Part one
Stripping: to deprive of covering, to make bare or naked, to take away or remove,
to deprive or divest, to clear out or empty, to dismantle, to dispossess, rob, or plunder. For the young girls of Chang Mai’s local strip club, the removing and disposing of clothing along with the dismantling and depriving of dignity are all part of the deal. Girls as young as fourteen to women in their fifties slide down the poles in front of our eyes dropping garments and putting on their best seductive face. Smoke fills the air, lights blind our eyes, and music pumps, vibrating the black room. We, however, are not here to observe the show, buy into the facade, get lost in the false fantasy, or engage in what some see as a sport, an art of sorts. We are here for a different reason.
Women, do not innately want to strip their clothing off for strangers, in exchange for a few cold dollars. Yes, the sex industry tells us that they love it, tourists overlook it, and even the women are trained to convince us of their utter enjoyment. However, the truth of the matter is that all of that is very much false. This is oppression in its most cunning form, this is the work of lies and deception, this is the draining of self worth, and this is the depleting of hope and dignity.
We do not judge the men who come here, searching for sexual satisfaction and though none would claim it; searching for some type of love. We do not blame the bar mom’s, the women who oppress other women, telling them lies to keep them working, spitting falsehood and sad expectations. We haven’t come to judge and we haven’t come to blame. We do not come in as super missionaries looking to crash a good party for the sake of a “Holy Story”. We don’t come looking sad, mean or angry. In fact we come with joy on our faces, we come in dancing and laughing because we are free, and we come to bring freedom. We come to talk to the old Caucasian men feeling up women half their age, we come to talk to the bar mom sitting on her stool behind the counter, we come to talk to the naked fifteen year old grinding and flirting. We want to know all of their names. We want to hear all of their stories. Most importantly though- we want to bring them the news we came all the way here to bring; the news of a different kind of stripping.
Humans at their core want to be loved and want to be known. The gospel tells us that we innately seek the love of our Father in heaven, but in our sin we turn to other forms of acceptance, other ways of giving and getting approval. When the women of our teams enter bars or strip clubs, we seek to find and make relationship with all people. Everyone has something to be stripped of, so we leave no one out.
A few nights ago, I met a young woman working one of the red light bars (names of bars and women unmentioned for privacy). She had several foreign men waiting to be entertained so its customary for the bar moms to have women talk only to paying customers. She wore a golden necklace across her uncovered chest which said “Happy”. I called her over to the stool I was sitting at and saying to her, “I like your necklace, its very pretty…. Are you Happy?” She smiled and immediately said “Yes!” After a moment she looked back at me and said slowly…. “Actually I am at work so I need to be happy, but there are a lot of hard things going on in my life that I can’t think about when I’m here.” For the next 10 minutes she could stay with us she told us a bit about her life – her four year old daughter asleep at her home, the long hours she works at the bar. She showed us pictures of her child and questioned us about our reasoning for being in the city. When the reality of duty called her away she put her hand on my back as I left the bar ,” I hope to see you again.”
She will see us again. We will go back a few times a week and begin to further a relationship. We will invite her to coffee or to get pedicures one day and we will love her like a sister and a friend. We have come to invite the Holy Spirit to work in her life stripping her of guilt, sorrow, shame, worthlessness, harsh memories, doubt, and oppression. And as we just chat with her, letting her feel seen for her soul and not her body, The Lord will begin to clothe what has been stripped; clothe her in love, forgiveness, kindness, freedom, worthiness, and grace. Sometimes women are moved to the point of leaving the bar life forever, we are able to provide them with alternative work ideas and Spiritual support contacts. Some of them just want to feel heard and seen, so we provide them with love and friendship. We have no agenda necessarily, just hearts to glorify Jesus and let him speak to his children however he may. He has a purpose for whoever shall accept him, we want everyone to get a chance to hear that.
This is our prayer for this woman, and for every other woman we come across in our time here. Please be praying that The Lord continues to open the hearts of these girls, we want to bring warmth, love and freedom. We aren’t coming to harshly condemn a livelihood or point fingers of judgment, but rather offer hope and worth to the daughters Jesus wants to call home. Does this scene make often make us sick? Yes. Is a lot of what goes on here sad and evil and wrong? Yes. But, we are called to something very important, which is to love every man woman and child. As depressing as it may be, men women and children are in this strip club right now, and thus all three of them will be shown love. So in your prayers please include the lost men who search the poles and corners of these bars to find love, pray that we can offer them a different love in a spirit of grace. And please pray for us. This is a dark country, about 95% of the people in Thailand are Buddhist. We have experienced many spiritual attacks, and could use extra prayers and protection. Some of us intercede in prayer as others of us go into the bars for ministry there; The Lord is in all of it and we are happy to be serving.
My next blog will be about what The Lord has stripped me of- I will explain the three most important days of my race which happened this week!
Peace and Love,
Lex
“But he stripped himself taking the humble position of a slave, taking on the form of man and sharing in human nature. “
Philippians 2:7
“They stripped off Jesus’ clothes and put a scarlet robe on him. They made a crown out of thorn branches and placed it on his head, and they put a stick in his right hand. The soldiers knelt down and pretended to worship him. They made fun of him and shouted, “Hey, you king of the Jews!” Then they spit on him. They took the stick from him and beat him on the head with it.”
Matthew 27:28-30
“We grow weary in our present bodies, and we long to be clothed in our heavenly bodies.”
2 Corinthians 5:2
