Prayer Walking in Pattaya

The problem with Pattaya is that it is also a place of ugliness.

Today I went on a prayer walk around Pattaya. I went along the beachfront and down Walking Street and back again. And as I walked I thought and prayed about what I saw...

There are men everywhere. And the thing that stands out to me about these men is that so many of them look dead. I'm reminded of that question in Proverbs, ''Shall a man heap coals into his lap and not be burned?'' In my research about Pattaya I find many websites that tell me how great it is; how wonderful it is to be able to have a different girl every night and more than once a night if you want. Apparently it's like a man's dream come true; ''Disneyland for adults'' one writer called it. So how come the men look dead? That's an interesting question. So many of them look unhealthy, sick and pale.

There is an inherent sadness that I feel when I walk around Pattaya. It's why I find it a hard place to be. I look at the women waiting on the beachfront for clients, and their make up is immaculate and their hair is lovely and they are wearing their high heels and they look so good. But there is a hardness and a sorrow on them. And I catch their eye of one or two and when I do, I smile at them and they smile back, surprised, like why would I smile at them? Don't I see what they are?

There are dogs that wander around with misaligned jaws and sores on their bodies. They have a pretty tough life, but they are survivors, like everyone else in Pattaya. They are tough. The trauma is just more noticeable in the dogs.

And the signs. Oh God, the signs... ''Live Dolls'' proclaims one. Live dolls? How that hurts my heart.What does it feel like to be seen as nothing more than a living doll? I wander along the famous Walking Street, and I'm praying in the Spirit and I'm singing songs, the songs, the songs of God in dark places, and my heart is sorrowing, sorrowing, sorrowing. I want to see these places destroyed. But I am so conscious of the Lord with me, and that I am not alone, and after a while He says: ''Take a break...''

So I wander into a bar and I buy a coke, and I walk through the bar to the other side and I go and sit out on the beachfront where the bar overlooks the sea and it's so beautiful. The sun is starting to set and the reflections of the boats on the water are lovely, and there are these huge, huge clouds. It's beautiful, but my heart is aching.

And then I look up, and there in front of me there is a statue and it's a girl, and it's beautiful. She's holding a torch, and she's strong, and mighty, and triumphant. And I'm reminded about two prophetic words I have been given about Asia - one is about awakening the right arm and the other is about being the carrier of the blue flame. And I've been asking God about these things, What is the significance of the right arm? And the blue flame?


And as I've read His Word, I have seen that the right arm is justice. Just before I left the UK our worship leader reminded me that ''Justice and righteousness are Your throne O God...''

I also remember a recent conversation with my Catholic friend Christine about why St Mary the Mother of Jesus is usually clothed in blue, and her answer that blue stands for purity and for royalty. And I see the statue of the woman with her right arm holding her torch so high and she's so beautiful, especially against the backdrop of the setting sun and the sky and the reflections on the water and she stands for justice and for purity and for the royalty of womanhood. And my heart cries out: ''O God, can you bring justice to this place? Can you bring back purity to these women and restore to them their value? Can you destroy the darkness and the shame of Walking Street please?''

And I find my heart encouraged and the sorrow that has been so heavy lifts, and a quietness and a peace comes. He sees and He knows. He knows. And as I turn around and begin to walk back, I declare it, over and over and over again:

''Our Father, 

Who art in heaven, 

hallowed be Your Name.

Your Kingdom come; 

Your will be done, 

on Walking Street as it is in heaven, 

in Pattaya as it is in heaven, 

on earth as it is in heaven.''

Our Father, our Father, our Father....

Pattaya the Beautiful

''Pattaya is an overwhelming mix of beautiful and ugly things''.

That's what I wrote on my Facebook page. On this, my third trip to the city, I saw beautiful things.

The ministry of Tamar Centre has always been beautiful. For 20 years now, Nella Davidse and her team have held out a hand of compassion and hope for the city's beleaguered bar girls. I have been on some of these outreach sessions with XP Missions and Tamar and I have more than once heard Nella tell the story of how and why she came to live and work in Pattaya. The no-nonsense integrity of the woman, and the warmth in her piercing eyes, even when she is tired... this is beautiful.

This time I sat in an audience at a graduation, listening, with a warm heart, to the testimonies of two new graduates of the three month Tamar training programme. This was the 17th Tamar graduation, and we were celebrating the achievements of eight young people. All eight had come out of dangerous exploitative situations; all eight had new qualifications, smiling faces and hope in their eyes; all eight were proud of what they had achieved... this was beautiful.

The graduates had been given gifts and flowers along with their certificates, and I watched one of the girls try to give her flowers to Nella, who lovingly but firmly refused them: ''This is your day...'' The interaction was warm and honouring and swift, and I was moved by it... this was beautiful.

After the ceremony, we had supper together and there was time to meet people and chat. I met a group of fresh faced young women, some from the USA and one from Holland, all of whom were giving up three to nine months of their lives to learn and to serve the women of Thailand. I looked deep into their innocence and their purity and I was amazed at their willingness to get involved with intervention in this, the most un-innocent of female activities. I was reminded of the slogan of the women's conference I had attended with Malina: ''Together, we are stronger''... this too was beautiful.