Building a home there...

   Katie Davis writes the most beautiful blog. Her love of the Ugandan people is so evident and I can just imagine her sitting among those lovely people, telling stories and reading Scripture as the grace of God flows from her lips. In her latest blog post about the people of Masese, Uganda and how they have become her friends though they turned away from her and seemed to even hate her when she first arrived in their community with a pot of bean soup, ready to feed the starving, she quotes Nouwen: 

   "Compassion is not a bending toward the underprivileged from a privileged position; it is not reaching out from on high to those who are less fortunate below; it is not a gesture of sympathy or pity for those who fail to make it in the upward pull. On the contrary compassion means going directly to those people and places where suffering is most acute and building a home there." 

   How beautiful those words are and how accurately Katie Davis has lived them out, and continues to do so. She didn't learn about the countless orphans in Uganda and decide to send money to an orphanage. She didn't see a man struggling with alcoholism and decide to volunteer some of her time at a treatment center. She didn't hear stories about people with no food and decide to donate canned goods to a food pantry. 

   No. 

   She learned about the countless orphans in Uganda and adopted thirteen lovely girls who have become her daughters, showing them just how much they are worth...the body of Christ broken and the blood of Christ poured out for them. She saw a man struggling with alcoholism and invited him into her home, helping him detox, showing him that someone cared for him and breathing purpose into his life with every word spoken of the God who could heal him from the battle raging inside him. She heard stories about people with no food and went to them, giving them her own food so that they may have the strength to live a little longer and with a little less pain. 

   Katie Davis truly doesn't offer fake compassion...she's the real deal. She made a home in Uganda, among the people she now calls friends in order to give them hope of a better life and pour God's love down on them to show them that life doesn't end with one's last breath. 

*     *     *     *     *

   As a sit here and mull over this quote, listening to the wind howl and the rain pound on my roof, my thoughts drift to where they always seem to: the children huddled on the floor of an abandoned warehouse, chained to the walls, dreading the next time the door swings open...the girls hanging their heads in shame and despair on a street corner, popping just a few more pain killers so they won't have to feel the pain so intensely, waiting to be bought... These thoughts seem to live in my head, constantly plaguing me, prompting me into action. 

   But tonight I'm not satisfied in writing a heartfelt blog post about my passion for justice and dream of seeing the end of this atrocity. Tonight, I'm wondering what it would look like for me to "build a home there". There...in the midst of the commercial sex industry? There...on the street corner with the least of these? There...with those who take drugs to evade the constant pain they feel? There...?

   How do I possibly build a home there where my heart lies? The fear of the danger that there brings paralyzes me. The fear of the unknown that there brings terrifies me. 

   Yet, I know that there is my calling. 

   How could I ever build a home there, where I know I am supposed to be?

They are SURVIVORS!

   President Obama recently spoke about human trafficking and is attempting to make some changes as to how victims of trafficking are viewed and treated in society as a result of a petition that International Justice Mission drafted and I signed.

   In his speech as said, "We'll treat victims as victims - not as criminals." Wow. I honestly think this is one of the greatest quotes I've ever heard. 

   Can you just imagine what would happen if we didn't arrest girls for commercial sex and put them in jail because we understood that they are being forced to do so? Can you imagine what would happen if survivors of trafficking knew that they could confide in and trust the police, the people who are supposed to keep them safe but so often hurt them further? Can you imagine what would happen if we viewed them as people who need help and a way out rather than as a threat to our society? 

   I can.

   I believe these survivors would come forward and speak out against their traffickers and what has been done to them. I believe they would realize that there are people in the world who long to help them and not all people want to hurt them as they may have been lead to think. I believe they would begin to view themselves as survivors rather than someone who deserves what has been done to them. 

   If we treated them as victims, better yet as SURVIVORS, I believe we could end sex trafficking and the commercial sex industry.

one word
one word to describe her:
strong.
though it seems she's victim to her own circumstances,
she's a survivor.

Too Dangerous to Try?

   There was a time that I was too afraid to raise my hand in class, let alone venture into the dark, dangerous corners of the earth.

 I think I'm overcoming that fear. But then that presents an entirely new issue because now there are times that I don't fully think through the situations I may one day find myself in. People have called me naive because I act like I'm invincible. People have called me crazy because I choose not to think about a lot of the dangers that my life work will probably place me in. People have told me that I cannot succeed and they don't understand why I even try to take on such an impossible injustice as human trafficking or orphans in Uganda. 

   Luckily, I don't really like to listen to people...especially when they tell me that I can't do something. So I will continue on this journey...wherever it takes me and into whatever situations it leads and to whomever I may meet along the way. Because, yes, it's scary sometimes to think about certain situations that I'm likely to end up in. And, yes, it's hard to think about the fact that I can't do everything and I can't save everyone I want to. But I also think it's worth it. Because if I can rescue one person and give them back the rights that were taken from them and show them love that they haven't known maybe ever before in their lives and introduce them to the King of the Universe...I've done my job and I will be satisfied. 

