Last month on Wednesday nights we would go out to the hustling and bustling city of Penang, Malaysia and evangelize to the people who are lost, broken,and most of all looking for love in all the wrong places. Alcohol, drugs, sexual relations with strangers, different world religions. You name it and it was there. It was a melting pot of literally people from all over the world. People trying to find happiness to fill that void that most struggle with. Trying to figure out what the meaning of life is.
One night I asked the woman who led the group if I could go with her. She always goes to the red light district on Wednesday nights and it was placed on my heart to go with her. She said she normally doesn’t let world racers go with her but tonight one of the people she normally goes with wasn’t able to make it. So she said I could fill in. When we got there I felt an overwhelming feeling of darkness. Most prostitutes in this area are ladyboys. They are actually quite beautiful….and you wouldn’t guess they were men. We stood and talked to one for a while. She had been doing this for years because the money is so great and it beats any other job she could get without a college education. She was very happy when we were talking with her because she was moving to New Zealand in a few months for a new start. She wanted out and this was a way for her to do so. She was one of the few that actually was doing something to change. As we were talking to her the amount of men that came by on their mopeds was so sad. They would drive by each prostitute looking to see which one they wanted for that night. At first I got mad….and then I felt sad for them because they are just as sad and broken as the women selling there bodies. A vicious cycle! People looking to feel any form of love or human touch for 15 minutes and then to feel that loneliness overcome them again right after. But that false love they get for that short time continues to keep bringing them back.
Then as we continued to walk down the dark alley we came up to a man sitting on the ground. I thought seeing the prostitutes was going to be the hardest thing I saw that night but this man topped it. He had one leg. And when we walked up he was trying to clean a cut on the other leg. At first I thought nothing of it until I really looked at the cut. It was a gapping wound. It was the worst open wound I have ever seen in person. He was by himself on his front porch trying to keep it from getting more infected. I froze. I didn’t know what to do for this man. As he was talking to us he was laughing and smiling. I didn’t understand how he could be smiling living the way he is. It taught me a huge lesson. How can I feel sorry for myself when I am too hot or when I am sick of rice or wanting my own space. Really? That was a reality check for me and the Lord New exactly what he was doing bringing me there that night.
He let us pray with him before we left. He was very receptive of it. When we walked away my heart was so sad. I asked what was wrong with him. Why did he lose one leg and a flesh eating bacteria was about to take the other? I was told he had a serious drug problem and his body couldn’t fight off infection. I will never forget that night, that man, and what I saw. I pray I never take what the Lord has given me for granted. That I continually die to self even when things get hard because there are so many people that need love out there in this broken world. That man will forever leave a mark on my heart. I pray the Lord heals him in all ways and breaks the chains that have been keeping him a prisoner in this dark alley.
