For someone who normally expresses thoughts clearly and poignantly, I believe I have misrepresented my heart, or been misunderstood. My last blog post was not a vent of frustration aimed at Christian men. Enough assaults come against you men of God on a daily basis, I was not aiming my arsenal at you in order to join the attack.
What I have been frustrated with is the book Wild at Heart because I cannot read it fast enough. I have not gotten to the part where Eldridge talks about the redemption of the masculine heart, something I know God is already doing. I want to skip to the back of the book and find out the ending because it has weighed heavily on me, this trudging through the thick mire of the wounded masculine heart when I know this is not where the story ends!!
My last blog was supposed to be interpreted as a call for help or a call to action. I have just moved to a male dominated culture where women are considered second class-citizens; and I see so many men here in Cambodia with the same wounds described in Wild at Heart, but I know that as a woman, in this culture, I can only do a small part.
There is a definite purpose for me here, but there is a large need for men,
who specifically have hearts and a passion for discipling other men
to come to Cambodia and join the fight against human trafficking and sexual slavery
because these violent and sexual acts against women and boys are coming from wounded men.
I left an amazing community of godly men behind in Dayton, OH. I would only ever want to lift them, and men like them, up and up and up! Again, I wasn’t trying to vent frustration about men not stepping up, but rather get the word out:
What Cambodia needs are more
Jareds, Kyles, Lukes, Jeremiahs, Tims, Calebs . . .
the list could go on.
What Cambodia needs are more Michaels. Michael is another gutsy and fearless man of God.
When Michael was 20 he moved to Phnom Penh.
Because Michael had the guts to walk into a brothel that “specializes” in prostituting young adolescent boys and men, an English program was birthed in order to build relationships and teach the boys about Christ while teaching English. Now tutors are freely going into the same brothel to continue this program.
Michael, late one night, took the president of Daughters to Wat Phnom where she met, for the first time, a lady boy who was there prostituting himself. From that interaction her heart broke and the “Sons Program” within the Daughters organization was born.
Michael regularly visited beer gardens and built relationships with the Khmer girls who were selling themselves there. Now the girls know “he is not here for that, do not touch him, do not ask him.” The girls at the beer gardens trust him so much now that they confide in him and share their pain. He has heard stories like, “I went to a hotel with a customer once. He wanted a ‘blowjob’ but I did not know what that was, so he shoved my head in the toilet.”
Recently Michael started working at an organization called Hard Places. He is training Khmer social workers to counsel and disciple the young boys who have been reached by this organization.
The work Michael has done here is great! But there is still more work to do!
- husbands need to be discipled to love their wives and cherish them like Christ does the church.
- men need counsel, discipling and deliverance from addictions to drugs, alcohol, and porn.
- boys that have been raped and deal with gender confusion/ lady boys; need discipling, their masculine heart wounds need healing.
- young Khmer Christian men need discipling.
- Foreign Johns from other countries need to be reached.
- Khmer women and girls need godly examples of friendship with men.
- women like myself would love the protection a man provides when doing street outreach.
So I am praying for God to continue to raise up Michaels to join us here.
The men of Cambodia are still wounded. The majority do not know God. Most have not tasted the redemption that I know is coming at the end of Wild at Heart.
This bestowing of godly masculinity cannot come from me nor my amazing team of 10 women.
As women in this culture we can only do a small part.
As men and women of God, we are a team; a body; and there is a need for more men here.
Men of God, we are already praying for you; for God to empower you and mobilize you, not because we are frustrated with you, but because we realize our need for you here with us.
