One of the mornings in Siem Reap, Cambodia (where we stayed for debrief), I woke up about two hours later than usual. At the hotel we were blessed with, they had free breakfast and so I would wake up early and enjoy the first wave of food. There were also less people in the dining hall so I could enjoy some quiet time. Because I had woken up late, there were more people around. I sat down with some other Racers that had been at the table for a while. Just as soon as I took a bite of my delicious egg and bacon sandwich, I look over to the table next to me and lost my appetite. There were two business men sitting with two Cambodians. I didn’t have to be a detective to know what was going on. It made me sick and angry. These women would laugh at their jokes and even paint on smiles, but I could feel the pain and sorrow. It was terrible and a bit overwhelming. After I had noticed our neighbors, one of the women sitting next to me actually said, “I was wondering how you would react”. Apparently, I wasn’t hiding my discernment and likewise, mutual pain. It was really hard, and God gave me this insight into these women’s lives. They had been the little girl at the restaurant eating rice with the spoon that was too big. They used to have genuine smiles and dreams. They had been trapped by evil and sold into slavery at a young age. They had lost hope. I was broken. I wanted to hurt these men. I wanted to rescue these 20 something women and give them back their childhood. I felt helpless.
In the afternoon of the same day, we went to a floating village and a children’s home to get some footage for a World Race video. It was a good day and I even fed some alligators, but those women would not leave my thoughts. After dinner, I went swimming in the pool. It was great, because I was all alone and was able to unravel my thoughts a little. At one point, I felt like the Lord was telling me to look up. Sure enough, I saw a woman up on the top floor balcony. Even though I couldn’t see her face, I knew without a doubt that she was one of the women from that morning. I started praying for her and had an intensely strong feeling that she was thinking of jumping. I felt her sorrow and pain. The anger and confusion of a life of abuse and being used was so thick. She was broken and wanted no more. My heart started to race as I continually prayed life over her. I was extremely relieved to watch her go back inside her room a few minutes later and shut the door. Maybe ten minutes later, after a few racers had shown up, the four of them walk into the pool area. I wasn’t the only one that puffed up as the anger towards these men and the injustice they were committing started to sink in. Every missionary around did the same thing. This is about the point that He hit me with some revelation that, if I am being honest, I didn’t really want to receive. Jesus started talking to me about how He loves those men just as much as the women. How He loves the slaver just as much as the slave and how He died for these men too. Let’s just say that I had a chat with Him on this one for a moment as I watched them play in the pool.
At this point, the women left, and I knew without a doubt that the Lord wanted me to talk to them. I didn’t want to. I was listening to them talk derogatorily about the women. Their attention turned to me and Jake and I can’t even remember what I said to spark conversation, but it worked. They moved over to our end of the pool and started some small talk. It turned out, that they were wealthy Canadian business men, on a Southeast Asia tour. They were going from big city to big city buying women in each place. They didn’t even hide the fact that they had purchased the women now up in their rooms. It was crazy. I found out that one of them owned hotels and had two daughters the same age as the Cambodian women. God gave me supernatural love for these men where I didn’t even really want it. He showed me inside these men’s hearts. I saw the truth. They were terribly unhappy and felt like the only way that someone would "love" them was if they paid them. They had lost that loving feeling essentially. That’s when God humbled me. I felt for the very men that I had been blaming everything on. Then I was reminded that at one point in my life not to long ago, I wasn’t too far away from were these men were at, if at all. They were so desperate for love and I was able to give them some. It touched them. They didn’t recoil when I told them that we were missionaries for Jesus and even blessed us on our way and offered to buy us beers. The next day as I was leaving, I ran into one of them and shook his hand and blessed him. I've needed to be reminded of Ephesians 6 recently and this experience really drove the point home.
For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places. Ephesians 6:12
