In the beginning of Thailand I was right smack dab in the middle of The Red Light District. Only a few turns away from Devil’s Den.
Looking around, it was impossible to escape the world of sex.
Just walking down the streets looking for dinner you would see it everywhere.
Girls for sale…
Tiny girls half naked, lining the streets…
Advertisements with naked girls, neon signs inviting men in..
White men with Thai girls on every bar patio….
65 year old men with 14 year old girls walking down the street…
Wondering behind how many message parlors and pedicure shops, are there girls trapped being sold again and again for sex. Because they are there.
It’s a sight that could make you angry, as every out of place white man you passed by filled your head with questions. And as he has trouble looking you in the eye, your heart floods.
I wonder what that man told his wife…
I wonder if he has kids back home…
I wonder where his family, co-workers, and friends think he is…
Maybe he is on a “business trip”…
On a getaway weekend with the boys…
Visiting distant relatives….
Maybe he’s playing golf… on a fishing trip…
When really he is sitting at a bar in the middle of The Red Light District, in front of a small Thai girl he bought for the night — who sits in front of him with a blank, distant look on her face.
I wonder what they would think, his wife, children, grandchildren.
Some would think.. …“He must be pretty desperate to be doing this”.
And some might dwell on the thought of how much lying and deceit this person had to go through to get here, to this spot…to satisfy this need within him.
To some it may evoke anger.
Some might get a sick taste in their mouth.
And feel their eyes squint in disgust and frustration.
But me… I’m not too different than these men.
In fact…I was these men.
These men are searching. They have an emptiness occupying their souls. They are missing something. Emptiness so deep and wide, that they go to desperate measures to fill it. They just chose sex in attempt to fill up that empty space, as it gives temporary satisfaction. Which probably, actually has nothing to do with sex at all.
And it wasn’t to long ago I was doing the same thing.
Trying to fill that gaping hole of emptiness inside of me with counterfeit affections.
I didn’t choose sex. I chose other things.., that can be deemed just as desperate, just as surprising.
Going around the world I see these terrible situations. Sex traffickers, murderers, thief’s, drug
addicts, gang members… the worst of the worst.. all of it .
And to the core… I’m the exact same as all of them.
We are all born with something missing inside of us. That seems like as hard as we try.. nothing in this world can satisfy and fill it.
So we become more desperate and more desperate,
crossing the line over and over again.
Until, we find ourselves in the middle of The Red Light District, buying an underage Thai girl for sex.
We all have our fillers:
Sex..
drugs..
Affection..
Sympathy..
Pain..
Pleasure..
We say:
Once my body looks like that..
Once I have enough money..
Once I start traveling..
Once I move there..
Once I find “the one”…
Once I accomplish this..
One day when I finish school..
One day when I get that job , that house..
….then I will be filled, then I will be happy.
Wrong.
"One day…" will never come. Today is the day! The day to be filled, to be content,
to radiate with joy and passion.
There is a reason nothing in this world can satisfy us completely.
And it is evidence that our spirits are made for something not of this world.
Oh, and how our souls ache deeply for it.
Our souls yearn for something deeper.
It really is out there. He is out there. He is living, and even wants and desires to fill you completely. He is waiting for you to grab on to what He is offering.
He is the one thing that quenches all our thirsts, but at the same time is the biggest thirst of all.
He doesn’t just satisfy you, fills in all your missing parts and empty spaces, and doesn't just quench all your thirsts…
He doesn’t just fill your empty cup.
He doesn’t just fill it to the brim.
He OVERFLOWS it.
OVERFLOWS IT.
He COMPLETES you.. COMPLETELY.
And it is PERMANENT.
And as my empty cup is filled to the brim, it overflows with joy, with passion, with love, with contentment.
I was the sex trafficker.
I was the murderer.
I was the drug addict.
The liar… the cheater…
But His REDEMPTION OVERFLOWS (Psalm 130:7) His BLESSING OVERFLOWS (Psalm 23:5)
NOW..
I am joy
I am love
I am complete
I am content
I am, because He is.
My soul has FOUND what it is LONGING FOR. And after having tasted it… it can no longer thirst for anything else. I am overflowing and it cannot be contained.
