Come to Vegas as a tourist and all you'll see is the lights, the glamor, the endless nights of living for the moment. People come here from all over the world to escape real life for a short moment and get lost in the excitement of it all. And for a lot of them, thats exactly what happens. They come, have a good time, and leave. But for many, they don't get to leave. They're stuck in a lifestyle that looks so good from the outside, but leads them to extreme brokenness.
From the outside, Vegas really is glamorous, beautiful, easy. But take a second to open your eyes beyond the lights and you'll see a whole different world of hurting people all in search of love and self-worth in all the wrong places.
Just last night we all went to the strip for the first time at night. The lights really were beautiful, for a moment. Our objective was to go to the strip and talk to people, talk to people about our wonderful God that loves them so much. And to be honest, I was terrified when I heard this was what we were going to be doing. When I hear "Street Evangelism" I picture a group of people awkwardly walking up to strangers and shoving the bible down their throats. I never believed in this. I didn't understand. I was filled with so much fear. What kind of fear exactly? Fear of being judged. It turns out most of my team felt the same way. The closer the time got to leaving, the sicker my stomach felt. Right before we left we had a meeting. After that meeting, my fears subsided. We were told to clear our minds of everything we thought was street evangelism and focus on Gods truth in our lives. Seems simple enough. I am a child of God, He loves me and He died for me. He pulled me out of the darkness and brought me to the light. We were told to be ourselves and just make conversation.
When we arrived I felt pretty confident I could at least do that. We split into groups of two or three and began our search for conversation. Soon after, I felt the fears creeping back up inside my stomach. Could I really just casually talk to someone I didn't know about God? Turns out, I could, and I did. We began praying for some direction, who did God want us to talk to? God lead us to a woman leaning against the same wall as us. I began asking questions about her life. By the look in eyes I could tell not many people have bothered to ask any sort of questions like that. Turns out her name is Sharon. She may have been mentally unstable or on some sort of drug, but aside from that here is what we learned about this woman. She was from Pennsylvania. She was adopted. She was abused, a lot. She moved to Las Vegas two and a half years ago to find a new life. She used to work on computers, her passion. But she found it too hard to keep a job so she decided to pursue a different career. Modeling. She's had no luck in that area. She used to believe in God but felt like God abandoned her, just like the rest of them. We talked for a long time, sharing stories. She's been hurt in so many ways. We had a time schedule and needed to be back at the vans soon. She wouldn't let us pray for her, but as we said goodbye you could tell in her eyes and smile she enjoyed the company. We told her we'd see her again soon and returned to the vans.
Even though she wouldnt let us pray WITH her, we sure could pray FOR her. And we did. Her beautiful smile hasn't left my sight since. If only she knew how much God loves her, how much He is hurting for her. I really hope we see her again, I believe we will. And until then, I'll continue praying. I know God is not finished with Sharon. Not even close.
