The Salvage Yard
Cage

“Hi, my name's 'Cage', I know Cage isn’t very feminine name but I like it because, I once was caged and Jesus set me free.  Boy I really had some problems.  I guess it started because I was a bit of a tom-boy and used to hang out with the guys in the school yard.  I knew Jesus but it didn’t seem to matter.  These guys were into drugs and even hit on me! I kept trying to say no, but it sure was difficult.” 

“As we grew older one by one most of the guys and a some of the Gals began joining gangs.  It was really difficult you know, because I liked a lot of the guys and some of them began joining rival gangs.  I felt torn, some friends asked me to join one gang and others demanded that I join theirs.”

“I guess that is why I now wear clothes that share my love of Jesus.  Wearing Jesus clothes allows me to make a statement of my love for Jesus, while not offending my others who choose to wear gang colors.  Ya know, I found some cool sites on the web, and I buy my clothes from them.  When I go with Chopper to skate, I wear clothes from www.kingofkingsskateboardco.com; and when I simply want to give Him glory I wear clothes from www.xaltgear.com; and I also will wear clothes from www.yeshuasportswear.com. I just love praising Jesus. Well, ever since that day at MH Bakery and Coffeehouse.” 

“God seemed to know that I didn’t really want to get involved with the gangs.  God kept tapping me on the shoulder knocking and asking if he could come in.  Well that day JP, a former boy friend, asked me if I wanted to go to MH.  He had heard that there was a cool group playing in the evening.  You see Pops and Lisa use to make room for Christian Musicians to play music on Thursday, Fridays, and Saturdays at their bakery.”

“When I went there, somehow the music was different.  I can't explain it, but one of the band members, his name is Chopper, seemed to be in his own world.  You could tell even though he was with us, somehow he wasn't really with us.  I mean he was there in the room with us, but it was like he was somehow alone in the presence of Jesus at the same time. I knew that if we stopped it wouldn't have really mattered to him. It was as if all that seemed to count at the time was his praise for Jesus.”

“As I closed my eyes to sing with them, I decided to sing to Jesus.  It was the first time I had ever done that, and I could almost sense Jesus presence. I even opened my eyes and turned to my right to see if Jesus was there. It totally blew me away.  Have you ever felt God’s presence like that?  Well right away I knew that God was at work again.  When Chopper asked at the end if anybody wanted prayer, I raised my hand.  Later that night, Allie came up to me, put her paws around me and gave me a big hug.  You know, I wasn’t even scared.  You know an alley cat with her paws around a cockatoo!!  It makes you wonder, could someone from a gang put their arms around someone from another gang in Christian love? I just felt the love of Jesus Christ.”

“Allie has become a good friend ever since. Both She and Chopper keep getting after me to get my GED.  When I was a junior in high school and hanging around with the gangs, they told me school was useless, so I dropped out.  I thought I could get a job and make some money.  Do you know how hard it is?  I delivered mail for a while and also worked at two fast food restaurants.  But you know it's tough.  I wanted to move out from home.  but apartments are so expensive.  Even when I tried to figure out how I could share an apartment, I never seemed to have enough.  I even took a job at a classy restaurant as a hostess.  I thought that would pay better.  What I found out was that people would come in and hit on me, some of them even wanted to pay me. I decided pretty quickly that I was not hostess material.” 

“Well after knocking about for two years, Chopper asked, 'Have you had enough?'” 

“I said, 'What's that suppose to mean?'” 

“It means, are you ready to begin doing something with your life?”  I guess that's the tough Love he's always talking about.” 

“I have to admit, I was tired of the dead-end jobs.  That's when Chopper began encouraging me to take the GED. When Allie heard about it, she insisted that she was going to stay on my back until I did something.  Well I finally started studying, but I'm still not sure I'm ready to take the test. You know the more I think about it, the more I realize that I should have stayed in school.”

“I grew up not far from The Salvage Yard.  Although my family, Mom, Dad, twin sister Sammy (short for Samantha), my brother Eric and I have since moved across town but I still come over as often as I can. You see my friends at The Salvage Yard are so hungry for God, they challenge me to strengthen my faith and to be a better person.  We all need friends like that.”

“Over the last half year I have begun to see God changing me.  First it was the decision to seek him out, as I did, I felt as if I would explode, I just simply fell head over heels in love with Jesus.  Each morning I would wake up with a song in my heart.  It is almost as if I have not stopped singing his praises ever since.  God is so wonderful. And as I felt God’s love, I began to want to share that love with others.  And God has been great, he keeps giving me opportunities to encourage others with God’s Love.”     

“Sometimes Sammy gets after me and tells me I should be in Mom’s Church.  There concerned that I am running with the wrong crowd.  They have never been here and know how much Jesus loves us, loves are friends at The Salvage Yard and how much we Love Jesus.  Pastor Rick says it is kind of like the following story from Luke:”

Now it happened as they went that He entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house.  And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus' feet and heard His word. 

But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, 'Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.'

And Jesus answered and said to her, 'Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things.  But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.' 
                                            Luke 10:38-42 (NKJV)

“Pastor Rick told me that in this story both Martha and Mary had a calling to serve Jesus, since Martha was already meeting other needs, Mary has chosen to meet the needs that have gone unmet.  She attended to Jesus at Jesus feet.  Both Martha and Mary were meeting Jesus needs.  Pastor Rick says that the other needs are being met in my church at home but the people at The Salvage Yard have needs that are not being met and he states his purpose in life and that of The Salvage Yard is to meet the needs of those whose needs are not being met. He says this is why I am an encourager and why I am drawn to The Salvage Yard.”

“Well, I hope you have some fun here with us at The Salvage Yard, and pray that you find God as you seek him where he wants to be found!”

“Mean while: JESUS SIMPLY ROCKS!!!”