I don't know how to describe how I feel
when I see a man circling a woman standing in the streets,
barely clothed,
like a tiger waiting in a field for it's prey.
And I see another man bargaining with a woman the price it costs for
just one night.
Or, when I see a woman
standing behind a glass in a box
looking as if all the life has been sucked out of her,
because there is that slight (yet probable, if I am being honest) chance that she has been bought,
and drugged, and sold so many times that she doesn't know what's real anymore.
Women line the streets and present to me pieces of paper
with lists of options, lists of women that I can look at,
that any man can look at it if he so chooses.
I don't know what to say when that girl that we talk to for a few minutes
has to leave and dance on a bar with barely any clothes on, as people stop and stare at her, looking at her like they're looking at a television screen on display.
Or when I see innocent kids sitting at a bar drinking a Coke having no
recognition of what's truly happening around them.
Men sit at the bar, beer in hand, head down.
Other men sit at the bar, beer in hand, a Thai woman half his age holding the other.
I don't know what to say when I look at certain women, and cry,
as I feel what they feel.
I see couples in the streets,
old couples and young.
I see groups of men,
young and old.
Groups of women,
young and old.
And it's 90% possible that they have no idea what they're investing in.
(taken by whitney huntley)
To any outsider, Bangla Road looks normal,
it looks fun, it looks like a…vacation.
There's even a beach at the end of it.
What else could someone ask for?
A gorgeous beach, a new culture, plenty of things to do.
But to me, this street contains so much more.
And it takes everything in me, not to feed into what's going on around me.
The fun music that I like to listen to normally,
the bright lights, people having a "good time."
But, once you start seeing with heavenly eyes,
you're seeing so much more than what's at the forefront.
Those women that people are staring at,
they are desperate for attention. Desperate for someone to choose them,
so that they can make their money to LIVE.
Because most of these women are here to survive, not just because they think their job is "fun."
The women standing behind the glass,
they want someone to say they are worthy of one night.
And the bad part about it is, is that they not only do it for all this,
but they do it so they can make money for their families.
Because at some other point someone told them that they couldn't get another job to make money,
so they think this is their only way and so they move.
And they do this to make their money now. They do what it takes,
or at least what they think it takes.
And the men are no different.
The men are searching for someone to give them attention
that someone didn't give.
They are searching for some women to show them love
that was lacking in other areas, obviously.
The men, these men, are fighting to be the coolest man,
they are trying to prove something, to be someone.
So they both fight the fight of love, desperation, and the desire to feel like they are worth something.
And all I just want to scream to them all –
There IS someone who loves you!
With Him, they don't have to do anything,
they don't have to be anyone that they're not.
they don't have to do anything that they don't want to do.
With Him, they just sit in their inheritance which
is freely given to them.
They are daughters. They are sons.
If only they would realize that and that their worth is in so much more
than how many guys are placing money in their pockets and hauling them somewhere private.
If only they would realize that they deserve so much more love than love that is bought, which isn't even love in the first place.
So, this month, join me in prayer as me, and my team, go out and fight!
We will fight to love them like their Father does.
We will fight to show them their worth, by looking at their eyes rather than at their bodies.
We will fight for them in prayer that they would see that there are other ways to provide for themselves and their families.
We will fight, because it's clear that nobody else at least in this world, has fought for them.
