“We Are Not DIRTY”

Picture a red sign with the name "Motel X" standing vertically. A beacon to all those who wish to indulge in their sexual pleasures. Now picture, that beneath that sign, is a small motel parking lot - gated and in the parking lot are women in lingerie. Women standing on the corner, positioned in front of their rooms, or walking back and forth. Women waiting to be sold. These women are in slavery. I wish I could say this is just a picture, but this is the reality for many women on 27th Street. Women sold again and again for their bodies. Night after night and day after day, each time they are sold, not only do their bodies pay the price, but their souls, their spirits.

We walked into this brothel one night - a team of us, dedicated to bringing Jesus into the darkness. One of the ladies looked at one of us and proclaimed, "What we do is dirty but WE, we are not DIRTY." She was telling her soul, "You are not what is done to you." Ponder how she feels every time someone lays down with her and gets up as if she were just something to use. Just like that, she is thrown away. Imagine how she must feel when she's had enough and has to pleasure someone against her will.  The unexplainable physical and mental violence. To look into the eyes of these ladies, is to look at a soul that Jesus deeply cherishes and loves. Imagine. Yet, they are used to people looking at them with desire and lust. How can they trust a pure touch?

Safe Places seeks to be the hands that offer pure touch, the eyes that see souls and not statistics, and the hearts that love and do not judge. Safe Places desires to be Jesus to these ladies. In our own strength we cannot love them but Jesus in us can. Now imagine the men. Imagine them in their cars, buying. Imagine the pain that brought them to this sin. Imagine the torment that allowed their soul to buy another human being, imagine. Now imagine that Jesus too loves them. They too can be cleaned. They need love too. For when one of us catches the eye of a buyer, we are looking into another soul that Jesus died for.

So imagine with me, Jesus standing in the midst of the brothel and to His left is the woman proclaiming "I am not DIRTY," and to His right is the man broken and ready to buy. Jesus would offer them both life if they came to Him. So, just as Jesus would, so will we. Help us take up the mantle to being light-bearers and light-bringers for the Kingdom of God in the face of darkness.