At the Church retreat last weekend, we met a lot of marvelous, interesting Christians. One of the most enthralling and encouraging was CK.
CK was born in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, to Greek parents, and when she was about 16 her father was shot by thugs trying to take his business payroll. Her father was paralyzed, and her family was in turmoil. At 16 years of age, CK followed her sister's profession of hairdressing and moved by herself to the Soho district of London to learn the trade.
Soho was a wild and wooly place, and in addition to learning a skill she acquired a wild lifestyle including drug addiction. When the UK police got too close to throwing her in jail, she moved to Limosol, Cyprus and continued her self-destructive path. History rec-cycled, and she left Cyprus after spending a time in jail, moving to Houston with an Arab Sheik.
She was part of his "harem" for a while, still doing drugs with abandon. He would send her to pick up drugs in the worst parts of Houston. In a rage, she once flushed thousands of dollars worth of cocaine down the toilet. She had a loaded gun at her head on many occasions.
She was cutting the hair of Christian ladies who lived down the street, and the ladies would share Christ with her. She was afraid of legalism. She fled to Boca Raton, Florida to escape the sheik. The shiek bought her a house, car, boat, everything to try to win her affection. In FL she picked up a Gideon Bible and was converted through the power of the Word.
She moved back to Zimbabwe and told someone about becoming a Christian. They encouraged her to come to church, but she was still wearing her suggestive clothing and felt that she would be condemned. Instead the congregation accepted her, and she was loved into fellowship.
The church members recommended she move to Mauritius and join the Christian community there. She has lived with the pastor and his wife the last 18 years, and travels the world videoing sermons, conferences and the like, and that's how Brenda and I met her.
The power of G^d in a person's life is indeed and awesome thing, and CK's story is just one more bit of evidence to that effect.
CK, may your tribe increase!
CK was born in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, to Greek parents, and when she was about 16 her father was shot by thugs trying to take his business payroll. Her father was paralyzed, and her family was in turmoil. At 16 years of age, CK followed her sister's profession of hairdressing and moved by herself to the Soho district of London to learn the trade.
Soho was a wild and wooly place, and in addition to learning a skill she acquired a wild lifestyle including drug addiction. When the UK police got too close to throwing her in jail, she moved to Limosol, Cyprus and continued her self-destructive path. History rec-cycled, and she left Cyprus after spending a time in jail, moving to Houston with an Arab Sheik.
She was part of his "harem" for a while, still doing drugs with abandon. He would send her to pick up drugs in the worst parts of Houston. In a rage, she once flushed thousands of dollars worth of cocaine down the toilet. She had a loaded gun at her head on many occasions.
She was cutting the hair of Christian ladies who lived down the street, and the ladies would share Christ with her. She was afraid of legalism. She fled to Boca Raton, Florida to escape the sheik. The shiek bought her a house, car, boat, everything to try to win her affection. In FL she picked up a Gideon Bible and was converted through the power of the Word.
She moved back to Zimbabwe and told someone about becoming a Christian. They encouraged her to come to church, but she was still wearing her suggestive clothing and felt that she would be condemned. Instead the congregation accepted her, and she was loved into fellowship.
The church members recommended she move to Mauritius and join the Christian community there. She has lived with the pastor and his wife the last 18 years, and travels the world videoing sermons, conferences and the like, and that's how Brenda and I met her.
The power of G^d in a person's life is indeed and awesome thing, and CK's story is just one more bit of evidence to that effect.
CK, may your tribe increase!
Wow! What a story!
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