I'm Not a Mother, I'm Not a Drug Dealer....

Yesterday, I had an experience that scared me out of my mind. An innocent trip to Fuquay-Varina ended up turning into a rather interesting and thought provoking experience. First of all, Jordan and I had to go to the Sprint store to get a new antenna for her phone because it fell off of her top bunk bed and broke. This was partially my fault, because I was flickering the lights which scared Jordan to the point where she jumped around on her bed, causing her phone to crash to the floor. Point blank, it was broken and had to be fixed immediately....As we waited in the Sprint store, I listened to the conversation that the sales technician was having with a cystomer in the store....about how she was a Christian but she didn't go to church because she was who she was and she didn't want to be judged. This seemed to be a pretty profound statement to share with a strange man that you had never seen before. It made me really sad. To realize that people stray away from our churches because they feel judged and categorized by the members of the church makes me very upset, especially since I know that the only judging should come from God. Jesus died for EVERYONE'S sins, we all sin and fall short of the glory of God and are no better than our neighbor. After that customer left, we walked up to that same lady. She began to tell us about how she had nine cats in her house and they peed all over everything and even threw up on her stove. How disguisting! But then, she said something that really broke my heart. She said that she had to tell her fiancee to choose between her and the cats because they were moving from one trailor park to another and they couldn't go with them. This woman told us that she wasn't sure which her fiancee would pick. Imagine settling for someone who you weren't even sure cared more for you than a cat! I am reading a book right now called "Lady in Waiting" which discusses the call to find God's best for your life, even if it means waiting. I can't being with someone who equivalated (I might have just made up that word) my importance with a CAT. I felt really sorry for this woman....and I don't want to forget the fact that I need to continually do my part to make the church a place where broken people come to be embraced by a community of believers that can help them grow in their faith.
After we left the Sprint store, we went and browsed in some of the downtown shops for a little while. I didn't want to go back to campus...I had been working on Western Civ almost allll day and I was just sick of doing homework...We went back to Jordan's car and began a discussion about what we were gonna do for supper. The cafeteria has been severely lacking this week and we had definitely ruled out the cafeteria. We were just sitting there trying to decide between Ruby Tuesday's or the cheaper way out of going to the Oasis at school where we could just use our declining balance without having to spend any paper money. All of a sudden, a woman came up to the car and tapped on the window. Red flag---I got soooo scared all because I didn't know what this woman wanted from us. Immediately, I just knew that I was going to die or be injured or robbed or something. Both of our pocketbooks were sitting in our laps. I told Jordan that she WAS going to rob us. For some random reason, Jordan's alarm system on her car went off at that moment and no matter how hard she tried it would not stop. She told me that in order for it to stop she was going to have to unlock the door. That suspicious woman was standing on MY side of the car and so I was very reluctant for her to do that, but she did. The whole time the woman stood there and waited for this ordeal to be over. If it was me, I would have cleared the place. I wanted us to drive off and not acknowledge the woman but Jordan cracked my window a little bit and we listened as she said Now girls, I'm not a mother (or maybe mugger) and I'm not a drug dealer. I'm just behind on my week's rent and any money that you have I would appreciate. I wasn't going to give her a dime (isn't that terrible!) because I was scared that if I went into my wallet, she would reach through the window and take my wallet. Jordan gave her a dollar and then we left. I finally breathed a sign of relief, but then I felt convicted almost immediately. Although I believe that the woman was lying, especially because she couldn't even look at us and her story didn't make much sense, I shouldn't have felt the attitude toward her that I did. Is that what Jesus would have done? Not a chance. I also was angry that some people that aren't really in need make me judgmental and unwilling to discern from the people that really do need help. I could go on forever but I am SICK of writing....