As I left the bar where John and I had been talking, I realized just how lost men like him are. Coming to a different country to fulfill some need that couldn’t possibly be met by anything but the love of God. How could they think that their actions could possibly quench that deep thirst for a true love?
John had been living in Chaing Mai for about three years. He said everything he needed was in this city and he didn’t need to go any other place. But as he spoke to me about moving to Thailand from Australia and loving where he was, you could sense the overwhelming loneliness he must have felt. As soon as I realized he wasn’t wearing a wedding band, I asked him if he had any family. He replied with, “no, but I have many friends here in Chaing Mai, all that I need”, which led me to assume he could have been referring to many younger ladies that were strategically placed at every bar entrance and next to every elderly gentleman like himself. But who am I to judge, right? John is most likely just as lost as those women prostituting themselves at the bars. Looking for love in all the wrong places. Falling victim to the lies and seduction the world so easily offers. John was alone, no family and in a place that barely spoke his language. Obviously bound to the addiction of a self-satisfying community. The least I could do was offer hope.
So as conversation progressed I offered to pray with him if he wanted. He declined, but as a result of me asking I saw him light up a little. And although I may not have prayed for him like I wanted, I knew that I could have planted a seed in his life.
Being a missionary doesn’t always have to be praying the sinner’s prayer with a prostitute. It doesn’t have to be teaching village kids “Jesus loves you”. Sometimes bringing the gospel to foreign places is just simply being a light to a very dark place. Boldly proclaiming the Lord’s name through an act of kindness or generosity. Seeing the people through His eyes and not your own. It would have been very easy for me to reject the opportunity to talk to John. I clearly knew why he was there and what he was doing. But that didn’t stop me from sharing God’s love for him. Because every lustful man and every seductive prostitute is still a child of God. They deserve hope just as much as the the next person.
And that’s why we’re here.