In our Free Store conversation on Wednesday morning we started by talking a bit with George Hunt about his recent visit to his hometown in South Carolina. George told us that he left in 1995 after his mom died and hadn't been back or had any contact with family and friends there since that time. We also learned that George had been a missing person as one of his aunts had reported him missing to the police at some point after he disappeared. He was beaming as he showed us pictures that were taken of his happy reunion. When asked how the day was he said, "It was a 10" which made us laugh.
At this point Carlos said that he wanted us to look at a story in the New Testament in Acts 16. He said this study was in honor of the Tarot Card readings of our friend Curtis at the Tattoo Revolution event on Saturday, May 21 at Area 15. The story is basically about a slave girl that is forced by her owners into fortune telling for profit. Carlos said that fortune-telling was also mentioned in Galatians 5.16 as one of the works of the sinful nature. Unfortunately Curtis wasn't with us to talk about his perspective on the issue and since no one had much to say on it we moved on.
Somehow we got on the topic of the confederate flag and Jack said that the South is the only place in the world that the loser can fly their flag. We found this entertaining even though we weren't sure how it fit into the discussion. At this point Sheila looked at Carlos holding his well worn bible and said, "You're falling apart" which made us laugh. Realizing that we had strayed greatly from our topic Carlos patiently re-directed us to Galatians 5.16.
Carlos asked us if we had felt the conflict in ourselves between the Spirit of God and the sinful nature? In response someone brought up the importance of self-control which seemed to touch a nerve and sparked a lively conversation. Joelle said that self-control was one of the biggest things that she struggled with. Jack said that self-control is at the basis of breaking all 10 commandments because in every case it comes down to selfishness or taking something that doesn't belong to us whether from God or others. Joelle said this was because we always want the easy way when it comes to getting what we want. Sheila said that it really hurts when someone takes something from you. She also said that it felt better when you know you are working for what you get.
Carlos reminded us that self-control was a gift from God and that we had nothing to boast about when comparing ourselves to those that might not have much self-control. In response to Sheila bringing up that Rick's drinking was a real problem and that it bothered her Carlos said to her, "All of us will take a crack at you next" which made us laugh. From the look on Sheila's face she seemed genuinely concerned that we were going to start picking on her bad habits which we also found very amusing.
At this point someone said that we can't really credit God totally with self-control because it is "self" control which made us laugh. He went on to say although selfishness gets a bad press in religious circles that there is always at least 50 percent self-interest in everything we do. In fact, Jesus used love of self as the base line and yard stick for love of others. We talked a bit about how we can't even love others properly if we don't know to love ourselves in a healthy way.
As the conversation moved to a close Sheila said "I lost Dave two months ago today." She said that she regretted the time that they fought at a hotel and she left and didn't go back to get him. She went on to say that when she was little she didn't like men because she was abused by her father and brother. She told us that it took her eighteen years of marriage to finally open up to her first husband Carl and let him in totally. At this Joelle said that she and Sheila were being very therapeutic to each other. Sheila said, "I'm a lot stronger now. I used to drink every night, now I don't." Overall it was a lively, honest, raw, and yet ultimately encouraging conversation.
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