I am a weirdo. I have crossed over from the typical American tourist to the “weirdoâ€� category. Why is this? Because I worshipped God in the red light district. I got stares, laughter, disgust. And I didn’t care. I probably looked a little bit like a weirdo. What kind of “normal” person stands around the red light district singing praises to God? One that most would call “weird.”
One of the first nights we entered the red light district in Chiang Mai, Thailand, I felt such a strong desire to worship. I just kept thinking “how often does God receive praise here?� Almost never would be my guess. Who sees a strip of bars with women selling themselves and men of all ages perusing the “merchandise� and thinks “I feel like worshipping God right now?� There was not one night at the bars that I didn’t have some song on my heart. I knew that God wanted me to praise Him in this darkness. After several nights of going to the bars and engaging in conversations with the women (and sometimes the men), I finally decided to do it. I grabbed the portable speakers and my ipod and walked down to the bars. My team sat across the street from the main entrance of the strip and just praised God. It was amazing! People gave us all kind of looks and at times even laughed at us. But we didn’t care. It just made us want to praise God more. At one point during the evening I expressed a desire to move across the street and sit right by the entrance of the bars. I even said to my teammates “I want to sing How Great is Our God and see how many give us weird looks as they enter the bars.“ As that song came on my ipod a security guard walked over to us. Through his hand motions we realized that he was kicking us out. We could no longer sit in front of the building. “Where should we go?� He pointed across the street to the bars! What?! “You want us to play our music in front of the bars?’ He shook his head yes. So we did. I re-started “How Great is Our God� and we worshipped. What is amazing is while that song was playing no one walked into the red light district! A few people stopped and looked, but everyone ended up walking away! How Great is Our God!!!! I felt God’s presence as we danced, jumped, twirled, and praised our God. There is so much freedom to found in worship. And I believe by us worshipping that night, freedom came to the red light district. Someone found freedom that night.
When you think about the red light district, what comes to mind first? Prostitution? Sin? Shame? Men taking advantage of women? Darkness? Drunkenness? Drugs? When I looked at the street of bars what I saw was hope. I saw God transforming the place. It may sound crazy, I may sound like a weirdo, but I believe that God is going to redeem the red light district in Chiang Mai. A church is going to rise up among those people, what some may consider “the lowest of the low.� I saw a picture of all these women and men with hands lifted up and faces filled with joy. Kingdom is coming to the red light district! There is so much need for Him there. So many women are trapped in this industry; some have been trafficked into it, some have turned to it because they see no other way to provide for their families, and some are stuck because they no longer view themselves as human beings. When these women and men look at themselves, they see someone who is worthless, drenched in shame, and incapable of being loved. But, as we worshipped I felt God’s presence in this dark place. I saw moments of light. I saw hope. When I think of Chiang Mai and that strip of bars, my first thought isn’t prostitution, sin, shame, darkness, drunkenness….it’s hope. I saw God’s hope pouring out all over that place. And I think of FREEDOM. There is such much freedom God is going to bring to each person who passes through that strip of bars. Why wouldn’t I want to worship God there?! So, yeah, maybe I am a werido.
“If I’m crazy, it’s because I refuse to be crazy in the same way that the world has gone crazy.”
– Peter Maurin