   And as to the dangerous part: I think Christine Caine says it best in this video. 

Mishpat and Tzadequh: Biblical Social Justice

***My devotional with the high school youth***

   How many of you guys have heard about or talked about "social justice"? 

   I often talk about "social justice" - my term to describe making things right with the world in areas where injustice resides. I'm going to school to be a social worker because I want to better society for the people living today and also for the next few generations that will be coming in. I don't want my children and grandchildren to have to worry about these injustices and problems in the world that I worry about today. 

   I've used the term "social justice" so many times, but I just recently discovered what it means in the biblical sense. There are two Hebrew words used in the Bible that are tied together over 30 times: mishpat and tzadeqah. When tied together, the English expression that best conveys the correct meaning is "social justice".
   Before we start talking about mishpat and tzadeqah, we're going to listen to a song by Sara Groves called "When the Saints". It's kind of like my theme song because it's really inspirational and encouraging even when I feel like I'm drowning in all the injustice of the world. 

(Listen to this song.)

   Also, if you guys have any questions while I'm talking, just let me know and we'll talk about it.  

   Mishpat simply means to treat people all the same no matter what. This includes both punishment and protection and care. If someone does something wrong, they should receive the exact same punishment as the next person and the person after that; no one should get a harsher treatment because they are not as important in the eyes of the world and no one should get a more lenient treatment because they are more important in the eyes of the world. Everyone must be given the same penalty. But mishpat also has another side: giving people their rights and caring for them. 

   When mispat is talked about in the Old Testament, there are four groups of people who come up time after time: widows, orphans, immigrants, and the poor. These people were so often talked about in the Old Testament because these were the ultimate vulnerable populations during that time because they had no social power. Today, we could include the refugee, migrant worker, homeless, single parents, and older adults. Mishpat means taking care of them; if we were to neglect them, we would be violating justice because we would not be giving them the rights that they deserve. 

   Tzadeqah means being righteous in relationships; the way you conduct all relationships in your family and in society. They must all be treated with fairness, generosity, and equity - in short, being kind and good in your relationships with everyone. In your family, that may mean helping out around the house; in your friendships, that may mean keeping someone's secrets when they confide in you and not spreading it around to other people; in society, it means to speak up for those who cannot: the unborn baby, the girl forced into prostitution, the man receiving unfair wages...ANYONE who doesn't have the power to defend themselves. 

   Tzadeqah also means being in a right relationship with God. If everyone were in a right relationship with God, can you imagine what would happen in the world? If everyone had tzadeqah, everyone would treat everyone else with fairness and love, which means there would be no injustice in the world. If all injustice was eradicated, we would no longer need mishpat because everyone would have the rights that they deserve and no one would need punished. 

*  *  *  *  *

    So, how many of you guys have a group of people or a population of people who you are passionate about helping because they are vulnerable and cannot speak up for themselves?

(Make a list on whiteboard/paper.)

   Now that we have the people we're passionate about helping...how can we help them?

(Make another list on whiteboard/paper.)

   Okay, now I am going to share with you guys what my passion is and what I am planning to do to help. 

   Some of you who have known me for a few years might know that I am really passionate about helping those who are trapped in human trafficking. At first, it was all forms of human trafficking: labor, sex, and domestic. Over time, however, I have become more and more focused on sex trafficking and forced prostitution so now that is my first and foremost passion. 

   Before I tell you all what I am doing to help end this, I want to show you a short video that will show you what I'm talking about. This is a promo video for an organization called The A21 Campaign, which is the organization that I will be sending the money I raise to. The lady talking in it is Christine Cain who is the founder of the organization and a huge abolitionist. 

(Watch this video.)

   I love this organization because they know what they're doing. They have both the mishpat and tzadeqah; they have lawyers that punish the traffickers and they also have the safehouses where the survivors can go to be cared for and their rights are restored to them. 

   Does anyone have any questions about the video or sex trafficking before I go on?

   For a few years, I've just been talking to people about it, making sure the people in my life know about it and are at least somewhat educated about it. A couple of years ago, the youth group raised about $500 for the Loose Change to Loosen Chains campaign, which helps end human trafficking. And then I graduated high school and went to college and I kind of forgot about these people that I was once so passionate about helping. One day, I suddenly remembered the plight of these girls and women and my heart broke all over again. So, I talked to Josh about an idea that I had and the ball started rolling. 

   We are making Freedom Birds, which we will sell to help raise awareness and remind people to pray for those enslaved in the sex industry. If any of you would like to help sew these, please let me know. 

