I was asked by BMS World Mission if I would consider going to Bangkok to write some songs based on what I saw there. Plans quickly fell into place for me to join a film crew making a documentary about the sex industry there and film the song writing process as it unfolded. In the run up to the trip I was deeply impacted by documentaries on TV about the atrocities in Bangkok, but I also had a moment where God took me on a imaginary path where I met a prostitute and in that moment I physically engaged with the heartache of what life was like for this girl. That is where the song idea came from.

The opening line came from a previous idea I had worked on but never developed. Again, watching a documentary on some justice issue (I forget what) I was shocked to realise that I had just sat through the programme like it was entertainment. I had been watching real lives, real people, in real situations and yet hadn’t felt much sadness and certainly didn’t act! I was in shock for a moment afterwards but as I was sat with a guitar, out came the imagery of being anaesthetised for a minor operation, seeing it, but not feeling it.

The song is quite moody and dark in places, like the seedy nightlife of Bangkok, and desperate and passionate in the chorus as I cry “God Are You There?”  I couldn’t imagine the pain God must feel knowing that he loves more than I ever could.

The climax of the song really falls on the last line of the last verse; ”Oh God come walk upon these streets!” I felt it appropriate when I was in Bangkok and we filmed a video to the song live on the streets outside many of the bars. I was singing genuinely, passionately, like a prayer when it came to that line.

There is a call to engage with what is going on out there. It is a huge industry and it operates in far more subtle ways than we probably imagine. The last line of the chorus is the call to action and the invitation to the listener to ask, “Tell me how I become your hands and feet?”.

God Are You There?

I was anaesthetised, to the pain within your eyes

I saw it but I felt nothing

But you’re human to the core, and this pain I feel is yours

My world has collided into you

I was carried on the breeze, to your land of mystery

To the place known as the city of angels

Where my shattered Thailand dreams, left me choking at the scenes

Paradise feels more like agony

God are you there? Are you listening to me?

I’m speaking out for those who cannot speak

God are you there? Are you listening to me?

Tell me how I become your hands and feet?

The diamonds of this earth are traded like they’re dirt

Some things money should not buy

Like you, beautiful princess, who robbed your innocence?

I pray God‘s mercy on his soul

The innocence of man has long since gone

I’m guilty as the next if I walk on

Tell me what have we become?

Tell me what have we become?

Someone tell me what have we become?

The prey is closing in

Another night in hell begins

And oh, my soul is heavy

Come to the rescue

God help us please

Oh God come and walk upon these streets

This song is planned to feature on a new recording in 2010.