During our NOLA trip some of our team discovered first hand that what often offends Christians doesn’t necessarily offend Christ. God isn’t afraid to be real with people, and sometimes things on the street get a little raw.
The most memorable ministry time for me during our trip was sitting outside of a coffee shop in the middle of the afternoon ministering to a young woman wearing a flimsy nightgown and the man she was with. She was a burlesque dancer and he was a sideshow performer. Both were covered head to toe, or should I say ‘face to feet’ in tattoos. Like most of the people in New Orleans they were very open to conversation. They admitted later that they were shocked that we would be interested in acknowledging them, let alone spending an hour and a half talking with them in the heat and humidity of New Orleans in July.
Most of our conversations were with him and once we started talking about Jesus, she sort of tuned out. (More on that in a minute.)
Their language was a little rough but their hearts seemed very genuine. They each had a painful history that they touched on briefly and they elaborated only on his drug addiction and her loss of a very close friend that died when she was a teenager.
Now I’m not a psychologist, a counselor or a therapist but it seemed pretty obvious that their lifestyle and their professions were a subconscious way of taking emotional pain and turning it into physical pain. As part of their performances, he would allow people to staple money to his body and to staple certain parts of his anatomy that would make you cringe if I told you. She would take a needle and push it through her cheek until it went through her mouth and came out the other cheek. Their attitude was ‘it’s only pain’.
As one team member would talk, the rest of us would be silently praying. And as I was praying, I heard the Lord tell me, “tell her she’s not dog s#*+”. Now if I was a religious person I would be thinking, “surely that’s not God.” But I traded religion for relationship years ago and I knew that was His voice. I have to admit though that it took hearing that 3 different times in my spirit before I stepped out and told her. And it was those words that broke down her walls as she choked back the tears. She had just been called that by someone that morning. And here is a total stranger letting her know that God is telling her that isn’t what she is. Those words got her attention. And God didn’t threaten to wash out my mouth with soap after I spoke that to her. That was His way of saying to her, ‘I know what you’re going through and you are important to Me.’ And she was much more open to believing God loves her after He (through me) spoke the exact phrase she was called that morning.
Am I suggesting we go around cursing on the street just because the people we are ministering to do? Absolutely not. But God isn’t afraid to get real with people and sometimes we have to let go of our religious attitudes to reach those He loves.
