Thursday, May 30, 2013

What Happens In Vegas...

Last night, I was walking down the Las Vegas Strip alone with just our 2 youngest children.  I held Jayden on my backpack and Juliana walked by my side.   The rest of the family was watching a show where no babies were allowed.  As I walked along, I felt spiritually attacked as I saw WAY more parts of people’s bodies than I ever wanted to see.

I prayed to God asking HIM to show me one of HIS miracles in the midst of all that I was witnessing.  Immediately, I noticed the friendliness of people more than I had before.  I even tried to be patient with the women in thongs and big feathers waving at Juliana.

SEVERAL women and men were scantily dressed waiting for a tip just for the “honor” of looking at their bodies, but the ones who bothered me the most were the scores of men and women passing out business cards with naked women on them. These cards end up all over the street, so it’s VERY difficult to even look on the ground without being accosted by pornography.  (However, the amount of cards on the street is slightly better than it used to be; in years passed, the cards blanketed the sidewalk in a certain section of town.)

Every time I’ve been to Las Vegas, the people who pass out these cards are the ones who make me the angriest. From my understanding, these cards are actually advertising prostitution under the legal premise of it being a “massage.” I try hard to just ignore these people because they make me so mad. In turn, they don’t usually even come near me because I have so many small children hanging on me.  They don’t try to sell anything to the people at that moment- they just hand out the cards hoping people will make the phone call to their “business.”

I was relieved to see a musician on the street playing clean music.  I stopped to listen and tipped him because I appreciated him trying to make an honest living. 

As I stopped to listen to this musician, one of these men who passed out the cards stood kind of close to us and kept waving, smiling, and winking at my little Juliana- he obviously thought she was beautiful.  My first thought towards him was, “At what point does the value of a woman change for you?  She’s adorable to you now but soon you’ll consider her as meat just as you do all these other women.”  I wondered again, “When does that change for you?”  I ignored his gestures at first and wanted him and his scum to leave us alone.  Then he came over and gave her an unopened can of soda. 

Being civil, I told him thank you; and in Spanish, I asked him where that drink was from.  He told me he bought it and wanted to give it to her because she looked thirsty.  Then he leaned down to kiss her on her cheek.  I pulled her away because I certainly was not going to let a stranger kiss my precious daughter… ESPECIALLY not THIS stranger!!

I asked him not to kiss her.  He sincerely apologized explaining that he had children too.  He pulled out his wallet to show me the picture of one of his children.  That disgusted me even more because I thought he should be setting a better example for them.  I reluctantly looked at the picture and felt embarrassed even talking to this man who was advertising such a crass thing- I didn’t want to be associated with “his kind.”

He further explained the reason he couldn’t stop looking at my daughter was because she looked like his wife.  As he showed me a picture of his wife, he began to tremble and to cry right there on the Las Vegas Strip.  His said his wife had died just 6 months ago.  I looked at the picture of his wife.  I couldn’t believe it!  Juliana really did actually look like his wife!  I could see the pain and sincerity in his face.  This man was not trying to get any money from me…. He was a real person with a real story behind why he ended up doing one of the ugliest jobs.  He was trying to find a way to support his family in a foreign country.
I explained to him that he didn’t need to do a job like this.  I told him that his wife’s spirit still lives on and would help him.

 I asked him if he would like to know a better way. 
 
He said he would. 

We had just spent the previous evening with our wonderful friends who live in Las Vegas, and the husband happened to be a Mormon Bishop.  I promised this stranger that our bishop friend would be calling him to help him find a better way to make it in this life.

For a moment, I was slightly embarrassed to be putting the name and phone number of a man advertising sexual massages (prostitution) into my phone, but that embarrassment only lasted a moment because I KNEW that THIS was the miracle God was showing me…

Less than 5 minutes after my prayer to see a miracle, this man showed up by daughter’s side. (By law, these men have to stay FAR away from even appearing as if they are trying to solicit to children.)

God could have helped me to see a miracle in any of the other friendly people walking along the street.  No… God wanted me to know that HE loved and is working in the lives of even the ones who seem to be the most lost.

What a BEAUTIFUL love I felt from our Savior!  We know well the story of the adulterous woman who was about to be stoned to death for her sins.  Christ defended not her sin… but her.  He was criticized for even associating with her; and in John 8:7, he simply stated, “…He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.”

I have no idea if this man will change his occupation.  I hope he does, but I have learned that everyone has a story... they are real people with a Heavenly Father and a Savior who love them.   I am not the one to judge a person’s circumstance… I have an opportunity to make better choices in my own life according to my own understanding and pray for forgiveness for my own sins.  I am also more confident in the love that God has for me.  No matter how many mistakes I make, HE is neither giving up on me nor my ability to become more like HIM.


I thank God for opening my eyes to the greater love and charity I still have the opportunity to foster within my own soul.  I thank God for HIS great love for ALL of HIS children.

17 comments:

  1. Oh Rachel, I LOVE this miracle! Such a contrast from the filth to the beautiful message that God loves EVERY SINGLE ONE OF US! I am sure this mans life is forever changed by your interaction with him- regardless if he accepts the gospel or not. Thank you again for sharing these miracles in your life!

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    1. Thank you so much for your insight and for reading! You’re right! God’s love is so great and life-changing no matter where we are on our journey to HIM. I’m grateful that we can share that love across the miles. :) ~Sending you my love and gratitude. :)

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  2. What a great learning experience to come out of such a place as Las Vegas. I love the way you wrote it and shared it with us. And I love your blog :).

