Celebrating Life in Recovery

The Trailer Life

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: Cheri Peters (Host), Stacey Bekkela

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Series Code: CLR

Program Code: CLR000131A


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. Stay with us.


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Revised 2016-10-24