Last week my teammate Kelly, our YWAM friend Claudia, and myself went on a lunch date with two people we’ve built a relationship with on Bangla Road. They are a couple in their early twenties who work on two of the streets. He is a bar tender in a tiny bar on Soi Crocodile, and she is a bar girl at one of the bars on Soi Easy. They came to tour SHE and see what they had to offer, then the five of us went to eat at a place down the road where Kelly and Claudia ate chicken so spicy they compared it to eating a bowl of the sun. The whole afternoon was just really fun, and once they left we were really excited to go visit them next time we out to Bangla Road.
On Wednesday night, our group headed out to Bangla Road for another night of ministry. Music blaring, tourists staring, and crowded streets; another normal night. We began to prayer walk down the street before deciding which bar to go to, and after a few minutes we decided to check out a place down Crocodile that we had visited once before. At the entrance, we saw our friend preparing for another night of bar tending. On our way past, we stopped and had a short conversation. As we prepared to leave, we asked him if his girlfriend was working that night; we’d love to stop by and see her as well.
He told us yes, she was working that night. We asked which bar she was working in, and made a mental note to stop by after this and check to see how she was doing.
A huge smile broke across his face as he told us where she was working:
Seven Eleven. Not a bar on Bangla Road, but the Seven Eleven store down the road from our house.
She quit.
SHE WALKED OUT.
I could write you a novel describing the incredible joy we all felt upon hearing this news, but I’ll put it in a short and simple way:
God is good, all the time. He is moving and working in the hearts of the people on Bangla Road, and not just the women in the bars but the tourists and bar owners and lady boys and bartenders. There is a change in that place that is slowly occurring with each and every day. Chains are breaking away and bonds are being shattered; hope is being restored and life is being renewed. There is a revival coming, and Satan is being constantly pushed out of every bar, every closed club, and every street in Patong. Christ is here and active, and He is pouring out His love in that place and bringing abundant and redeemed life.
How do I know this? How can I claim this is happening amidst such darkness and despair?
Because she walked out.
She felt the love and saw the light and is walking in it.
She no longer has to sell her body night after night or dance on a table for desperate men or take her clothes off to feel she is worth something.
She is free. Her chains are broken. She is no longer captive.
She walked out.
On Wednesday night, our group headed out to Bangla Road for another night of ministry. Music blaring, tourists staring, and crowded streets; another normal night. We began to prayer walk down the street before deciding which bar to go to, and after a few minutes we decided to check out a place down Crocodile that we had visited once before. At the entrance, we saw our friend preparing for another night of bar tending. On our way past, we stopped and had a short conversation. As we prepared to leave, we asked him if his girlfriend was working that night; we’d love to stop by and see her as well.
He told us yes, she was working that night. We asked which bar she was working in, and made a mental note to stop by after this and check to see how she was doing.
A huge smile broke across his face as he told us where she was working:
Seven Eleven. Not a bar on Bangla Road, but the Seven Eleven store down the road from our house.
She quit.
SHE WALKED OUT.
I could write you a novel describing the incredible joy we all felt upon hearing this news, but I’ll put it in a short and simple way:
God is good, all the time. He is moving and working in the hearts of the people on Bangla Road, and not just the women in the bars but the tourists and bar owners and lady boys and bartenders. There is a change in that place that is slowly occurring with each and every day. Chains are breaking away and bonds are being shattered; hope is being restored and life is being renewed. There is a revival coming, and Satan is being constantly pushed out of every bar, every closed club, and every street in Patong. Christ is here and active, and He is pouring out His love in that place and bringing abundant and redeemed life.
How do I know this? How can I claim this is happening amidst such darkness and despair?
Because she walked out.
She felt the love and saw the light and is walking in it.
She no longer has to sell her body night after night or dance on a table for desperate men or take her clothes off to feel she is worth something.
She is free. Her chains are broken. She is no longer captive.
She walked out.
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