   So, I was pretty content to just do little fundraising things like this until Kathryn Sabine came to me and started talking about starting  nonprofit organization to raise awareness about sex trafficking and eventually open a safehouse to restore the survivors. We're really focusing here in Pickaway County, in Circleville and Ashville because we are convinced that it's happening here. The police may not know about it - actually, I know they don't; they told me it's not - but I want to teach them if I have to because I do not want people to have to live through this horrible reality any longer. When Kathryn told me about her idea, I actually thought she was crazy. I mean, both of us are social work majors, which is great, but neither of us know anything about running a business. But Kathryn thinks that nothing is impossible, so we are doing it! And I am really excited about it, though sometimes it still overwhelms me when I think about it. But I'm learning that big dreams are exciting and so worth the worry they may cause. 

   I'm telling you guys this because I want you all to find something that you're passionate about and do something about it. And don't be like me and be content to settle for something smaller because you think it's not possible - it is. 

   And if you aren't sure what your passion is, pray about it. Pray that God will break your heart with what breaks His; that's the prayer that I prayed and then I learned about human trafficking. He will honor your prayers.

  
  

Most of you don't even care...

   "You know what's a shame? That 50,000 people have died of hunger today.
    You know what's an even bigger shame? Most of you here don't even give a ****.
    And, you know, most of you are probably more upset that I said **** than you are about the fact that 50,000 people died today of hunger."

*  *  *  *  *

   My pastor told this story today at the end of his sermon on Acts 6:1-7. He heard Tony Campolo speak once and this is a quote from him. Acts 6:1-7 is about a problem...and a solution. 

   In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Grecian Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food.

   The problem: People were going hungry because of injustice in the area. 

   So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, "It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables."

   The disciples knew that they needed to help these people but they also knew that they could not let themselves be distracted from the task that God had entrusted them with: to spread the Gospel. 


   "Brothers, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them..."

   The solution: They chose people to make sure that these people would get food and not go hungry any longer. And, when they chose people to give this mission to, they had high expectations: for them to be baptized in the Holy Spirit and have godly wisdom. They chose people that they knew they could trust. 

   "...and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word."

   They refused to be distracted from their calling...even by something great!

   This proposal pleased the whole group. They chose Stephen, and man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit; also Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas from Antioch, a convert to Judaism. 

   As my pastor pointed out, these names don't mean a whole lot to us because we don't know these people, we don't know what they mean. However, all these names are of Greek descent, meaning that all of the people that the disciples chose to oversee this mission to feed the hungry were Greek...just like those who needed help. They were so sensitive to the needs of the people they were trying to help and realized that they may have felt like outsiders and needed people who could identify with them!

   They presented these men to the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them.

   They did everything with prayer!

   So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith. 

   As a result, they had SUCCESS!

*  *  *  *  *

   How tragic to think how true this quote really is... How often do we get stuck sweating the small stuff? We get hung up on denominations...the way people look and dress...pastors cursing during a sermon...kids playing (maybe a little too wild of) a game... There are so many things that are just not THAT important. When it comes down to it, the real question is: Are we showing people who God is and what His love is like? Are we living out our lives for Jesus? Are we being good examples of Christ? 

   The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners.

   This is Isaiah 61:1...and it is also Luke 4:18. When Jesus went to Nazareth, we was taken to the synagogue and stood to read. Out of all of the passages that he could have chosen to share with the people gathered there that day, he chose this. This...which told them that he had not come for the popular, the privileged...but instead for the poor, the brokenhearted, the captives, and the prisoners. Because God loves and cares about those people, the least of these, that we so often brush to the side, to the far, dark corners of the earth. 

   But because God has a heart for the broken, we should as well. We should care for them and help them because we have been blessed with so much. God has given us more than some can ever even imagine...why? I don't believe that God wanted anyone to go hungry or live in such extreme poverty. So why are we so content to allow it to happen, day after day?

   And it isn't just those who are hungry either. That's not where God's love and compassion ends, and neither should ours. His heart also breaks for the unborn child about to be killed in that clinic; for the little boy in the orphanage in Uganda or Ukraine, or in a foster home only fit on paper here in America, with no one to love them and show them how wonderful and lovely he is; for the young girl who should be dreaming about being a teacher when she grows up but instead she is not even enrolled in school herself because her parents do not have the money to pay the school fees; for the 21-year-old young woman who has been raped more times than she cares to admit, to think about, because she's been enslaved by her pimp for the past 12 years. 

   These situations are so incredibly unjust. Some of them are too difficult for us to even imagine being in because we live in such extreme wealth, whether we realize it or not. But it's time to stand up and refuse to allow this injustice to rule our world. 

   We need compassionate generosity. We need to share what we have with everyone else. Why not? If we have to have a little less so someone else can stay alive? 

   Really, how big of a sacrifice is that?

