"Charlie" The Janitor

In New Orleans, we had an interesting encounter with the janitor of the club we did the redo for.
We arrived at the club at 8:00am Saturday, where the janitor (I will call him Charlie here, but that is not his real name) was supposed to meet us and unlock the door. He arrived at 8:30, and seemed a bit grumpy. When he opened the door of the dressing room, we were shocked at the condition...trash everywhere, cigaret butts, tissues, plastic cups strewn all over the floor, as if trash cans did not exist.  Charlie explained that it is like that every morning. He may have felt that paint and decorating for these girls was useless because they didn't take care of what they had.
We just happily unpacked our supplies and started cleaning. As we worked, we prayed, sang, and laughed a lot, and Charlie began to warm up to us. He was working upstairs in the main room, but had to walk through the dressing room from time to time.
Dixie asked if he liked the color. He said he did not, but maybe the girls would. Eventually, Charlie began to give suggestions about the decorating. He suggested that a few things be painted black, and brought us some black paint. We used the paint to paint around the shower wall, and put some back swirls on a wall he thought should be black.

 
Charlie even had to leave at noon and told us he would be back in 30 minutes, and left us there working, trusting that we would be good!
When Charlie got back, we were loading up, ready to leave. A few girls were speaking to him, telling him Bye, and taking pictures with him. Karen told him good bye, and said "God bless you". He replied, "I am a born again Christian."
He had never mentioned that before, and we left grateful to know that he was a brother.

New Orleans

Last week, a group of Cottonwood women headed to New Orleans to help out with a ministry there that former Cottonwood members, Patrick and Dixie Bernson, started two years ago to reach out to women who are working in the strip clubs and brothels in New Orleans.
The ministry name is One, because they feel that even if they reach only one woman who is rescued from that life, their work is worthwhile.  They have a team of women who get permission to enter the clubs, visit with the women working there, take gifts to the women, the owners, the bouncers, and security workers. The hope is that through showing love and acceptance, they can bring hope and cause their hearts to be soft to receive the gospel.
The purpose of our trip was to encourage the ministry team and help them in their ministry in any way.
After some discussion and much prayer, Dixie and Patrick asked the owner of one of the clubs if we could paint and redecorate the dark, dirty, dismal dressing room of the club. When the team visits the club, they are able to speak with just a few of the women. Redecorating the dressing room would possible touch the hearts of all of the women who work there.
We arrived last Thursday night (No one knows why it took us 15 hours to make a 10 hour trip. We didn't stop for shopping or a lingering meal, didn't have car trouble or excessive traffic!! It's a mystery!)


Here is our group. Dixie is in front of, in the green stripes. Surrounding her, from left to right, MariLea, Jaykie, Teressa, Shellie, Nancy, Jeannette, and Karen.


On Friday morning, we drove around and took a few pictures of the clubs and brothels in East New Orleans. Here are a few pictures, just to give an idea of the area.

 

 

The strip clubs are clearly marked with signs, but the brothels are in nondescript buildings, some with a sign with just a name, like Lily Pad or Sakura, or they are labeled as health clubs or modelling agencies. Driving around the area gave us a good idea of the kind of activity is there...a neighborhood of clubs and cheap hotels mixed with small stores and regular businesses.
 We spent Friday afternoon baking cookies, painting canvasses, and getting things ready for Saturday.

 

 

 Dixie had told me that the girls were open to receive Bibles, but asked for pretty ones. I was blessed to find very pretty Women's Devotional Bibles at a phenomenal price. We wrote a note and tied a bow around each one to leave for the girls.

Friday night, we went out in small groups for a prayer drive. We prayed as we drove around the neighborhood, then parked in front of each business to pray for the people there. 

Saturday morning, we loaded our supplies and headed for the designated club. I took "before" pictures, but they don't really show the true condition of the room. I took a lot of  "during" pictures as our group worked with 8 young women of the team, cleaning and painting as we prayed, sang, visited, and laughed.

 

 

 

 

 

And, the finished product! 

 

 

 

A little bit of sight seeing Saturday afternoon. 

On Sunday afternoon, we had a special ministry time for the girls who are part of One Ministry. 

We set up a spa in Dixie's house and did pedicures, facials, massages, and one on one prayer ministry. 

We served them supper, then had a time of worship and a word of encouragement for them. 

I meant to take pictures, but was too busy doing facials! 

God was good. We travelled safely and had a great time. 

The Battle We Face Every Day

Satan is at war with us, and we have to understand that. We have to fight the battle. Jesus has won the war. Jesus has already defeated this enemy. But, every day we are to fight the battle in our own lives. 

I believe that this war started from the very beginning.  

Gen 1:28 This is at the point of creation of man, the very first thing that God said to the man and woman He had just created.                                                                                                                                                                           “ And God blessed them. And God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth."

Those words that God spoke, subdue, and have dominion indicate a battle, some work, some striving, that it would not happen automatically. 

The Hebrewword for subdue--kabash (kaw-bash');  to tread down;  to conquer, subjugate, violate:

 and for dominion-- radah (raw-daw');tread down, i.e. subjugate;

These words indicate a battle.

