I never know what to expect next in Phuket, Thailand. I am always learning or doing something new and there are plenty of surprises. But one thing I have learned for certain: nothing can keep Jesus from being with me.
He first showed me this during the first week in Phuket. Less than 1% of Thailand’s population is Christian and this creates a very spiritually dark place. One day as I was praying, Jesus reminded me that this darkness was not separating him from me at all. This knowledge gave me much comfort and helped deepen my relationship with him.
Throughout our few weeks here, we have worked in a variety of ways. We never really know what to expect each day but just invite the surprises. Me and my team have found ourselves painting a building that is going to be used for ministry. Other days we end up teaching English at a local public school and receive lots of hugs from giggling children. We have also ministered in massage parlors to women who do not know Christ, many of whom are involved in prostitution. And we have gone to late night Bible studies where we have worshipped the God who is with us always – even in the dark places.
Bangla Street, a very popular red light district, is the darkest place we have visited. I will never forget the swarms of people throughout the street. The atmosphere was almost suffocating. Not because of the crowds or humidity, but because of the intense spiritual darkness there. It was because of the crowds of tourists who thought they were living but were not. It was because of the prostitutes who were empty inside as the sold their bodies night after night. That is why it felt so dark.
Even in that darkness though, Jesus was with me. I am not saying that he was with me only because the Bible says “Lo I am with you always” (Matthew 28:20). I am saying it because I truly felt his presence. As I prayed, he walked with me. It is a wonderful thing to be able to walk with the Light of the World in the one of the darkest places in the world.
After what Jesus has shown me about his constant presence, Romans 8:38 rings truer than it ever has for me: “For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
