You Never Know Whom You’ll Run In To

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Last night we took Easter buckets containing candy and a neon/glittery Easter egg (with a rolled-up scripture verse inside) to the clubs. Not all Easter eggs contained the same verse.

At the first club, we were getting ready to pray for a dancer who had just come off stage when a waitress came in and wanted to join the prayer. We prayed for a healthy pregnancy and delivery for the dancer and also for the waitress’ mother’s health.

As we walked through a different club, a girl jumped straight out of her chair and said (in English), “I don’t speak English, but I need prayer for my husband, my kids, my mother, my family.”  It was like she was waiting on us. So Erin and Danielle prayed.

When Erin and Danielle walked in the second club, they gave the door girl (cashier) an Easter bucket and didn’t try to talk to her too much because she looked tired and they didn’t want to bother her. As Erin and Danielle were leaving, the door girl said, “There’s a scripture verse in this Easter egg. It’s Jeremiah 29:11. I have that verse tattooed on me.”  What a cool conversation starter.

As they talked more, Danielle found out she and the door girl (we’ll call her “Amber” – name changed to protect her identity) were from the same city and went to the same high school only a few years apart. In fact, Amber had attended Danielle’s church (where Danielle’s dad pastors) when Amber was a little girl. Amber asked about several families she remembered from the church and community.  Danielle encouraged her to come back to church to see everyone. Amber didn’t want anyone to know what she’s doing now. Danielle encouraged her to find a good church somewhere and not to give up on God.

I’m not sure who was more surprised by this encounter – Amber or Danielle. We never know what happened to “the little girl who used to come to church” or “the little boy who showed up at Vacation Bible School” whom we never saw again. But the impressions we make on these “little ones” last a lifetime. They remember the kindness they were shown. They remember the rudeness, too.

Life can throw curve balls. Sometimes people end up in places they never imagined or wanted. Sometimes they remember the kindness, but it gets overshadowed by shame or guilt so they don’t reach out to anyone – including God.

But then in the middle of the place you never imagined, a rolled-up scripture in an Easter Egg shows up in your Easter basket. That same scripture verse just happens to be tattooed on your body. Some kindness from the past walks through the front door and back in to your life.

Sounds like something God would orchestrate to remind someone “I know the plans I have for you. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you a hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11)

You never know whom you’ll run in to in a strip club. But God does.

Drenda & the PTD Team