This is a story about the city of Jaco, Costa Rica.
About 15-20 years ago, Jaco was not a place you or anyone really should go to. It was known as the Sodom and Gomorrah of Costa Rica. It was worse than the Red Light Districts of Thailand. And the phrase was that if you were going to Jaco, it was because you were either wanted by the law, or unwanted by anyone else.
Prostitution was and still is legal here. Drugs did and still fill the streets. Families were and still are selling their children to make money.
So how can I call this story one of redemption?
Because God has been and is still at work. He has reclaimed this city as His own. And it is all so beautiful to see.
My host first went to Costa Rica around 15-20 years back. She was staying in a city called San Jose (about 2 hours away) and was there for mission purposes. At the time she was a big surfer and wanted to see more of Costa Rica. All the people there told her that she could go anywhere she wanted but just don’t go to Jaco whatever you do. It was like the christian community just avoided it altogether because no light was to be found. I think they were scared of sending people there, because it was so lost. To go would mean to be exposed to all the corruption that took place and to risk becoming a part of it.
But the more people told my host to avoid Jaco, the more she felt that she needed to go. So her and a few others took a trip and visited the city.
She said it was awful. The town itself was beautiful, but the people were so lost. Everywhere she looked, corruption was all around. The way they lived their lives was as though the people there just accepted it. Young kids would be outside bars trying to sell artwork, just watching everything take place inside.
There was no church and she said the whole time she was there she could find maybe five other believers.
Despite everything she saw, she fell in love with the city and felt God calling her back.
And so that’s what she did.
I don’t know all the details or all the struggles, but there were a lot. Some were not strong in their faith and lost hope, some left the city, and one even passed away from being hit by a car since the streets were horrible at the time. It was a lawless place.
But through all that, God was taking a hold of Jaco. He was reclaiming it for Himself.
And now I can come here today and witness an entirely new Jaco. There is a ministry that teaches kids how to surf and shares the Gospel with them. There is both an English and Spanish speaking church where together, hundreds attend. And there are other churches too that the ministry does not partner with.
The main hotel that is known for the prostitution that occurs there has gone to the church asking for help. It was not the owner’s intention for his hotel to turn out that way, and so they are now working together to minister within its walls.
Just years ago, the church body was avoiding Jaco, and now mission groups are constantly being sent to this city.
Now the beaches are places of public declarations of faith through baptisms.
One woman who has lived in Jaco for a long time, started prayer walks a couple years back. She thought if she wanted to see change in the city, she needed to cover it in prayer. So she walked around by herself and prayed for the stores by name (what we are still doing today).
They developed a business guide online to keep track, and would go into the businesses asking for specials that they could add onto the website and ask for prayer requests. So then businesses were being prayed for with their owners. After the website was made and their business was added to it, they made small cards to pass out. Ladies from the church made cookies they would bring to the stores along with the cards to show them! And then they prayed with them again!
So even though this town is still not all shiny and clean. I mean, we had an 8pm curfew because once it gets dark, the entire mood of the city just shifts. There is now so much light to be found. I can walk down the streets and always run into someone I know from the church. Our hosts especially, can develop relationships with owners and be asked about who Jesus is just by showing the people in this town so much love.
I was honestly shocked to learn about what Jaco used to be because of seeing what it is today. And that, that is redemption.
It is realizing that no matter how far gone people or a place may seem, it is never out of reach for God to reclaim it as His own and to love.
It is realizing that you are constantly being pursued by God and no matter what you do. He is always so in love with who you are and how He made you to be. Redemption is reclaiming that lost relationship that was once corrupted and declaring yourself made new.
