The Everyday Club

12/14/10     Mike, 32
At a McDonald's on a busy drug-dealing corner in our part of Chicago, Marcus (from church) and I sat down to talk to Josephine and Mike, two very street-wise and street-involved individuals who nonetheless also had a church background and could use "church lingo" with ease. Their religious talk made it seem like they had great respect for the Lord, when in reality they showed no signs of repentance. Their attitude was that "God is supposed to forgive", and they felt like they could just go on to live life as they chose. Josephine, who has a hard-drug habit, talked more freely with us but had to leave early. Mike, who kept sizing up the people around him the way street hustlers do, became more and more interested and focused as we talked and had some good questions after Josephine left. "Would God forgive even the worse sinners? How can that be?" was his main question. He also admitted that the one thing that he would not be willing to give up to follow Jesus would be his marijuanna use. This sparked some more good discussion. One thing that really seemed to hit home with Mike was that the longer he waits to repent and follow Jesus, the more calloused his heart is becoming and the harder it will be to repent later. (Ephesians 4:17-19) We gave him a "Save Yourself Some Pain" booklet and prayed with Mike that he will heed the words of the Lord.