Life is a lot these days. There is always a cause, always a
need, hurt, pamphlet, asking for money, prayers, support and involvement.
Everywhere you look there is a story, a number and statistic. I live in Haiti.
I see firsthand every day the faces behind the numbers and the true pain behind
the news story. Because I am living amongst it, I often selfishly choose to
ignore the other things I hear-the seemingly Christian clichés that come and go
with the newest trend. Today its abortion, tomorrow it’s the homeless. You
almost can’t even keep up with the hurting. It feels too vast. In the last few
years it seems all we hear about is sex trafficking and to be honest that is
not something I want to hear about. As a 25 going on 26 year-old free woman,
the last thing I want to hear about is my fellow sisters around the world in
bondage, raped, beaten, discarded, abused, by the minute. I don’t want to know
that while I drink my latte, and drive my car, go to church, do my thing, that someone just like me, in my back yard or
around the world has been robbed of this chance. So I ignored it. I scrolled
past it and refused to see. “I am already doing my part in the world, I live in
Haiti. I see hurt every day. I cannot handle any more. I will let Christine
Caine solve slavery.” Besides, its cliché. Everyone is “called” to sex
trafficking these days. And I don’t want to be cliché in what God is calling me
to.
Then a few Saturdays ago. I am on a plane, uselessly
attempting to get the cd drive on my laptop to work so I can watch a movie. I
try and try and finally accept defeat. It’s a used computer so I went to see if
maybe by some chance there were already movies downloaded. I found a message by
one of my favorite teachers and probably people on the planet (thought we have
never met, I am sure we would become the closest of friends) Christine Caine.
She began telling her own story- discovering she was adopted
at the age of 35. Finding out she was not even named after her birth but was
instead a number in a system. She told of going to Auschwitz, and crying out to
God “Where was the church when thousands upon thousands of Jews were brutally murdered?!”, committing her life in
that moment to whatever our current day holocaust was. And God showed her. He
opened her eyes to the world of human trafficking. And she never looked back.
She allowed herself to see the evil that destroyed hundreds of thousands of
women, children everywhere every day. Sitting across from a recently rescued
victim that simply asked “why didn’t you come sooner?” she made no excuses but instead said she was sorry.
I was stunned. Why had I not ever seen this before? Why did
I allow myself to believe some how I was not responsible, able, to do
something? Why had I seen these girls as numbers and history instead of someone
I could have been? That could have been me. I could have been born somewhere
else, bought and sold to be used. Instead I was bought with the blood of Christ
to live in freedom. As were they. Yet they live in bondage. I cried on the
plane. Maybe I was not called to start
an organization or rescue these women myself, but as a believer, as a member of
the body of Christ, there is one thing I know. I am responsible. I am
responsible for these women. I can no longer do nothing.
Please hear that I am not suddenly a saint saving the world.
I am not the one on the ground doing the hard work, making the sacrifice,
taking the risk. I just want to help however I can. And I need your help too.
There are so many ways to get involved and so many people to
join hands with. You choose how you want to. But please don’t wait as long as I
did. Please decide that today is the day to do something. Not just for human
slavery, but for our brother, our sister, our children, around the world,
starving, sick, lost, hopeless. We carry the light they need. Let’s bring the
light to the dark. I've written on this before, check out my link if you want to
read more.
I work for an organization called Samaritan’s Purse and I am
ashamed to say that I have not been the Good Samaritan. I have been the levite, the
priest that walked on the other side of the road to get to my ministry, my
calling, my purpose, my anointing. I have walked past those in need in order to meet my needs and my convenience, not allowing myself to be interrupted.
My birthday is in 2 months. This year, I am asking you all
for a present. I am asking that you support the A21 Campaign and other
organizations like it. More specifically I am asking you to write a letter to
one of the girls they have rescued. Speak light into closed off hearts, speak
freedom to those in bondage, speak the word that was in the beginning, that was
God, was with God, that became flesh to dwell in and among us. The word that is
power, cutting like a double edged sword, the word that brings life. Speak
Jesus to them. My goal is 26 letters
since it is my 26th birthday but I have like 800 Facebook friends so I think we can do better than that. Besides- you cant beat a free birthday
present. Check out the link below to find out where to send your letter and
shoot me a message to let me know you did it. http://www.a21.org/content/write-a-letter/gjdpl6
This seems small. The issue seems so big. But don’t think of
it as a number. Picture the face of one of these girls, picture your sister, your
daughter, your best friend that could have been the one, kidnapped, raped and
beaten over 40 times just today. We are not removed from this because it is not
happening to us. We are responsible. The church cannot be silent.
“He has rescued us so we can arise, reach back and rescue others. Not for us to have a christian bless me club but so we can make a difference in a dark world”- Christine Caine
As I start this next year of my life God has given me, I carry the responsibility of having life, life in abundance. Of not keeping it to myself but sharing it with others.
"It is for freedom that Christ has set us free" Galatians 5:1
No comments:
Post a Comment