Sodom and Gomorrah?

Yesterday afternoon I drove into South Beach to find the nearest Whole Foods market. I have been in this area a relative few times.  The first memorable visit was when Steve and I came to have dinner on a stormy Saturday night where we ate  at a sidewalk cafe and people watched. The main street had been turned into a 'peatonal' or walkway and  while the billowing, dark clouds threatened to release their heavy load, we took in all that was before us.  So many languages, so many cultures; it was difficult to distinguish who was a tourist and who was a resident. The music, the mixture of spices from a variety of foods, the eclectic dress and languages of the passing people . . . one thing was for sure, the feel of the place was not American but rather European and/or Latino.  

Our first Sunday at the church that we may call home, introduced me to Lincoln Ave. the main drag in the area.  Close to the church is the part of the street that has trendy boutiques, sidewalk cafe's and on weekends, a small Farmers Market.  The part of the street that you see on television with the Art Deco style buildings was where we drove after church.  There was a line of traffic so we saw everything 'up close and personal' as we followed the cars in front of us at 2-5 miles an hour.  There was no rushing.  People obviously wanted to see and be seen and that takes time. 

Back to my search for the Whole Foods market;  I sat in the parking lot for a few minutes to take in the sights.  A young man with grocery bag in hand, walking quickly to the taxi that he had procurred for his shopping trip, the well tanned, well dressed, well pampered people that came and went are unique to the area.  When I was inside going down one of the isles, someone caught my eye. She must have been 60 years old or more, but her dress was bright pink, tight as her plastic surgery skin, short enough to cover the crease between her thighs and buttocks, enough make up to be a stage actress, and a look that says, " surely you agree that I am beautiful".  It feels sort of like L.A., but not . . . More like Buenos Aires downtown, but with a "Barbie and Ken" doll feel.  There is an expensive casualness to the dress . . . you know, hours spent shopping and primping, but made to look like it was just "thrown on"? I've tried it, but somehow never worked for me.  A good thing I'm sure.

We live in North Beach. All part of Miami Beach, but very different than South Beach.  Farther north is a large Jewish population. Many Hasidic, Torah-true Jews live there and it is not unusual to see men in their oversized black suits, yarmulka's, long, untrimmed beards and sidelocks, walking alone or with conservatively dressed wives and daughters.  It seems oddly out of place to the barely clad people that swarm the beaches and streets.  Extremism at its' best. 

I must say that of all the areas along the beach that we could have chosen to live, this is turning out to be one of, if not, the best.  Defining normal is always a relative task, but as I see and feel it, this is a more normal environment. Of course, we do live at the beach and string bikinis are not uncommon as well as an occasional speedo. Sadly, the speedos are warn almost exclusively by over weight, older men who have no idea how repulsive their near nudity truly is . . .

But my one shocking experience came about a week after we had moved in.  I was walking the dogs just outside of our condominium and the first life guard station that I always walk by had an eye popping sight.  A professional photographer snapping pictures of a totally bare naked woman.  Trying to appear as unaffected as possible  by this shocking sight, I calmly kept walking.  Apparently everyone else did the same.  Because there was no gauking, or standing around staring.  It was as if there was nothing unusual happening.  For the first time I was very happy that Steve was not with me on this walk!  

The pastor of Calvary Chapel of South Beach, where we have started to go, had something to say about all this.  He said many people think that South Beach is a modern day Sodom and Gomorrah, I believe it is more like the city of Corinth.  I went back and read in Genesis 19 about the angels coming to rescue Lot and his family from the destruction God was going to bring to the evil cities.

For the umteenth time I am shocked by not only the inccident with the evil men of the city who gather at Lot's home to take what they think are men, but are really angels, and have their way with them.  But even more shocked that Lot offers his 2 virgin daughters to the men of the city to do with as they please.  Can you imagine how they must have felt?   Anyway, the pastor likened South Beach to the city of Corinth because it had not reached the level of decadence of Sodom and Gomorrah, but was truly a city of perversion and body worship.  

Steve had read that Miami is the second least churched area in all of the country.  I can testify to that as we have found it challenging to find a Bible teaching church with meaningful worship.

Living here is a daily reminder of how spiritually void this city is.  This city represents many cities in the U.S. and world.  Not very different from L.A., or New York, Buenos Aires, or Sao Paulo, Paris, Madrid . . . I could go on. We can never lose sight of the "heavenly vision" that is ever before us.  We are a lost people without HIM and the Gospel of Good News is Christ's  gift to the world.