Cupcakes, Pringles and Tears

Something chocolate 'n sweet followed by a fat-filled salty snack – the combination signals danger, an impending ride on an emotional roller coaster.

The combo repeats:  two evenings each month sharing chocolate* with the women and men, my friends who work in the strip clubs, then consuming something salty on my way home ... and two mornings each month, like this morning, the remaining Pringles and two left-over cupcakes eaten while drinking my coffee.

Tears followed.

Nutrition-minded friends gasp at the poison content of my choices and easily link mood swings to my consumption. I'm quite certain that my mood will swing today no matter how healthy my food choices.

The day after we visit the clubs is always a time of tears. The phrase that brings tears today is 'bringing grace to graceless space' which used to make my heart sing and is now tainted as it seems to imply that 'we' have something 'they' don't, as though Christ isn't already in the clubs, as though 'they' is so very different from 'we'.

Satan wants the separation, the division, the deep trench of distance, a belief that somehow separate is better ... the twisted lie that being in the world but not of it keeps us safe.

God keeps us safe.

This I command you, that you love one another. If the world hates you, 

you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, 

the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, 

but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you. 

Jesus, in John 15:17-19 NASB

 

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, 

to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—

this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern 

of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. 

Paul, in Romans 12:1-2 NIV

The enemy uses our own fears against us, our belief that 'graceless space' is somewhere outside us, that 'we' can keep our children safe, that our daughters and sons would never end up there – in a club or wherever.

God's daughters and sons work in the clubs.

'We' are not better parents than God.

I want Christ's church to be a place for all God's children – not 'we' and 'they' separate – All of us.

Better Together.

Better Together in Christ.

Rw 


* more than just chocolate, volunteers often bring full meals to share with our friends in the clubs