“Same, Same, but different” is a phrase commonly used and posted on everything in Thailand. It’s typically used in the markets when people are trying to sell you something that may or may not be what you are wanting. It’s a way of ironically stating that something is different, but attempting to assure someone that it is close enough to what they are looking for.
Coming into Thailand, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I knew a lot of previous ministries for racers looked like working with prostitutes on the streets, people in bars, and those at risk for sex-trafficking.
I’d be lying if I said I was a little nervous about this, hence why I begin to ask the Lord to prepare my heart the month before while in the Philippines for whatever was ahead of me.
The Bar scene is something I’ve never been apart of and something I have never felt comfortable being in. I have always wanted to work with prostitutes and such, but didn’t really see how that could happen without feeling comfortable in their environment.
The first night we stayed in Thailand, we walked the streets and my heart melted. I saw women and young girls, sitting outside bars awaiting their next “client.” It was everywhere you looked, seriously. Then you would see the emptiness in the man’s eyes as they sought out a temporary satisfaction, which would never amount to any sort of eternal fulfillment. The men were just as lost as the women and this was just as heart breaking for me.
What killed me the most was knowing my own past, the hurt and pain I felt, how it made me act, and knowing their ways were so much more extreme than mine. I can’t imagine the pain someone must feel in order to cope in such ways.
While in Thailand, I was asked to be a Squad leader – meaning a lot of my ministry now becomes pouring into and discipling the squad as a whole. I will no longer be with a set team; rather I will travel with a different team each month. This was something that I had desired to do, but something I wasn’t sure would actually happen due to the Lord asking me to lay it down in the Philippines. I was called to lay it down, but in a way that looked different than what I anticipated.
Because of becoming a squad leader, Thailand for me was a month of shadowing our previous squad leaders for one month, meaning that I traveled to a new team every week, which called for a different ministry every week.
The first week I started off gardening and working at children’s homes for those who were at risk for being trafficked. This was so incredible and I loved the idea of people giving children a chance to not be victim to the norm of this country.
The second week was bar ministry. I wasn’t sure how I would take it, but I ended up loving it. While in the Philippines asking the Lord to prepare my heart, He promised me a grace and love to see past my comfort zone and this is exactly what happened. I was amazed at how comfortable I felt loving on the lady boys (men who dressed up as women, often times prostituting out to gay men), the bar employees, and the prostitutes.
It’s amazing to think back a year ago, I would’ve never found myself ever going into a bar, even to preach the Gospel, but how the Lord’s love will take you to do things you never thought you would do. Then the Lord reminded me of a time in the bible where he did the same thing –
Mark 2:15-17 states:
“While Jesus was having dinner at Levi’s house, many tax collectors and “sinners” were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the “sinners” and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: “Why does he eat with tax collectors and ‘sinners’?”
On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
We were being Jesus to these people. We were showing them a love that has no end and that we wanted to spend time with them, not for what they could give us, but because they are also called and chosen by the same God that we are.
It was then that I realized, things were “Same, Same, but different.”
Same atmosphere, same people, same sin, yet different love and different grace.
The last week I worked with a team that taught bible studies, worship, prayer, and English to boys and girls that were at risk for sex trafficking and it was again the same love for the fact that these kids have a chance. They loved Jesus. They preached Jesus. They were full of the Word. They were redeemed and saved by the blood. Such a beautiful picture of the goodness of God to preserve His children.
That week we also went to a deaf school, where we got to preach Jesus to them. I have always wanted to learn sign language, but while I was here – unending tears rolled down my face as I watched these boys and girls sign to one another. While being there, one girl have her life to the Lord and stood up in front of the whole class, later explaining that she felt so happy and she is so glad that we came.
Needless to say Thailand as a whole was “same, same, but different.”
