As I turned the corner my stomach immediately turned into a knot. I could feel the darkness, the oppression, and the sin. We weren’t in Kansas anymore. No, we were in the streets of Chiang Mai, the second largest city in Thailand. As we were turning the corner from the night market onto the dimly lit street we were now entering a place where humans were bought and sold as the goods around the corner. This was my Valentine’s Day.
It had been decided a few days earlier that we were going to hand out cookies to the “women of the streets” that sold their bodies to strangers and that’s what we found ourselves doing. We walked down the street and began to encounter the first few bars and massage parlors where women stood outside doing their best to woo in their customers. As a few of the girls in our group walked over to talk to the women and hand out cookies, I noticed something that really disturbed me. As we crossed the street opposite of where these women were selling themselves, there was an enormous hotel. Outside on the lawn area of the hotel were a large number of people living a posh lifestyle, enjoying an extravagant dinner as waiters and waitresses served them.
The one thing that struck me as ironic is the thing that separated these two worlds, besides being on opposite sides of the street, was simply a little wall that was about 3 feet high. One side of the wall were people living in a bubble of wealth, and privilege, seemingly oblivious to what was happening on the other side of the wall. The opposite side of the wall presented the exact opposite scenario. There women sold their bodies to get by. Doing this to put food on the table for their children or for the terrible fact that they had been forced into the sex trade.
This reality disturbed me. However, what disturbs me even more is knowing that I have many times been the person living life on the lawn of the extravagant hotel, turning a blind eye to the needs of those around me. This has come in many forms in my life. At times it has been ignoring a neighbor that I know is lonely, or being selfish with my money.
I don’t want to live with my head in the sand. I don’t want you to live that way either. Most importantly, God has called us to live our lives challenging sin and darkness head on by bringing love, hope, and light to the needy and those living on the other side of the wall. So I leave anyone reading this with a simple plea. Please step out of your comfortable places. Climb over the wall. Actually, don’t climb over it. Destroy the wall. Knock it down brick by brick. Allow yourself to be in touch with the needs of those around you. Just as Christ is in touch with our needs, our pain, our suffering let yourself feel the pain and suffering of those places God has placed you in. And don’t just feel those things; bring the light, the hope, and redemption of Jesus Christ there.
