We jumped in a taxi and headed down town to the red-light areas of Bangkok to pray. As we walked through these areas, bright lights and erotic signs flashed in our faces as scantily clad women and lady boys aggressively beckoned us to come to their establishments. The atmosphere was very evil and dark; nothing in sight glorified the name Jesus. People celebrated the darkness with drunkenness and every kind of sexual lust or fantasy you could think of. I could sense falsity in the love and intimacy being offered. The emptiness and loneliness has placed a choke-hold on the identities of the men who frequent these red-light areas. However, as we walk down these streets I refuse to believe that the love of God and the power of His grace lack the ability to transform any man’s heart, even in the middle of a dark red-light district like this.
I sat slouched in the back of the taxi drinking a Starbucks as we headed back to our apartments later that night. We continued to pray and think, truly believing that pursuing these men is close to the heart of God. Our prayer is to know God intimately, to know how He views us as His Sons, and to know the truth about who we now are as redeemed men of God! We believe that knowing our true identities, accepting the love of God in our own lives, and walking in His freedom gives us the authority to speak into these men’s lives with boldness; in hopes to show them what they too, can become.
My hope is that these men would return to their wives and become husbands, return to their kids and become good fathers, and return to their communities and become examples.
