Nancy Perry

I really enjoyed my time in Amsterdam. It’s such a beautiful city. It has this lure, this sparkle that draws people to it. “Freedom”. “Liberty”. That’s what some people I met there have told me. “It’s Amsterdam, that’s what we do here!” People view the legal prostitution and drugs as freedom to express yourself and totally normal. It’s warped. A warped illusion of what Freedom is. Freedom is not addiction to sex and drugs. Freedom is not a human being a slave to prostitution to make it in life. It’s a poison apple, not what it seems. People are taking huge bites thinking it’s good when in reality they don’t see what it really is. Bondage. Slavery. Darkness.

Many times I would be in the red light district and would see families walking around. Small children with their parents. Why? Warped. It’s not what it seems. This is a very interesting article about a “family day” in the red light district that our YWAM Amsterdam friends wrote about. One time my friend and I were walking to the place where our team mate was doing a piece of art about “innocence” in the red light district and a man standing at a door of a sex show shouted to us that there’s a family discount. Warped.

Snow White didn’t realise that the apple was poisonous and neither does this world. These things that seem so good and so normal are detrimental and desensitizing. What are we going to do about it? There has to be a loving way.

This picture is of a church in the red light district. It’s surrounded by narrow alley ways. When you’re walking down those alley ways it’s a bit cool and damp because the sun doesn’t get down there. On your right hand side is the church and on your left are brothels. Women in windows. I’ve been thinking about them recently. I almost didn’t write anything about them because it’s so tender but I had a revelation that I think others need to have. It’s a simple one but true. These women are just like me. They giggle. They cry. They want a steady love in their lives. They want children or have children. They watch movies. They have the same fears and desires I have. I want to be their friend. To cry with them, hug them, laugh with them. eat with them, share life with them. That’s what my heart is burning for.

So this poison apple. What to do? We’ve eaten from it and now we need to be redeemed. In the story Prince Charming had to kiss Snow White to bring her back. Well, my theory is our Father’s gonna be the one to redeem it. He wants to. He is. He’s there. In the heart of it. He’s in the red light district. He’s watching. His heart breaks. He’s crying. He can’t wait for his princess, his bride to wake up and be restored. To be who she was made to be. Listen to his heart beat and you’ll hear it. You’ll hear it break for them. The ones he loves. The prostitutes, the pimps, the addicts, the tourists.