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    1. Thank you so much Jenna for taking the time to read of God’s great love from my perspective. Although I’m greatly flawed, I’m grateful for the opportunity to share God’s hand with kind, accepting hearts like yours.

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  3. God's love covers everyone, and His forgiveness is available to all of us. Thanks for sharing this touching story!

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    1. There is great power in the simple reminder of God’s willingness to forgive us all. Thank you for reaffirming this truth. I believe that the more we hear it, the more we trust it.

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  4. Rachel, thanks for being real about your own first impressions and how you had a change of heart too. It not only shows how Heavenly Father loves that man enough to put you in is path, but how He loves you enough to put that man in your path. You both learned something from the interaction and both can take the knowledge and grow, or cast it aside. That is the beauty of Heavenly Father's plan. He puts us in the situations that we can learn in, but still leaves us with the agency to choose. Thanks for sharing!!

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    1. Thank you for appreciating and accepting my honesty, Shelley. I am very straightforward about how far away I am from where I want to be, but I am also in constant awe that God is still able to use me in my imperfect state… I am also in awe with how well HE orchestrates the interactions of all our lives. God bless you.

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  5. Love this and am so glad to have read it. Brightened my day :)

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    1. Thank you Nicole! ... and you have brightened my day!:)

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  6. Angels walk among us. Made my sabbath! :)

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    1. I fully agree!!! Angels DO walk among us!! I believe the more we are open to those beautiful influences, the more they come. Thank you for reading!! We love you guys!

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  7. My family was in Las Vegas over Memorial weekend. What and eye opener for me since it was my first time there. We passed through the section of the strip you described with the little cards with naked women on them. I was not angry however because my family chose to come to this town and this is what this town is all about and what it promotes. I was however grateful that the people had enough respect to withdraw their hands when they noticed my husband and I had children with us. I was grateful a second time that my children seemed oblivious to the cards on the ground. We passed through that area a couple of times since we needed to walk from one hotel to another to see the shows we purchased tickets for. We walked the kids through that area as FAST as we could. You have more courage than me to hang around that area and listen to the person playing the music, but by staying in that area you obviously were able to encounter and converse with the man passing out the cards. Mark 2:16-17 comes to mind, “When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” On hearing this, Jesus said to them, ‘It’s not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but the sinners.’” It is important to look past the “label” given this man and to see him as a real person as you did. An interesting quote I read relates, “Even more, by putting labels on people, we fail to see them as God sees them; we fail to see them as what God has purposed them to be.”

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  8. It is true that Christ wasn’t defending the adulterous woman’s sin. But I don’t think he was defending her as your say, I think Christ was showing that we ALL sin. God only defends his children. The Bible is clear that all people are God’s CREATION (Colossians 1:16), and that God loves the entire world (John 3:16), but only those who are born again are CHILDREN of God (John 1:12; 11:52; Romans 8:16; 1 John 3:1-10). This woman was not yet born again and adopted as His child. He does encourage her and gives her a second chance to “sin no more”.
    The religious leaders thought they had set a great trap for Jesus. They hoped they would cause the people to turn away from him (because they believed him to be a false prophet). And actually, the word that Jesus used for sin was the Greek word “anamartetos,” which means “without a sinful desire”. The one who doesn’t even have a sinful desire, let him throw his stone! So even if they had sinned in ways that were not visible, they all knew that they couldn’t contend, that they didn’t have sinful desires. My thoughts after being in Las Vegas is there were people there who just by their occupation (stripper, prostitution promoters) they are putting their sin out there in an obvious way. Which in some ways I prefer and find less scary than religious leaders and so called “righteous looking” people (modest dress, no drinking) who live their sin out in private. When we label we jump quickly to judgment and condemnation, we fail to take into account that first, we are ALL creatures of God, created in His image. And second, we are ALL sinners (whether in private or public). I live in a state where it is known for it’s clean living, but at the same time it is the state that consumes the largest on online pornography (http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705288350/Utah-No-1-in-online-porn-subscriptions-report-says.html?pg=all) The point is we are ALL sinners and thus need to treat everyone on the same playing field no matter how their sin is displayed. The Pharisees looked good from the outside but the adulterous woman’s was there for all to see, yet they were all guilty of sin. This is hard to do since as humans we judge by appearances.
    You chose to step outside of judgment and fear (I would be fearful a man who tried to kiss my child too!) and look at this man in a more compassionate way and that is a lesson to all. The miracle will be if this man comes to realize his sin, repents and receives grace the cross offers. John 1:12-13 “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”

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    1. Thank you so much Christee. I’m always grateful for your insights. As I waited for my husband and children in the nearby theater, I felt like God’s hand was directing my path. I love the many learning opportunities God presents to us. It feels good inside to feel my ability to love increase. I feel your great love for our Savior, Jesus Christ. Thank you for sharing that love so readily.

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  9. This is a beautiful story. I can't even go to Vegas because of the amount of pain I feel about what happens in that city. I have never even thought about asking for my eyes to be opened to the beautiful things that can happen through Christ's power. This is such a good example of shifting the powerlessness to a place of power. I love that you were willing to be open to share something better:o)

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    1. Lee, your words always connect with me so deeply... I believe there was a shift, and it does feel better to not feel powerless. God's perspective is one of power. I love you!

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