On Tuesday, July 21st we crossed the border from Thailand into Burma. We only spent a little over an hour in the border town of Myawaddy but emotionally it felt much longer. Walking across the bridge into Burma was a spiritual experience. I could feel it get harder to breathe as we stepped into Burma. There was a real spiritual heaviness that felt hard to walk through. I felt like I had walked into a place that is lifeless. I felt a sense of hopelessness and sadness. It was quiet and dull, even though there were people all around.
Burma is a country that only reopened its borders to foreigners about 10 years ago. Until that, it had been hidden away from the rest of the world for 60 years by a corrupt government. It is a country in need of so much recovery. It is a country that is immersed in spiritual darkness.
As I walked across the bridge that spanned the Thai-Burma border it became more difficult to breathe. I felt like I was entering a land of people who are pressed down by a dark weight. I felt a lack of joy. The boys who were there as our translators and guides asked us where we would like to go. They said that they would take us to the Buddhist temple to pray. As they led us through the streets toward the temple, the sky was darkening and the atmosphere was thicker. The streets were busy and the sidewalks were lined with shops and markets, cafes and restaurants. The typical red plastic chairs of this part of Asia sat in every place and were filled with people eating. These shops are not like ones we see in the Western world; they are rundown and sometimes dinghy. I had stepped into a portal that brought me back I time to a place that is struggling. Finally we arrived at the temple. Walking into the temple was difficult for my spirit. I felt for these people who have been repressed for so long and are living without knowing the love of Jesus. I watched these people as they worshiped a false god, a god that cannot give them the love and blessings as the one who I want them to know. As we walked through the temple I prayed passionately; for the souls of these people, for the country, for the repression, for all the things unknown. The sky darkened as the heaviness upon us grew.
When we left the temple we prayed together as a team. The rain started to drizzle and it came harder as we walked back toward the border. In minutes it was pouring. We arrived at the Burma border once more, got our passports back and crossed into Thailand. On the way over the bridge, the weight lifted and my breathing felt normal again. The tightness of spiritual darkness had left. The rain felt so appropriate at this moment. The drops felt like a cleansing of the darkness that I had felt in Burma. Rain is cleansing, it heals my soul, it is somber but it also drives me to think deeply and feel more. And as this wonderful rain was falling, we crossed by what is known as “No Man’s Land”.
I was in awe of all the beautiful and wonderful things to purchase as I walked through the tented Burmese market. The people spend their lives selling their wares and working so hard. At the end of the market we continued walking purposefully toward “No Man’s Land”. I could not let my feet stop until they reached the point where I could look into this small piece of land, belonging to neither Burma nor Thailand. A piece of land where laws don’t exist and anything is allowed. This small piece of land houses a coupe hundred people. Sin runs wild and free, drugs are everywhere and sex is the main attraction. Nothing is punishable because there is no real authority. This small piece of land is dark, so very dark; it is Satan’s playground. And I saw it. I could see into “No Man’s Land”. I stood there, staring at the most spiritually dark places I have ever encountered. I stood on the sidewalk looking at the people and children. And I prayed. I prayed so hard for the people, the children, the darkness and the evilness that lives, breathes and grows in this place. I prayed for light to come down and fill this place. I prayed that the corruption would disappear. But then, as suddenly as I had seen it, the time had come for us to leave again.
A couple of minutes, that was all I was given to experience “No Man’s Land” with my own eyes. But my heart has forever been opened and broken for the people of Burma and the people of “No Man’s Land”. As we rode home in our taxi I felt heavy for Burma. I felt heavy for the people. I felt heavy for what I saw, I felt heavy for what I knew was happening but couldn’t see. My heart cried to God to heal these people and this nation. Burma is crying out…Lord, hear her cry.
I ask you to pray for this nation as well. Pray for Burma. Pray for her people. Pray for “No Man’s Land”.
