I get my hair cut at Great Clips. Yesterday, I went to get a trim. It was the middle of the day and I was the only customer. I walked in and my hair cutter (stylist?!) and I started talking.
I asked her where she was from and she said originally Mexico but now she lives in Cicero.
I told her that I was in Cicero on Saturday night, visiting some friends.
She asked me if I was at a house party or something.
I told her I was there for a youth church service.
She asked me where the church was and I told her it was The Salvation Army on Laramie.
She said she had been there once, to donate some clothes but didn’t know it was a church.
I told her it was and that she should check it out some Sunday.
She asked me if I thought drinking was a sin.
I told her that the Bible says “getting drunk” is a sin.
She asked me if I drink.
I said no.
She asked me if I ever went to parties.
I said I did.
(We were the only ones in Great Clips).
I said that Jesus used to go to parties. That his first miracle was at a party. That he made some really great wine out of water. That drinking it wasn’t wrong. But getting drunk is a problem that God doesn’t like.
She said that getting drunk wasn’t a bad thing and that it only affected her.
I said that getting drunk usually affects others. How about drunk drivers? How about abusive husbands? How about creating situations of adultery? How about genetically passing alcoholism onto your children? How about the long term affects of alcohol? How about not having whole years of your life—to enjoy your children and grandchildren—because of reckless living? I told her, my great great grandfather was a drunk. My great grandfather was a drunk. My grandfather broke the curse and claimed a blessing, my father maintained a blessing and I accept that blessing today.
She changed her mind.
I said that God gives us a choice.
She agreed.
I motioned from under the hot, hair covered, plastic poncho I was wearing that right now I have the choice to run out of this building and dart across traffic but that I would rather stay here, get a haircut and talk to her.
(It wasn’t a very good analogy. She nodded).
She said she saw my point, though she didn’t understand most Christians.
I told her I didn’t either. I told her that most people (Christians and non-Christians) think that Christianity is nothing more than a set of rules. It’s not; it’s God’s standard of love.
She said that most Christians are good at judging but bad at loving and that most Non-Christians are good at loving but bad a judging. She said that is why she doesn’t like most Christians.
(She was done cutting my hair. I still sat in the levitating chair with a plastic poncho and a piece of tissue paper around my neck. We made eye contact through the reflection of the mirror as we continued to talk).
I told her that I was guilty and that I saw her point. I told her that as a Christian I should express my faith through love. I told her that Christ came to the world because he loved us; so Christians should be in the world to love others.
She agreed.
I told her that I was working on it. I pointed to the fact that I was in her home town, Cicero, because of love. I said look what love did. It brought me, a white suburban man into fellowship with Hispanic urban youths. I said, and I love them and that was a beautiful thing.
(Another customer came into Great Clips).
Silence.
I sat there and she held a mirror behind my head. I said it looked good. She took a brush and swept the hair off my neck.
She whispered. All that stuff you were talking about makes sense. Thanks for sharing it with me.
I paid and left to go get some coffee next door.
I sat and read Aggressive Christianity:
So here is what we have to contend with: a dying world. Dying for what, I ask? Sermons? No. Books? No. Religious stories? I hope not. We have plenty of all those things to last the rest of our lives. Dying for what? Mission statements? No. Creeds? We have those by the dozens. What is the world dying for? Let me suggest that it is dying for downright, straightforward, honest, loving, true testimony of what God can do for them. That is what it wants. That is what people really want in the bars and clubs, in the theaters and concerts, everywhere people gather. They want somebody to come and take them by the hand and tell them that God is God, and that He can save them. Tell them, “He has saved me, He can save you.” That is what the world wants. One word like that is better than a sermon, and will do much more for the salvation of the world.
Youth Department