes where kids go to sleep without a dad. Sad that I grew up without my dad at home. Sad that this girl was so hopeless. Yet, I was rejoicing as well. Rejoicing in the knowledge that God is the True Father that even the best earthly fathers can only point us to. Rejoicing that for 30 minutes outside a convenience store, this girl shared her broken life with me and I could offer her a bit of hope. Rejoicing in the truth of 2 Corinthians 5:20… God continually makes his appeal through broken people like me.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. (2 Corinthians 5:17-20)