The first time I walked into the rehab center in Khon Kaen, I was surprised.
I always imagined drug rehab to be like a hospital. Sterile, clean, people in plain simple clothes or uniforms, sad or hardened expressions from the struggle of staying clean. I’d never been to a rehab center before.
We packed into the back of our tap tap and 20 minutes later pulled into the parking lot. There was no security guard to check us in, no sign of nurses or doctors, no sterile uniforms. Just men. Plain, simple men of all ages.
I looked around, and I thought to myself, that if I had passed a single one of them on the street, I never would have guessed that they were in rehab or that they struggled with drugs at all.
They laughed, joked, smiled. They helped set up the space and the chairs for us to sit in. They crowded around on the floor, and when our church musician got up to play some music they got up and danced, pulling some of my squadmates up to dance with them. They sang, and clapped, and cheered at the dance moves of their counter parts. One or two came up to sing. We may as well have been sitting at a karaoke bar.
Our team got up and performed a skit about Christmas, shared a couple of testimonies and sang, then we broke off into small groups and did the best we could with our translators to talk to them, get to know them, share our faith.
One young man who was sitting next to me looked at me and said ” I hope you come back. I really enjoy it when you come.”
Yesterday, we went back for the second time. Once again our church musician played music, a few new faces were in the crowd and some of the old ones had checked out. The residents at the center were given 120 days to stay, they had to check out at that point whether or not they were better.
After performing a different skit about how emotions, attitudes and Christ’s love are all contagious, my squadmate Melissa got up and shared a little bit. She asked if anyone in the crowd wanted prayer. We gathered around those who raised their hands, most wanted prayer for their families and their finances.
Then my squad leader approached me. I had volunteered to share my testimony that morning. He asked if at the end of my testimony I would open up the floor for those who wanted to ask Christ to come into their lives. I thought I would be nervous to do it, but I wasn’t.
Melissa shared her story about her relationship with her mom who struggled with addiction. Then I got up. I shared my story about how I hadn’t always surrounded myself with the best examples of Christ back home, how I had many non Christian friends in high school, how just as in the skit – their values and beliefs and searching for meaning in the worldly things had become contagious. I shared how I had gone to teach abroad in France and about how the contagious love of the church members in Gerardmer had made me want a relationship with God again.
I told them that the Lord had called me to the World Race because He wanted me to keep spreading his contagious love, and then I told them that if they wanted that kind of love to live in their hearts and change their lives as well they should raise their hands, or just stand up, and we would help them ask Christ to come into their life.
There was an awkward pause at first, but then out of the corner of my eye the boy that I had talked to last week, the one that said he wanted us to come back slowly raised his hand. I saw him look around and realize he was alone, and he slowly put it back down. But at that point some of the church members with us had begun to approach him. Slowly 9 more men stood up and joined him. I couldn’t believe my eyes.
We surrounded these ten men, and the members of the church that spoke Thai explained a little bit more to them and lead them through their first prayer in their native language. Clapping and cheering followed. As we went to grab chairs to break off into smaller groups again, one man approached me. He took my hand and shook it, I clasped his one hand between both of mine. He told me in broken English that my story had resonated with him, and had touched him very deeply. The final puzzle piece before it became clear that a life with Christ was in the picture.
It’s amazing to see what God did through our two visits to the rehab center. I now have 10 more brother’s in Christ, and I am so overjoyed that the Lord let me play a part in their story.
