The Everyday Club

6/17/10 Juan, 21 and friends
Out on my bike I felt compelled to stop and talk with two guys (Juan, 21 and his friend, 32) as they sat on some bleacher seats at a park. I could tell they are heavily involved in the violence and daily drama of the streets and asked if they were willing to talk about the most important question of their lives. "What's that?" Juan asked, curious. "Have you come close to death?" I asked. "All the time" they answered. "So the big question is 'What's next?' What do you think comes next?" Juan said he thinks he will just die and that will be it. More questions, however, revealed that this was just an easy answer, and that, like so many people, he believes that if there is a heaven he is good enough to deserve going there, so I went on to talk about God's judgment and the Ten Commandments. By this time some friends joined us and our conversation had an audience. They passed around a large marijuana 'blunt" and Juan asked "What do you think about marijuana? God made it, right?" "Sure, and God made rocks but you don't hit yourself in the head with them do you?" Juan tried to refute or excuse the Bible and most of the commandments, and he finally said "Who does God think he is, I mean, who is He to judge me?" His friends immediately seemed to realize Juan had crossed the line as his rebellion against God became obvious, and they sided with me in my questions. I began to talk about Jesus but they decided to leave at this point, leaving them with a real sense of where they really stand with God come judgment day.