As we make our way down Bangla street every night to talk to the girls in the bars, I see dozens of western men hand in hand with a young Thai girl. Most of the men are older, in between their 40s and 50s. Sometimes when I see them I just want to punch them in the face. I want to shake them and scream at them, “What the hell is wrong with you!? You can’t just buy women and have them do what you want!” Because these girls wouldn’t have to be selling themselves if there wasn’t a demand. They wouldn’t have to be dancing around poles for hours or pretend to enjoy being groped by different men 
every night. They wouldn’t have to get themselves drunk to tolerate their lives. But because the men that come to Bangla road want it, they get it. So each night I found myself looking at these men in disgust. I would shutter and roll my eyes at them. I definitely judged them. I hated what they did to some of my friends. I hated them.
every night. They wouldn’t have to get themselves drunk to tolerate their lives. But because the men that come to Bangla road want it, they get it. So each night I found myself looking at these men in disgust. I would shutter and roll my eyes at them. I definitely judged them. I hated what they did to some of my friends. I hated them. And then one night before heading to the bars we were praying and worshiping and started singing my favorite song. One of the lines says, If grace is an ocean we’re all sinking. And that revelation smacked me right in my judgmental face. Grace. It’s undeserved. I don’t deserve God’s forgiveness. I sure didn’t do a thing to earn it. But because of His grace, I have it. And yes, what these men do sucks, but they are under the SAME grace that I am under. We are all drowning in a sea of grace. Deep and never ending. Like a massive wave, His grace devours us and He washes over every iniquity.
And He offers that grace to the man who just bought my friend. Jesus loves these men just as much as He loves me. And that’s a lot. They are lonely and searching and desiring intimacy that can only be found in a relationship with Jesus Christ. I realize that I am no better than them. While they were renting a prostitute, I was looking into their eyes and condemning them.
As a usual gentleman, God has been whispering to me, see this man? I love him. Look at him with my eyes. I don’t see His sin. I want you to love Him. I want you to go and talk to him. I want you to tell him about real love. Tell Him he is sinking in my ocean of grace.
men on bangla road. from ashley higgins on Vimeo.