 

Sometimes, I don't want to hurt anymore...

   I honestly thought that my heart could not be broken further, could not be shattered into any more pieces...I thought I was as broken as broken can get. 

   I was wrong.

   I feel that each day I am broken even more. When I first learned about sex trafficking, I thought that was the most I'd cry for those women and girls that my heart hurts so much for. When I first realized that there were children who had no family, no one to care for them, I thought that was the most I'd feel for them. When I realized just how much injustice there really is in this world, I thought that would be the angriest that I'd be.

   But each day, it hurts more as I realize that it's just one more day that over 100,000 girls in America must live through the unimaginable as men use and reuse them over and over; just one more day that millions of children in Uganda (and all over the world) must live with no one to love them, no one to show them how lovely they are.

   And that utterly and completely shatters my heart.

   Sometimes, I find myself asking when this pain will cease, when I will be able to make it through a day without hurting for these people that I feel so deeply for. Sometimes, I don't want to hurt anymore.  
 
   But then I stop and really think about it...and I'm glad that it has not ceased yet because it motivates me, spurs me to move and work to end these cruelties. And that makes me hope that I will never stop feeling this. 

   Good things will come from my pain. 

This is her story...

   She stands on the street corner just outside of the small town. Her clothes reveal who she is, what she does, to those passing by. 

They think I'm worthless...nothing...worse than dirt. In their eyes, the world would be a better place without me in it. 

   She is glad that the dark veil hides her face so that they cannot see who she really is. They can glare at her and they can judge her, but really they don't know her true identity. 

If only they knew...

   She is young in years on earth but old in life experience. She's been in love, been married twice; both times her husband has died.  

God must be punishing me.

   A man approaches her and she knows what he wants. 

That's why I'm here...to service men like this. 

   He tells her that he has no cash on him at the moment, but is sure that they can come to a compromise. She knows she has no choice. 

He'll just take what he wants without paying me if I don't agree.

   They barter for a few minutes and finally agree on the terms of service. He hands her his expensive watch and chain necklace for her to keep until he returns with his payment, and she takes him to a room. He seems eager for this exchange and it sickens her to think about. 
  
If only he knew...

   And then it's all over and the man is gone and she is left all alone in the world, surviving only by selling what she has...the only thing that she has to offer. 

He never even realized...

   A few months pass and she finds out that she's pregnant. 

What am I going to do?

   She's scared and alone and doesn't know who to turn to. And then it gets worse. Word gets around town that she is the prostitute that has been spending time on that street corner - her identity is revealed and her reputation is completely ruined. 

Oh, the judgment...the condescending looks...the degrading remarks made in passing...

   And one day, she is arrested and taken to prison for the solicitation of commercial sex - as if it's all her fault. Nevermind the men who have been with her countless times. Nevermind the man who has gotten her pregnant. Nevermind the circumstances that have forced her into that situation: selling her body just to get by. Nevermind the fact that both of her husbands have died and she is still in immense pain and confusion because of that. Nevermind the fact that her family kicked her out because her husbands died, which has only reinforced her fear of abandonment. 

Nevermind... Because she is the guilty one.   

If only they knew...

   The day of her trial comes and there are people all around her, surrounding her, who are condemning her because of what she has done. She looks around at the crowd and she recognizes man after man who have bought what she's been selling.

How do they sit there and judge me when they've done something just as wrong?

   And then her eyes come to rest upon one particular man and she is filled with hate and disgust and contempt. He is the one who got her pregnant. 

He doesn't even know...

   And she vows to never allow him to hurt her again, no matter what, as she stares with complete and utter hatred at her father-in-law. 

   Despite my changing a few details...this is the story of Tamar from Genesis 38. My eyes were opened to this story that I'd never heard of (or at least never really paid attention to) while reading From Congress to the Brothel by Linda Smith, founder of Shared Hope International. She relates Tamar's story with the stories of thousands of others around the world and, in fact, right here in America. 

   I'd like to point out that yes, this isn't just happening in India or Cambodia; it isn't just happening in L.A. or Las Vegas (although it's certainly happening in all of these places). It's happening here in Pickaway County. In Ashville. In Circleville. 

   There are girls being sold for sex as if they were objects simply to be used for mens' pleasure. There are girls fighting to survive and, in order to do so, must sell their bodies to meet their basic human needs such as food, shelter, etc. 

   These girls are not the criminals. They do not intentionally corrupt our community. They do what they do as a result of the already corrupted community...because they know that they can survive by doing it. Sometimes pimps keep them scared and brainwashed to the point that they will never even think about leaving because they know what the consequence will be. Sometimes their circumstances lead them to this situation and they know that they will die if they don't find a way to make money. Sometimes it's a desperate act. But it's still slavery...they are still trapped by something that they cannot control. 

   And that is the heart-breaking truth of our society today.