Participants: Cheri Peters (Host), Stacey Bekkela
Series Code: CLR
Program Code: CLR000131A
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00:01 The following program discusses sensitive issues
00:03 related to addictive behavior. 00:05 Parents are cautioned that some material 00:06 may be too candid for younger children. 00:08 My guest today, is like my sister 00:11 but just imagine being surrounded by addicts, 00:15 grandmother in and out of jail, 00:16 mother shooting that meth and you're six years old. 00:20 She had to decide to survive at that age. 00:22 How did she do it? 00:23 We'll find out today in the cafe. 00:25 Welcome to Celebrating Life in Recovery, 00:27 I'm Cheri, your host. 00:28 Come join us. 00:56 You know, it's interesting to me, 00:57 there was a time in my life, I'm going to church and I am... 01:01 I love church and it's ridiculous 01:04 'cause I wasn't raised like that. 01:06 My background is really crazy but I love my church family, 01:09 so I'm going to church 01:10 and I ended up going down a different street 01:13 than I normally go down 01:14 and I live in a old country town 01:16 and I'm going down this different street 01:17 and I pass this strip club and it was crazy 01:21 'cause as I passed, I looked up and this kid is walking in 01:24 and I think she's, like, 16 years old. 01:26 And she's walking and obviously, 01:28 gonna start her shift. 01:30 And I thought, I cannot believe, 01:32 I haven't even said, 'Hi.' 01:35 You know, I'd never thought about going there. 01:37 I've never thought about, you know, 01:39 I wonder if I could just say, 'Hi' 01:40 and, kind of, talk about my life or just say, 'Hi,' 01:43 just get to know her or anybody that works there. 01:46 And so I'm going to church and I'm thinking of that 01:49 and I'm feeling bad 01:51 because my family is all strung out, 01:53 my family has various addictions. 01:55 My sister was raised in strip clubs. 01:58 My other sister's a meth addict 01:59 and we used to have all of that, kind of, stuff. 02:01 So I'm thinking about this, 02:03 all the way to church and I get to church 02:04 and I'm trying to just sit there 02:06 and wait for the sermon, 02:07 I wait for Sabbath school and all that kind of stuff 02:09 and in my mind I'm thinking, "Man, I wish I... 02:12 Maybe, I could go back there." 02:14 And all of the sound equipment breaks, right? 02:17 And somebody says, "We're gonna fix the sound." 02:20 Does anybody have a story or something to say 02:23 while we're waiting for someone to fix a sound. 02:26 And I'm like, "I do" and I did. 02:30 And then not only did I have a story, 02:32 is I wanted you to pray 'cause you know what? 02:34 When I leave here, I'm gonna go to that strip club 02:37 and I'm looking, I'm serious. 02:38 I'm looking like Mary Poppins, I'm all dressed up. 02:40 So I'm gonna go to the strip club, 02:42 so when I leave here, 02:44 I'm gonna go talk to that girl at the strip club, 02:46 so would you pray for me? 02:47 And the entire church looked the same way, 02:50 like, can you do that on the Sabbath? 02:53 And it was, like, they were shocked, there was... 02:56 I could see in their faces, 02:57 like, I don't know if you could, kind of, 02:59 do that on the Sabbath and I thought, "Oh, stop. 03:01 I just want prayer." 03:03 Right, so I'm asking someone to pray 03:04 and I can't wait till the sermon's over 03:07 now 'cause I have a plan. 03:08 I literally have a plan. 03:10 So I get back in my car and on Sabbath, 03:13 and I end up at the strip club 03:14 and it was called, 'The Nickel' something. 03:16 It was the sleaziest place you've ever seen. 03:18 Just a tiny little, kind of, shed in the middle of nowhere 03:22 and so I started to go into this club 03:26 and what was funny about going into this club, 03:29 is I get there and this guy is standing at the door 03:32 and he says, "There's a cover charge." 03:35 And I'm, like, "Really? 03:36 You're gonna charge me to walk in here." 03:38 You should pay me, it was such a, you know, 03:41 I'm just laughing and I'm thinking, 03:42 "I don't want anyone 03:44 because I'm surrounded by Sabbath keepers." 