The World of CiCi's

I want to slowly introduce you to the cast of my life…. We are a great bunch of characters. This is my friend Libbers. Her name isn’t really Libbers but I am so happy the instant I see her that is usually what jumps out of my mouth.

Libbers is a beautiful woman with a heart of zeal for God; she is a wonderful musician and has a heat for Africa and her big polar bear of a dog Cooper. In case you were wondering Cooper is Super-doper!

Well Libbers and I were chillin at our local coffee shop Sugar Browns the other day when we got the strangest craving for buffet style pizza. Yeah … I don’t know where that came from????? What were we thinking? Mr. Gatti’s is not only the best quality buffet style pizza (that is if buffet style pizza has any quality at all) but it was also just across the street. So us Americans get in our big fat SUV and literally drive across the street ready to gorge ourselves at the $6.00 pizza buffet. Well when we get there it is jam packed with about 800 elementary kids and there is a sign on the door welcoming an entire Lubbock Elementary for their back to school party. We heed the warning and head to the second rate pizza buffet in town.

Here we come CiCi’s Pizza. What awaited us at CiCi’s was more than we had bargained for. We pay our ridiculous $7.00 for the buffet and another $0.75 charge for using our debit cards. Clue # 1 as to what we were getting into. I grab my plate and head on. I notice the “salad” bar and decide it is best to skip Clue # 2 the brown lettuce and rotting tomatoes and head for the “pizza” around the corner. At first it looks great a smorgasbord of pizza of any kind you would like. Except for the mayonnaise, squid and corn variety they prefer in Japan which is surprisingly good. But upon closer inspection clue # 3 hits me in the face. It looks like pizza and has some of the same qualities as pizza but doesn’t please me at all; not in taste or texture or nutrition. I am not satisfied by my first selection of alfredo and cheese pizza so I return to the buffet and make a try with standard pepperoni; still not satisfying.

I must have made several trips trying more and more pizza until I realize that I was full and feeling a bit sick but was never satisfied with any of my selections; not in the least. As Libbers is experiencing the same strange phenomenon we begin to survey the landscape; Clue #4. There are numerous unruly children running a muck, demanding ridiculous things from their uninterested parents, who oblige their children’s screams for more. More pizza, more soda, more money for the games in the back. The filth that has begun to pile on every table around us is appalling. Plates with half eaten pizza pile up; they are stacked 6 or 7 plates high for each person indicating the numerous trips for the unsatisfying pizza. Some tables have whole pieces smeared across the surface and left in piles with spilt drinks and soaked napkins. I think, “what am I doing here? I don’t belong here with these people.” I begin to judge them Clue#5 making mental slams at culture, economic status and gender. Libbers must have been seeing roughly the same things as I was, probably minus the mental slams and superior thoughts of condemnation, because she leaned over to me and whispered, “Lets NEVER do this again!” I agree and suggest we get out of there.

As I was heading home feeling nauseous from what I have just consumed I began to analyze all the Clues as to where I had been. Clue #1 seventy five cent charge for using my card aka greed. Clue #2 rotting nutritional food over looked for pizza aka gluttony and disregard for our own bodies. Clue # 3 pizza that is made to look delicious and enjoyable but is never satisfying, no matter how many pieces you try, aka deception, addiction, disappointment. Clue # 4 undisciplined children, and tables left in filth for others to clean aka neglect, disrespect. Clue #5 superior ways of thinking I am better than others aka rudeness, hate, judgment, condemnation, rejection, and copious amounts of other despicable things.

God had given me plenty of clues as the where I was … I was in “The World.” I often get so comfortable with my surroundings that I forget about this uncomfortable place labeled “The World” that God has called all Christians to serve in. He wants us to be in “The World” and not of it. I had failed horribly. I was in CiCi’s (The Wolrd) completely unaware of my surroundings, not prepared for the things it had in store for me. I quickly left my ways behind and became of CiCi’s, of “The World” not just in it. And worst of all I felt above others as if I was better. I acted like them and condemned them for their actions. What a hypocrite I am. As a Christian I am called to love “The World” as God loves them to be a living example of my savior, but I only molded to their customs and then showed disdain for their ways. My only hope rests in the righteousness of my savior that lives within me. I pray that I learn from this lesson not only for my own reputation and for the reputation of all Christ followers but for the Lost so that they may see in me something different, something they need.