Every night men come to fill a hole inside of them.
They roam the streets in search of a way to fill the loneliness they feel.
A woman. A drink.
They sit at the bar of their choice and look up at the women dancing. They pick the woman they want for the night, pay for her and set a time and place to meet. And the night goes on.
This is what happens in so many parts of the world and I was able to be apart of a ministry this month in Phuket, Thailand who goes into this scene.
Every night at 7:30pm the group gets together to worship and prepare our hearts for what God has for us on Bangla Road. Half of the group goes out on the street and the other half stays back to pray on behalf of those out and the people they will be interacting with. Around 9:30pm we start walking the street. There are people everywhere, walking from bar to bar, taking pictures of the girls in a glass box, lady boys in flashy outfits. I have seen things that I would have never imagined.
We go into bars and order a soda or water and talk with the women. We talk with them as the people they are. We ask them what their name is, how their night is going, where they are from, if they enjoy their job, where their family lives.
I sat at a bar ordered a Diet Coke and played Connect Four and Jenga with a 15 year old girl. She was working behind the bar and had been working there for a couple months. She is innocent, and a child with a beautiful smile.
Why was she there? To make money for her family, perhaps. It’s an easy job.
We laughed and she beat me multiple times at Connect Four. I was able to give her 20 minutes to be herself, to laugh, and be the innocent girl she is inside.
My heart breaks for the women I see dancing around poles just to make a buck.
My heart breaks witnessing an interaction between a man handing money to a woman who was dancing on a pole and stopped because he had just bought her for the rest of the night.
My heart breaks for the women who are forced to dance in a glass box.
But there is HOPE.
God is HOPE.
God’s presence is in this place. He is doing work. I see God in the faces of the people. God’s heart breaks for them, but he will never give up. We should never give up. Pray harder. Pray with passion and authority. Prayer brings HOPE.
What can you do? Pray. Pray without ceasing. There is power in prayer and I am learning that more and more each day. God DOES answer prayers.