I wonder if Adam and Eve really understood this. They were not on guard.

Adam and Eve lost the first battle.  They lost it because they were not on guard and they were deceived.

Satan’s Lies

Gen 3:1-5  Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God actually say, 'You shall not eat of any tree in the garden'?" 2 And the woman said to the serpent, "We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3 but God said, 'You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.'" 4  But the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."

That was not true. It is a deception.

That is the way he ensnared Eve, and that is his weapon today. Satan came to Eve and lied to her. He twisted the words of God and caused her to doubt the character of God and the love of God.

This is the weapon he still uses. Satan comes to us, and he lies to us. We don’t know that it is Satan. We think that its us, our own thoughts.  Sometimes he uses the words of a friend, a parent, a teacher, a celebrity. The lies cause us to doubt God’s word, to doubt His character, and to doubt His love for us.

There are many lies that Satan uses, tailor made for the individual. Satan’s lies are sometimes very subtle, with a touch of truth to make them more believable.  But, the basis of all of his lies are the same.  the big lies that are the foundation for all the other lies.

God is not enough

1.     God is not enough. 

God created the man and woman to be in fellowship with Him.  He was their source, their strength, their guide, their everything.

Satan came to Eve and suggested that God was not enough.  Satan suggested  that she could not trust God, that God had not told her the truth, that God was holding out on her, that there was something that she needed that God had told her she could not have.  He suggested that she could make her own decisions if she just had the knowledge she needed. Then, she would not have to rely on God.

Satan made her think that God was not enough, that she needed more.

The truth is that God is enough. God told Paul, My grace is sufficient for you. The psalmist said that full joy is in God’s presence.

The covert lie that God is not enough is the lie at the root of many of our problems.

God is not enough, I need money. God is not enough, I need a man, or a woman. God is not enough, I need drink….

I am not enough

2.     The other root lie of Satan is You are not enough.

He told Eve, “your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” The implication is that, Eve, your not enough as you are. You are not enough, you need to be more, to know more.

That is the lie behind many of our issues. I am not enough.

I am not enough, so I need to work harder. I am not enough, I need to be perfect. I am not enough, I am not worthy of love. I am not enough, not good enough, not pretty enough, not strong enough, not smart enough. Fill in the blank.

This lie that I am not enough is the cause of most emotional problems. It is depressing to have the overwhelming feeling that I am not enough. It causes anxiety, fear, shame, condemnation.

Because I am not enough, I want to make myself feel better. That is the start of drinking, using drugs, illicit sex, drive for more money, eating disorders…

Also, it is the source of a lot of “good behavior” that is separate from God.  The fruit that satan enticed Eve with was from the tree of the Knowledge of good and evil. It’s not all about the evil. The temptation was that she could know evil and good apart from God.  Sometimes good things like religion, doing good works to earn love, being legalistic, holding to doctrines above life and love.. Good things that we use to make us feel better about not being enough.

The lies that God is not enough, and that you are not enough are the root of our problems. As believers, these lies are the source of the shackles around our legs that keep us from dancing. We hear Satans lies from our early years. We don’t know that they are lies. As far as we know, they are true. We build lives around those lies, we set up behavior patterns, defense mechanisms, emotional default settings that are based on lies.

So, why can’t we just stop believing the lies, remove the shackles, and dance? 

Help for the battle

Because we are in this battle, we need help. We are not meant to fight alone.

We are not alone.  In Gen 3, it seems that Eve went into battle alone, never realizing it was a battle, not knowing that she needed help.  Gen 3:6  and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her,

Adam was there. I don’t know what the dynamic was. Did Adam just stand there and watch the whole conversation? Did Eve say, It’s OK, I’ve got this?  I don’t know.

But, this shows that from the start there was a factor in this battle, that we don’t fight alone. We need a team to help us.  

This also was part of the creation. God created man, and He said, It’s not good for man to be alone. God created man to be in community. We are not supposed to be independent, self made, self reliant folks. That’s hard for us Texans to accept. We think we have to be big strong capable men and women who don’t need help. That’s balony.  No one goes to war alone.

Eph 6:12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

Is that a fight you want to enter by yourself?

You know the Bible tells us to love one another, serve one another, be devoted to one another, accept one another, forgive one another, encourage one another, confess to one another, even greet one another with a kiss! Jesus sent his disciples out in pairs. The apostle Paul never traveled alone. We just were not meant to do it on our own.

In this spiritual battle, we need the strength to endure and to successfully resist our enemy when he opposes us. Fighting alone, we endanger ourselves when we could and should be looking for ways to become stronger and the easiest way to do that is to multiply your forces! 

Eccl 4, “Two are better than one… Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him. And a threefold cord is not quickly broken” (Eccl. 4:9, 12). In our spiritual fight, why should we unnecessarily endanger ourselves by not calling reinforcements when we could? When we join together in the fight against our spiritual enemies, it is then we become automatically stronger and more able to resist and defeat them!

We NEED each other.