Every week, at least, I go down to my sponsoring skate shop, The Galaxie Skateshop. I chill down there with my good friend and skateboarding industry colleague, Andrew Martin. I can't tell you how good it is to be on the brobrah with such chill folks. I give thanks!
So The Galaxie (The best skateshop in Cincinnati: conveniently located in Newport, KY) is located on Monmouth, just down from 7th st. Do you know that block? That is the block that has the Brass Bull, The Brass Donkey (Ass), and some stores that sell stripper fashion clothes...
When I'm in there, it isn't that rare to see ladies walking by on their way in to work at the Brasses... The Galaxie Skateshop itself is named in honor of a former strip club of some renown that was located nearby... So you can see that "strip culture" is a part of my life (sphere of dailies), like it or not.
One time (a couple of times) one of these dear ladies comes in to put money down on some stuff for her kid... dude it is such an honor to be near people who, when they show up in the Bible, God just LOVES them!!! Forget about it! He just LOVES them... he has like, NO BAD NEWS for them... outside what they already are knowing... God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.
So this dear lady comes in, and she's putting money down, and she had that look. Not that fashion look of a stripper. There was that, yes. But she had THAT look:
Meth.
Skin, Teeth... hollow eye sockets... do you know what it looks like? Meth melts out your teeth and drops your eyes back in your head by about a half-inch. I'm not kidding. you look like a zombie. And this dear one loves her son sooooo much and is putting layaway (Galaxie has a strict no-layaway/no credit policy) down on a board for her son (all of Andrew's strict disappears when it comes to this kind of thing). She still had a handsome physique, but she was all dried up. It wouldn't be long before... before she gets the boot... or worse.
it wasn't 4 months later when there was another murder in the parking lot just 2 doors down from Galaxie, at the Ass. I'm serious. This stuff (human appetite gone wild) is death-laden.
The clip I loaded in this post is from a site I kinda hate. And I kinda hate on craig and the boys sometimes. sorry dudes. I just have a gut reaction to not seeming to keep it real with the difficulties that Jesus poses... but you know what? I'm a jerk sometimes and you gotta judge what I say by the Scriptures. .
But Look at how the appetites of basically just men with money... look at how those appetites created this market for human flesh. Look at how the broken down boundaries of a person in that lifestyle allow them to burden down with debt and get leveraged into an industry that's going to give them "prestige" for their effing lifeblood... these are people who die alone... They get diseases. They get attacked. They live in isolation, emotionally. They are on the outside with their families (some). Listen to these stories...
what happens to the "Lion's share" of these people in this industry when they get old? Do you honestly think they are okay in their fifties? Some may be... but i can SEE, in real life, that this isn't good. period. that's that.
am i really going to listen to some young twenty-year old tell me what's good? shut up. you don't know anything. I'm going to believe what the old people say. Don't hurt yourself by the choices you make. You are not as strong as you think you are... Pay attention to God while you're young. You won't be sorry. Don't be rebellious against the ancient paths! What?
For some people, even listening to stories like these 2 ladies' can take them to a bad place. But here it is... God is saying, "Don't do that, brah." and we're like, "no, I can do that." but you can't. Seriously...
so here they are.
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Lew... I love it when you write things like:
ReplyDelete"am i really going to listen to some young twenty-year old tell me what's good? shut up. you don't know anything. I'm going to believe what the old people say. Don't hurt yourself by the choices you make. You are not as strong as you think you are... Pay attention to God while you're young. You won't be sorry. Don't be rebellious against the ancient paths! What?"
Because the abrasive quality of it cuts through much of the crap that the world has couched itself in as a defense against the truth.
Ever the chemist I need to say that, though, "meth" does not do anything to your teeth. It does produce a feeling of extreme thirst, which cause many people to drink enormous amounts of soda, and of course, when they are speeding out of their head, they don't often remember to brush twice a day.
The 'eye' thing is just from chronic exhaustion.
Does that matter to the lives is ruins? Not at all. I suppose that I just can't keep my mouth shut.
Back to your post, XXX-Church has a good idea, but I find a lot of their approach to be lacking in foundation. And Mr. Craig could not argue his way out of a paper bag...
-jjs
thank you for the kind words, justin. as i read them i couldn't believe i wrote them...
ReplyDeletei'm glad meth doesn't harm teeth? no. not glad... but dentists say things like "meth teeth", so what's up with that.
why is meth use so associated with the teeth? soda. you answered that... you are, truly, ever the chemist. and i love you, dear friend. always will.
and i wholeheartedly concur that xxxchurch has missed the boat on a TON of orthodoxy. tons...
yet christ is preached...
...and gary fischer, the great chess player, totally died of std complications, too.
ReplyDeleteSo many have died... and even more would probably rather be dead, but something won't let them go through with it. The effect of the world makes me cry sometimes. My heart aches and wishes for the return of Christ... Now that i have two daughters, I can't help but know that all "those girls" are someone's daughter... and my anger burns when I think that they current situation is often generated by their parents; but is makes me scared, ya know? Of course, I trust in His Grace, good will, and total power.
ReplyDeleteOld C.S. hit this very subject several times, mostly in "Screwtape" and "The Four Loves (section on Eros)" About how sin starts by [a, at first fufilled] promise of pleasure, by then even the pleasure is stripped away. It dovetails into both of the subjects you touched on in this post. Eventually, even the most perverse porn becomes "yesterdays" but there is nothing new to excite. And Meth is known (very well known to the users) to provide less enjoyment from each use until it kills, or totally ruins you.
Maybe I need to restart my own blog.
-jjs