If You're A Prostitute and Sell Your Ass I Still Love You

In our Free Store conversation on Wednesday morning our friend Carlos led a discussion that revolved around the idea of judging other people.  He is currently leading us in a study through the book of Romans in the New Testament.  Carlos started things off by telling us that God will often let us go for the purpose of helping us out.  He said that this was similar to a parent that at some point might have to kick a child out of the house because what they are doing just isn't acceptable.

Carlos asked us to think about what it would be like if a 17 year old kid got kicked out of the house and his 16 year old brother was left.  He told us that the 16 year old might start to think he was something special just because he didn't get kicked out.  Carlos said that the younger boy might start to be very judgmental toward his brother even though he might be doing the same things.  Carlos said that we should be careful because "if you're judging someone else you are probably doing the same thing" although you might not recognize it.  He told us to imagine a sexual mistake tree which immediately got our attention.  He said to imagine that there are many different kinds of fruit on the tree but that it is nourished by a single root.  He told us that we all have the root of sexual faults in us regardless of the different kind of fruit that is produced.

At this point  in the conversation Sheila said, "We're all humans.  Nobody is perfect."  She also said that "we're all special."  Carlos said that sometimes a person may feel like they are special and so feel entitled to do whatever the hell they want.  He said, "You'll be saying 'God loves me from prison" which made us laugh.  Sheila said, "I like to see a person that has come out of prison and turned their life around."

As we continued to talk about judging others our friend George said, "If you're a prostitute and sell your ass I still love you." He said that "if I can change then anybody can." He went on to say that "You'll fall but you can always pick yourself up and not fall back in your old ways."


Carlos told us about a friend that had said to him at one point, "It's my year to be an asshole."  Carlos told the guy that he thought that he would just take the year off as his friend which made us laugh.  This led us to talk about how there are consequences for the decisions that we make.  Even though we are all equally loved as children of God regardless of our circumstances we do tend to reap what we sow in life.

As the conversation moved to a conclusion Carlos asked, "What are we gonna plant today?  What good thing are we gonna do for someone else?"  Then he turned and asked George, "What can I do for  you today to make up for waking you up from your nap yesterday?"  At this George started rubbing his stomach which made us laugh.  Someone suggested that Carlos might bring in a big porkchop at which George just shook his head while grinning broadly.