Since coming to Thailand our squad has had 4 days if an amazing debrief. We are being poured into, built up, and encouraged in so many ways. Debrief has been a time for me to reflect on the first 4 months of the race and see how God has worked in me and the people we have come in contact with.
One of the biggest highlights of this week was having the privilege to baptize my former teammate Charlyn in the ocean of Pattaya! Yesterday our whole squad came together on the beach and after singing nothing but the blood we headed into the water. The people on the beach could not help but notice the massive crowd of young energetic Americans. Right after two other squad mates decided to get baptized as well !! It was such an amazing afternoon and such a testimony if Gods light shining in such a dark place.
Now by dark place, I really mean dark place. After arriving at our hostel we soon realized that we were staying directly a street away from the red light district here, which is also called the Devils Den. I have never seen anything like this in my life and it didn’t take long before I was in tears and heartbroken for the people I was seeing. The majority of people who visit/ come to live here are men. European and American men is all that I see when I walk around. They have come for vacation or to retire. There is not one street you can walk down here without seeing a bar, massage parlor or brothel. The women here have a label that has been placed on them and this label is blank. It becomes a price tag and the price written on it is judged either by the man observing the “quality” or by the girl who puts I limit to her worth. I see men as old as 70 walking around with girls as young as 17.
The Lord gave me this verse that night.
Luke 6:37 says, Judge not and you will not be judged; condemn not and you will not be condemned; forgive and you will be forgiven.
Earlier today we had met a man who was a recovering alcoholic that had come here on missions to share the gospel with the men of Pattaya. We found out from him that the song
God of this city was actually performed here for the first time in this city in one of the bars by a smaller christian band before being sold to Chris Tomlin. He said the song was actually written for THIS city! We had found a hotel that allowed us to meet in their conference room at night for our debrief and it was located directly across from the devils den.
Before we started debrief we gathered in front of the red light district and began our night by singing God of this city and I could help but cry as everyone gathered to the front of the bars at the edge of the street to see where the singing was coming from. The bar owners turned off their music and the women stopped dancing and turned to watch. The whole street went silent and even the sound of the cars and scooters had come to a stop.
As we sang “greater things have yet to come, greater things are still to be done in this city”, my love for not only the women but even the men changed in that moment. My anger turned to compassion because all I desired to show them was the true love they are missing out on. They are living their lives no different than I was before I found my Father and realized the freedom in forgiveness.
This month is going to be amazing and I cannot wait for what is going to happen not only in the people here but also in my own heart. My team is going to be working with Outpour ministries. We will be placed near the border of Burma working with refugees that have made their way to Thailand. As of last week I only have 1800 $ to go in order to be fully funded! Which means 7 more months of this beautiful Kingdom journey 🙂 Thank you so much to everyone supporting and running this race with me !
God bless
Sent from my iPod
