“They” are ruining everything…

What a peculiar state we’re in
Let’s play a game
Where all of the lives we meet can change
Let’s play a game
Where nothing that we can see, the same

-Au Revoir by Onerepublic

There are some things in life that I can never be sure if they were for good or bad.  Those things you can flip round and round in your brain, but eventually land on, “I guess we will find out eventually…”

Those fuzzy areas make me perpetually curious.  I look at what I believe and why and then think, ‘Says who?’  Because you can have sincere ideas all of your life and suddenly, in a moment of spontaneous thought, the brain goes, “But why?”

You have probably guessed by now…I had one of those times a few days ago. (I am not much good at foreshadowing…)

I was driving down the street under a clear blue sky, thoughts attacking the next idea that has been cooking in my head for a sermon I have to preach on sex soon, and I had a sense that the area I was driving through was suddenly my destination.  I was going somewhere else, but God has His own ideas most of the time.

The odd part was that I was in Merced, driving down Collins.  My van was slowing down right behind the Hibachi Grill, next to the Ihop, and across the street from the Burger King.  There is really only one thing there, Planned Parenthood.

I am a good Christian boy, raised on good sound doctrine and I ingest a fairly regular diet of the Godfather of Fox News, Papa Bear O’rielly.  Yet here I sit, in the parking lot of corporate ‘liberal evil.’

So what now God?  This one’s all you…

It was His turn, because I did not want to do more than put the van back into the gear marked D with the happy green glow.  I sat for a long while, gradually realizing that if I did not turn the van off and walk inside, something would actually die inside me.  That this was oddly significant in someway, and to run would be to run not from this but to run from Him.

So I went in, and to my surprise, no one was actually wearing Devil’s horns at the front desk.

I found a large room with about a dozen girls and two rather freaked out guys, all spread at some distance from each other.  There was a wall of tinted windows and a front counter that was marked off by bullet proof glass (probably to protect them from people that claim my God too).  There was a small area to slip papers through at the bottom.

The lady asked if I had Insurance or MediCal, to which I responded that, “I have Insurance, but you won’t need my info.”  Probably should have thought that one through before I said it to her, it sounds a lot more ominous writing it out!  I promise I said it with a slight smile.  Slight because my next phrase to her was, “Can I talk to someone about this place?

“What?” the girl responded.

“I don’t really know why I am here,” I continued, “But I think I am supposed to talk to someone about what you guys do here.”

“Uh, hold on a second.” Then the girl disappeared.  Let’s be honest, I would have too.  My super ability is that I am freakishly good at being awkward.

I was told to wait in the lobby and so I sat down next to a guy there by himself.  This was more awkward to him than me, mostly because there were about 30 empty chairs and I picked the chair one away from him.  I said hi, but he just looked down with a face that seemed able burn a hole in the floor tiles.

And so we just sit.

Eventually, a lady came out saying my name a few times and scanning the room.  I got up, but she was already walking over and sat down next to me.

“They said you have some questions about what we do here?” She started off.

“Yeah, I don’t know much about this place and wanted to find out what you do here.”

We had a great conversation for the next half hour about what they do, their education methods, goals as an organization, community work and STI prevention.  The odd thing was that though I vehemently disagreed with certain methods they use, there was a distinct openness to the conversation, as if I was already accepted by her from the very beginning.  A far cry from the sulfur stank I was certain would be all over her.  Instead, I found it unnerving how close at times her concerns for teenagers mirrored my own.  Though we were coming at the issues from opposite directions, we both genuinely cared that teens knew the importance of making healthy decisions in life.

I then asked her how she came to be involved in Planned Parenthood, thinking the answer would be almost a blueprint for ‘this is how you enlist in Satan’s Army.’  Her response was shocking to me.  She had made some rough decisions and found herself pregnant in her teens.  There was no one there for her, she was shunned and had no where to turn.  She went to PP and they helped get her back on her feet, learn the importance of good decision making, gave her free childcare to stay in school, helped her graduate and now she is married with 4 kids.

She then told me about how her passion is to help other teens have a place to belong and be successful in life.  To emphasize making good decisions and the importance of community, that they are not on their own.  If it was not for the location and references to pregnancy and not babies all the time, she sounded as if she was on staff at a church, not at an abortion clinic.

I eventually reached the end of my questions for her and asked if I could come back next week with any questions I had and hear more about her story.  She told me she would love to, so we set up a time for this week to talk again.

I have been thinking about it for quite a few days now, not knowing exactly what to make of it other than I felt more in line with God’s will in that room than I have in my office for a long time.

Was I there for her?

Was I there for me?

Why did she happen to be there on a day she was scheduled to be off of work and I happen to sit down and talk with her?

I have no idea…yet.

But what I do know is that when we throw individuals into categories and talk about how ‘they’ are ruining everything, we all lose.  Every time.  Because ‘them’ is always made up of a bunch of shes and hes.  And when I callous myself up and look down from my Christian tower, it actually starts to kill me.  I become less and less me when I refuse to engage His world.  When we enter those places, and we find Hell and throw Heaven into it, something has to change.

And usually it’s us.

¹⁶ “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves. ¹⁷ Be on your guard… do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, ²⁰ for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.

Matthew 10:16-20

Something to think about…