this was something that Charles Stone linked to on twitter yesterday. It is his daughter’s story of ministering to strip club dancers in seedy clubs.
what do you think of this ministry? what is your gut reaction to this?:
We walked into a very small room, decorated with cracked, smudgy mirrors and rows of dented lockers with names like “Snickers” and “Sparkle” scrawled on them with Sharpie marker or nail polish. Hand-written notes instructing the club employees to wear makeup, bathe, and wear deodorant, and warning the women not to leave the club unattended, were taped to the two mirrors.
We opened up the colorful makeup kits, plugged in numerous flat irons and curling irons, set out the nail kit, and waited for the girls. Three women immediately bounded into the small, smoky room as they each teetered precariously on 6” heels. They informed us that they had been eagerly awaiting this visit.
now what is your head reaction? your “Sunday School answer” as it were.
read this and do a serious self examination to see if you agree with the writer:
Amidst the smell of cigarette smoke and fried chicken, the Lord spoke to me. As I hunched over Bambi’s head, and alternately ran my fingers and the flat iron carefully through her thick blonde hair, I was dumbfounded with the realization: This is exactly where the holy, nail-scarred hands of our Savior would be. THESE WOULD BE HIS HANDS. They would be tenderly, lovingly caressing her hair as only an infinitely loving Father would.
Because He sees HER.
He doesn’t see her as some stripper; He sees her as one of the most beautiful things He ever created. He sees her as she is now: in her Lucite heels and cheap lace costume in the dank back room of a strip club – and she is beautiful. He sees her as she could be: healed, free, whole – and she is beautiful.
She is the one He left the ninety-nine for.
If you are feeling like you are somehow better or more deserving of God’s love than this stripper, go read Romans 3:9-25 and Romans 5:6-8.
Just at the right time while we were flat on our backs with nothing to offer back, Christ died for us. In doing so, he proved/demonstrated his great love mercy and power. All of us are equal in our complete lack of merit for God’s grace. we are all the one that he left the 99 to go retrieve. we all must remember that fact when we begin to feel smug and secure in our righteousness.
None of us deserved it. Any of us can accept it.
Won’t you take this chance to fall in love with the God who sent his Son to die for your sins when you were unlovely and unworthy?
Then think for a minute about God’s hands in that strip club dressing room. What have your hands done to demonstrate God’s love in a physical caring way to someone who desperately needs that touch?