03:46 I don't want anyone say, 03:47 "Well, you can't buy and sell on the Sabbath." 03:49 So I'm thinking, I'm paying the cover charge. 03:51 So I paid to get in, right? 03:54 And then I go sit down and the guy says, 03:56 "It'd be a two drink minimum." 03:59 Stop, you're killing me. 04:01 I'm just trying to talk with this girl, right? 04:03 So two drinks, so I ordered a couple of 7ups 04:06 and now the girls are dancing, and inside a strip club 04:09 when the lights are off, 04:11 you can play it off like this is, 04:13 kind of, a nice little bar. 04:15 When the lights go on, it is horrible looking 04:17 but I'm sitting there. 04:18 I've got my 7ups, I'm doing whatever 04:22 and the owner finally comes and it's like, 04:23 "What are you doing here?" 04:25 Because at first, they thought I was working for the bank, 04:27 maybe, fix an ATM. machine. 04:29 You know what I mean? 'Cause I don't fit. 04:31 I don't look like I would be in there during the day, 04:33 all that kind of stuff and so I told them. 04:36 I said, "You know what? 04:37 I was funneled into a $32 million industry 04:39 when I was 13 years old, on the streets of L.A. 04:42 There are 80,000 kids on the streets right now. 04:45 In any major city, you're gonna find them 04:47 and I just saw this girl walk in this morning 04:50 and I just wanted to say, "Hi." Just say, you know, who I am. 04:53 And he says that wasn't okay with him. 04:55 But he did say something to me that, 04:57 "Cheri, I don't do this to hurt anyone." 05:02 And I said, "I know," 05:03 and I knew he was telling the truth. 05:05 He wasn't out to hurt anyone. 05:06 This was his business 05:08 and we, kind of, became friends. 05:11 I gave him a book. 05:12 We talked a little bit and I said, 05:14 "But it does hurt people, you know," 05:16 and I got up and left. 05:18 He didn't really want me to talk to the girls 05:19 while they were dancing, he didn't want me to, 05:21 kind of, jump in and interfere with the day. 05:23 But I left and as I'm walking out 05:25 I said in my head, "God, some day, 05:30 let this be a church." 05:32 Just in my head, I get sent away 05:34 for a couple of weeks after that 05:36 and I'm, you know, on a gig, I come back 05:39 and then I'm out again and I travel a lot. 05:41 So I'm out a number of times. 05:43 By the time I make it back to church, 05:45 the time has passed and someone said, 05:48 "Cheri, did you hear what happened to that club, 05:51 that we prayed about?" 05:52 And I'm like, "No." 05:54 And on New Year's Eve, 05:56 somebody had a fight in the parking lot. 05:58 They killed someone in the parking lot, 06:00 then they are arrested 06:01 and everybody started checking this person's books, 06:03 the club gets shut down. 06:05 And their liquor license was actually pulled, 06:07 all of that stuff. 06:08 And so now it's nothing. 06:10 As time has gone by, it went from nothing to a pool hall, 06:15 from a pool hall to a nothing again. 06:18 My feeling is, some day it's gonna be a church 06:20 and so what I thought during that time, 06:25 is that sometimes people whose lives are not changed 06:27 'cause we forget to pray for them. 06:29 Sometimes, we look at whole people groups, 06:34 areas of town, all of that kind of stuff 06:36 and we don't take time to slow down and say, 06:40 "God, please cover them, be with them." 06:44 And so what I wanna say right now, 06:46 I'm gonna introduce you to a friend of mine 06:47 when we come back and I want you to know. 06:49 Don't judge anyone. 06:51 If you don't like a businesses in town, 06:53 pray for that, if you don't, 06:54 if you think somebody is being damaged, 06:56 go talk to them. 06:58 But don't just drive by, 06:59 'cause, you know, we're not in that time anymore. 07:01 It's not time to drive by, it's time to change lives. 07:04 And today, I can't wait 07:06 'cause you're gonna see a life that was changed 07:08 and you're gonna want to kiss God all over the face 07:10 'cause it's amazing. 07:12 We'll be right back. 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Revised 2016-10-24