My newest friend stands at about two feet short. He loves when I share my hand sanitizer and is always eager to discuss life. When I say discuss life, I really mean that he is endlessly babbling nonsense (This is most likely due to the language barrier and the fact that he’s two years old). He spends our time together presenting me with little gifts. I’ve been the lucky recipient of dead and torn flower petals, broken and used wooden kabob sticks, crushed cigarette buds, and a blue high heel.
He finds my gifts amidst the dust and grime on the concrete floor surrounding the centerpiece boxing ring. Circling the boxing ring are a collection of bars that resemble storage units. Their garage doors are padlocked shut, and only the wooden benches and tables are visible while I’m there from 9-11am. I spend two hours each morning on a bench praying for the men and women that have sat in the same place. Just six hours earlier this place was bustling. People were drinking, watching boxing fights, and purchasing “bar girls”.
There are approximately 25,000 men, women, and children working in prostitution in Chiang Mai, Thailand right now. 25,000 people are victims of circumstances and are thus forced to sell their bodies. 25,000 people are treated as objects.
So, each morning my team and I pray for those 25,000 men, women, and children and the broken individuals who purchase them.
I met my new friend two mornings ago while I was sitting doing my daily prayer. This tiny human came up to me with a bouncy ball the size of his head. I had the same initial reaction that you might be having; I questioned why he was there and thought how inappropriate it was for a two year old to be around the bars even if it was the morning.
But my tiny friend was not phased. He doesn’t dwell on the darkness, brokenness, and dirt that we are overcome by. He is too distracted by the joy and the light. He looks at the dirt and the trash from the night before and sees treasures that he wants to share with me. He loves the women that work there; One of them is his mother.
That’s how God sees the boxing ring bars. He sees men and women that He created perfectly and who He loves immensely. God knows there is brokenness, yet is not intimated by it. God does not dwell. He acts. God is there to love and comfort and heal the 25,000. He is there endlessly pursuing the broken hearts of those who roam those bars each night. God sees treasure. These people are His treasures.
So, I ask you to come alongside me and pray for these treasures. Pray that the organization I’m with can continue to provide physical, emotional, and spiritual freedom to those working in prostitution here in Chiang Mai. Pray that those who roam the bars at night can find hope. Pray that the bar girls can dream and be given a better life. Pray that my squad and I can continue to love on those we encounter. Pray that not another child is sold into human trafficking. Pray for freedom. Pray that the men, women, and children can find comfort through the struggles they face. Pray that they do not feel shame but instead find their identity in God and know that they are treasures, not objects. And most of all, give praise that there is still so much light in such a dark place in our world. Give praise for treasure.
