The following program
discusses sensitive issues
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related to addictive behavior.
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Parents are
cautioned that some material
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may be too candid
for younger children.
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My guest today,
is like my sister
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but just imagine
being surrounded by addicts,
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grandmother in and out of jail,
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mother shooting that
meth and you're six years old.
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She had to decide
to survive at that age.
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How did she do it?
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We'll find out
today in the cafe.
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Welcome to
Celebrating Life in Recovery,
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I'm Cheri, your host.
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Come join us.
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You know, it's
interesting to me,
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there was a time in my life,
I'm going to church and I am...
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I love church
and it's ridiculous
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'cause I wasn't
raised like that.
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My background is really crazy
but I love my church family,
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so I'm going to church
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and I ended up going
down a different street
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than I normally go down
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and I live in a old country town
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and I'm going down
this different street
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and I pass this
strip club and it was crazy
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'cause as I passed, I looked
up and this kid is walking in
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and I think she's,
like, 16 years old.
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And she's walking and obviously,
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gonna start her shift.
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And I thought, I cannot believe,
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I haven't even said, 'Hi.'
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You know, I'd never
thought about going there.
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I've never
thought about, you know,
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I wonder if I
could just say, 'Hi'
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and, kind of, talk about
my life or just say, 'Hi,'
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just get to know her or
anybody that works there.
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And so I'm going to
church and I'm thinking of that
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and I'm feeling bad
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because my family
is all strung out,
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my family has
various addictions.
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My sister was
raised in strip clubs.
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My other sister's a meth addict
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and we used to have all
of that, kind of, stuff.
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So I'm thinking about this,
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all the way to
church and I get to church
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and I'm trying to just sit there
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and wait for the sermon,
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I wait for Sabbath school
and all that kind of stuff
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and in my mind I'm
thinking, "Man, I wish I...
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Maybe, I could go back there."
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And all of the sound
equipment breaks, right?
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And somebody says,
"We're gonna fix the sound."
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Does anybody have a
story or something to say
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while we're waiting
for someone to fix a sound.
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And I'm like, "I do" and I did.
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And then not only
did I have a story,
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is I wanted you to
pray 'cause you know what?
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When I leave here, I'm
gonna go to that strip club
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and I'm looking, I'm serious.
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I'm looking like Mary
Poppins, I'm all dressed up.
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So I'm gonna go
to the strip club,
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so when I leave here,
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I'm gonna go talk to
that girl at the strip club,
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so would you pray for me?
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And the entire
church looked the same way,
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like, can you do
that on the Sabbath?
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And it was, like, they
were shocked, there was...
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I could see in their faces,
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like, I don't know
if you could, kind of,
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do that on the Sabbath
and I thought, "Oh, stop.
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I just want prayer."
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Right, so I'm
asking someone to pray
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and I can't wait
till the sermon's over
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now 'cause I have a plan.
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I literally have a plan.
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So I get back in
my car and on Sabbath,
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and I end up at the strip club
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and it was called,
'The Nickel' something.
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It was the sleaziest
place you've ever seen.
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Just a tiny little, kind of,
shed in the middle of nowhere
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and so I started
to go into this club
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and what was funny
about going into this club,
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is I get there and this
guy is standing at the door
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and he says,
"There's a cover charge."
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And I'm, like, "Really?
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You're gonna charge
me to walk in here."
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You should pay me,
it was such a, you know,
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I'm just
laughing and I'm thinking,
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"I don't want anyone
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because I'm
surrounded by Sabbath keepers."
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I don't want anyone say,
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"Well, you can't buy
and sell on the Sabbath."
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So I'm thinking, I'm
paying the cover charge.
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So I paid to get in, right?
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And then I go sit
down and the guy says,
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"It'd be a two drink minimum."
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Stop, you're killing me.
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I'm just trying to
talk with this girl, right?
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So two drinks, so I
ordered a couple of 7ups
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and now the girls are
dancing, and inside a strip club
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when the lights are off,
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you can play it
off like this is,
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kind of, a nice little bar.
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When the lights go
on, it is horrible looking
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but I'm sitting there.
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I've got my 7ups,
I'm doing whatever
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and the owner
finally comes and it's like,
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"What are you doing here?"
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Because at first, they thought
I was working for the bank,
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maybe, fix an ATM. machine.
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You know what I
mean? 'Cause I don't fit.
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I don't look like I would
be in there during the day,
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all that kind of
stuff and so I told them.
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I said, "You know what?
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I was funneled into
a $32 million industry
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when I was 13 years
old, on the streets of L.A.
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There are 80,000 kids
on the streets right now.
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In any major city,
you're gonna find them
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and I just saw this
girl walk in this morning
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and I just wanted to say, "Hi."
Just say, you know, who I am.
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And he says that
wasn't okay with him.
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But he did say
something to me that,
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"Cheri, I don't do
this to hurt anyone."
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And I said, "I know,"
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and I knew he was
telling the truth.
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He wasn't out to hurt anyone.
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This was his business
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and we, kind of, became friends.
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I gave him a book.
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We talked a
little bit and I said,
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"But it does hurt
people, you know,"
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and I got up and left.
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He didn't really want
me to talk to the girls
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while they were
dancing, he didn't want me to,
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kind of, jump in and
interfere with the day.
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But I left and
as I'm walking out
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I said in my
head, "God, some day,
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let this be a church."
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Just in my head, I get sent away
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for a couple of weeks after that
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and I'm, you know,
on a gig, I come back
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and then I'm out
again and I travel a lot.
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So I'm out a number of times.
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By the time I
make it back to church,
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the time has
passed and someone said,
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"Cheri, did you hear
what happened to that club,
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that we prayed about?"
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And I'm like, "No."
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And on New Year's Eve,
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somebody had a
fight in the parking lot.
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They killed
someone in the parking lot,
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then they are arrested
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and everybody started
checking this person's books,
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the club gets shut down.
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And their liquor
license was actually pulled,
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all of that stuff.
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And so now it's nothing.
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As time has gone by, it went
from nothing to a pool hall,
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from a pool hall
to a nothing again.
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My feeling is, some
day it's gonna be a church
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and so what I
thought during that time,
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is that sometimes people
whose lives are not changed
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'cause we forget
to pray for them.
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Sometimes, we look
at whole people groups,
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areas of town, all
of that kind of stuff
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and we don't take
time to slow down and say,
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"God, please cover
them, be with them."
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And so what I
wanna say right now,
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I'm gonna introduce
you to a friend of mine
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when we come back
and I want you to know.
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Don't judge anyone.
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If you don't like
a businesses in town,
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pray for that, if you don't,
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if you think
somebody is being damaged,
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go talk to them.
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But don't just drive by,
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'cause, you know, we're
not in that time anymore.
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It's not time to drive
by, it's time to change lives.
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And today, I can't wait
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'cause you're gonna
see a life that was changed
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and you're gonna want to
kiss God all over the face
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'cause it's amazing.
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We'll be right
back. Stay with us.
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