Most every Saturday night for the past year and a half, members of our youth group have been faithfully praying with me in cars on the street outside the Adult Shop North. We usually have as many as 6-8, but it’s been as high as 17.
All along, we’ve been concerned that we not be perceived by the employees and customers as haters or judmental. So we’ve periodically sent pizzas and cards in to the desk. Last week, we got a big surprise: they sent us a pizza back! We were shocked and honored to be so received.
Since then, we’ve become more determined than ever to attempt to reach out to them in love. Two of our seniors (with parental permission) and I have introduced ourselves to the desk clerk, thanking him for the pizza. We also have requested to meet with the owner at Java Creek to create some understanding. So far he hasn’t taken us up on our offer, but we know that making the attempt is the right approach. (BTW, We don’t actually enter the A-shop, we just go up to the “show your id” window.)
To show the spirit with which we’re approaching this ministry, I wanted to show you a letter recently written by a college freshman from our group that is being delivered to the desk workers this Saturday. Please join us in prayer for breakthroughs into the hearts of these hurting people who need Jesus so desparately.
Dear Adult Shop owner and employees,
I’ve had the privilege of spending one of my many Saturday nights praying for you all. Thank you so much for your very kind gesture in sending us pizza. We were all very grateful and excited to receive such a gift in return. While we are all very thankful for the kindness you have shown us, that is not the only reason I am writing you this letter. I am afraid you might think false things of us. I just want you to know the truth about what and why we pray for you.
As I was sitting in the car looking at your shop one Saturday night, I realized you might have some preconceived notions about us. You probably wonder what we talk about and pray each Saturday evening.
You might even think that we judge or condemn you, but that is far from the truth. We never pray for you out of pity or vain conceit, but out of love. We believe that God loves everyone and as followers of Him we are called to love and serve Him first and foremost and secondly others. First off, the reason we are at your shop every Saturday is because we want to love you and show you the same love that Christ showed to us. I apologize because we don’t always know how to do this best. Second, when we come to your store we pray and give thanks. We thank the Lord for everything he has given us- friends, family, and salvation. We thank him for making each and every one of you, because you are special and important to Him. We pray that He would reveal himself to you and that he would lead you in truth and love into a deeper relationship with Himself. Our prayers are not just limited to you guys. We often pray for each other, our families, our friends, and our world leaders.
The whole reason I wanted to write you this was because there was a time in my life when I thought that Christians were goody-goodies holier than thou perfect people who were too stuck up to really even care about someone beside themselves. On top of that, I thought the God they worshiped wasn’t real and was all in their head. I got this idea, because it felt like every time I turned around a Christian would be preaching to me on knowing God and living a life to glorify Him and then they would turn around and abuse their wife and children or lived a life exactly opposite of what they preached. If that was the kind of life they wanted me to live, than I wanted to have nothing to do with it. However, I knew not all Christians are like that. I pray that you would not think of us like this. We know we have faults and we struggle with the same things you do- broken families, financial problems, health problems, etc. As your friends, we would love to help you out in anyway we can. I offer to you a free invitation to come talk to us anytime. If you have any questions, we’d love to try and answer them. Or, if you just want to talk I know that we would all love to meet each and every single one of you. In the midst of my prayers for you all, I come to a point where I just start to dream and imagine. I wonder how life has treated you all and what kind of lives you live. I wonder what your families are like and most of all, what it would be like to meet you. I wonder how we could serve you or love you better, but most of all I just dream about meeting you and talking to you all. I know I can say this for everyone of the people who pray for you, that if you ever have any free time on a Saturday evening, we really would love to talk to you.
Sincerely,
(she wanted to be anonymous in this post)
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