Katt - 19 years old; Andrew - mid 20s

Katt & her friend Andrew were dressed from the punk scene and were just hanging out in Kensington trying to sell some cardboard street art for spare change. Pete D. & I asked if they'd be up for some conversation about spiritual topics and they said sure.

Katt did most of the talking at first. She was baptized in the Russian Orthodox Church when she was young but was no longer practicing. She considered herself to be pagan. Andrew says that he is Wiccan, a Druid priest.

When asked to describe her religious experience both within and without the ROC, she said that she believes there is right and wrong in all religions, and that all religions share a common thread of teachings.

She'd like to ask God "Why?  Why does the cosmos exist?  What is the purpose of our existence?"  She doesn't  believe in heaven, but only that our bodies are converted into energy that the universe in turn uses.

Katt is a typical postmodern.  Organized religion is used by people to oppress others. Her experience seems to back it up. She says that after immigrating from Russia, her parents enrolled her in a Christian school in Calgary where she was mercilessly picked on, even to the point where other students threw stuff at her. Her parents became so appalled at her treatment that they withdrew her.

When Katt was 13 she ran away and has been (mostly) on the streets since then. She's pretty turned off to Christianity because of Christians. She said it was not uncommon for Christians to get in her face and tell her she is going to hell for how she looks [I get so angry when I hear stuff like this].

I asked her if she was able to distinguish between Jesus Christ and his followers. She said she totally could, but then rambled on about great spiritual teachers. I honestly couldn't follow her train of thinking.   I tried to pull it back to the issue of Jesus as we learn about him through the historical documents of the Gospels. She said that she has read them, but doesn't remember much about them. Her ignorance of Jesus showed through when she said he was just like any other person who has lived, sin and all.

In talking to her about Jesus, I asked her if I could give her a copy of "The Essential Jesus" which is a fresh translation of the Gospel of Luke and an intro to the story of Jesus leading up to Luke's Gospel and then an explanation of why Jesus is essential. She thanked me for it and told me that she'd be glad to read it. I told her that it is really important to make sure she understands who the real Jesus is and what he claimed and to not write him because of the treatment she has received.

Katt seemed fairly sweet though you could sense her brokenness and bitterness just below the surface.

For a good chunk of our 30-40 minute conversation, Pete was talking with Andrew. He had a tattoo with the words, "Broken Soul." This angry broken soul is convinced that religion is just something used by the powerful to keep people oppressed. Andrew is pretty mad at the world and feels screwed over by the gov't b/c he served in Kosovo and the gov't somehow didn't keep it's promises to him.   He seems pretty messed up from it, saying that there's no such thing as post-tramatic stress disorder.  It's just called "seeing how messed up the world is and not being able to deal with it."

Pray that the Gospel would penetrate both Andrew & Katt's hardened hearts.

On a side note, while we were chatting with them, a fellow stopped by to drop a $5 bill into their collection which made Katt almost squeal with delight as she clapped.  He asked them what they were selling as he looked down at pieces of cut up cardboard with stick figures of robots and cats and letters drawn on them.   He proudly picked up the cat drawing like he had found a prize.  He stuck out his hand and asked Katt & Andrew what their names were (he even shook our hands as well).  He greeted them with a smile and wished them well. I so appreciated this man's gesture of kindness and wondered if he was a Christian.  So often, people like Katt & Andrew are ignored by people who have neither time nor interest to give to them.

We thanked Katt & Andrew for the conversation and they shook hands with us several times as we were leaving.   Pete even bought up his own prized piece of artwork!