mercy triumphs over judgement

Abe decided to take our team to Pat Pong, one of the red-light districts in Bangkok. We walked down three streets. The first-, also doubling as a night-market, catering to the general crowd, the second- the street catering to the demand for boys and lady boys, and the third- serving mostly a Japanese clientele. After walking down the first street, I didn’t feel as much of a shock as some of our team experienced. I’ve spent a lot of time in Asia- I’ve seen this scene before. What stood out to me more was a group of 3 women sitting at a stoop. The two on the sides were reading tarot cards. The third woman, in the middle was crying. After debriefing with our team, I realized that maybe God wanted to show me the pain that exists when He is neglected. The woman was crying. I don’t know why, but it struck me. Walking past the prostitutes and their customers on Pat Pong didn’t shock me. Maybe, I was looking at the supply of women and the demand provided by customers as an equation- a scenario- a problem to resolve. I knew the pain was there. And I chose not to see it until the end of the street, with the women playing tarot cards. I admire Rebekah for connecting to the hearts of these women through their eyes and opening up herself to feel their hurt. I feel like now, thinking about life back at school or in Orange County, how often I guard myself from seeing the pain or hurt or loneliness in someone’s eyes. While we were in Korea, I saw a man wearing a shirt with arms breaking chains and Romans 6:22 written below it. He breaks chains. He sets his children free from sin, loneliness, despair, heartache, disappointment, addictions, insecurity, failure, the list goes on. Mike kept thinking of the word ‘slavery’ while were walking around in down there. While debriefing and praying tonight, I couldn’t help thinking about the invisible world present in Pat Pong. He’s already fighting. Your angels are fighting. Maybe I have to release myself from being guarded to see it and fight along side Him and help release people from their chains.