Distant Echoes
I can only imagine the immensity and intensity of the breaking of God's heart over injustice. All I have heard are distant echoes. All I have known is that I am so prone to complacency, but when He takes hold of my heart I am moved and broken to the core.
There is an unspeakable longing in the deepest part of my being for God's hidden glory of justice to be fully revealed. When I think of the victimized and the poor and the abused, when I think about the hopeless and the helpless, when I think about the neglected and the abandoned...I just inwardly groan. I am referring to those who have been neglected in childhood, physically or sexually abused, raped, or most specifically(the 27 million) victims of sex slavery.
Here are some statistics on human trafficking as of January 2008:
(from http://www.state.gov, http://us.oneworld.net/, and pbs.org)
- There are at least 30 million victims of modern day slavery in the world today.
- 600,000 to 800,000 people are trafficked across international borders each year, and an estimated "20,000 women and children are brought into the U.S. every year under false pretences and held in servitude, including for domestic work, prostitution, or agricultural labor."
- Human Trafficking is second only to drug trafficking in international crime, generating approximately $7 - $9 billion per year.
- Estimates as high as 80% of trafficking victims are women and over 50% in slavery are children.
(U.S. Department of State's Trafficking in Persons annual report of 2005: http://www.state.gov/g/tip/rls/tiprpt/2005/ )
"Jesus loves the little children. All the children of the world. Red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in His sight. Jesus loves the little children of the world." I remember singing that growing up, but I had no concept of how that great love pierced His hands and thrashed His back and marred His brow so those beloved little children, after being broken by evil men, could be redeemed.
Usually all I can do is sit alone with God and weep, to appeal to His compassion by crying out to Him, or to wholeheartedly worship Him as the sovereign King...and almost always I write about it, but just to write is not enough. I want to go. I want to be. I want to do. Here am I Lord, send me! If I have been called to be the light of the world, I must shine. If my food is to do the will of my Father, may I starve unless I eat of this food that most know nothing about.
Of my own ambition I would never think to become a living sacrifice for those in need, but Christ bears in me a love for the broken that breaks me deeper day by day. His divine invitation to dine with Him has introduced me to His heart. During our conversations He speaks of the physically poor and abused, the mentally impaired and deceived, the emotionally neglected and bankrupt, and the spiritually asleep as if His joy depends on healing every one of us. The longer I linger with Him, the more my joy depends on it, too...
Actions speak where words cannot
Faith without deeds is dead
If you are hungry I have brought
My body as your bread.
How can God reveal Himself as good and loving to so many suffering, hopeless ones of the world? What is His plan? How will He reach them? WE are His plan, and there is no other! We are the body of Christ, called to be His hands and feet! Hands reach and feet go! We are to embody Him through doing justice, living sacrificially, humbly serving, and loving greatly - all by the power of His Holy Spirit. We are to bring help through our love and hope through our gospel! If we truly follow Christ, He will lead us to love with action and not just with words. He will empower us to loose the chains of injustice, to set the oppressed free, to share our food with the hungry, to spend ourselves on the behalf of the poor, and to bring our Good News to the hopeless! "Then," the LORD says, "your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. The LORD will guide you always; He will satisfy your needs..." (Isaiah 58:10).
And you are the light that this dark world needs so desperately. If you ever sigh to consider your insignificance, just know that to every person you reach you will be of eternal significance and infinite value! And if you, like me, get overwhelmed to consider meeting such a great need, remember that just because we can't do everything doesn't mean we can do nothing. If God can take a boy's 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish and feed 5,000 men, then He can take what we have and change a life, a city, or a nation! We are not responsible for meeting the need, but for giving what we have. He is responsible for the miracle, and we are responsible for the faith.
"Open your mouth for the speechless,
In the cause of all who are appointed to die.
Open your mouth, judge righteously,
And plead the cause of the poor and needy."
Proverbs 31:8-9
Oh Christ, bear in us strength in our weakness by granting us faith in our fear and hope in our hurting and purpose in the pain as we face injustice, in order that we wouldn't lose heart. May Your power be made perfect in our weakness as we step out in the measure of faith You have given us to be Your hands and feet. Go before us to loose the chains of injustice, to set the oppressed free, to shelter the wanderer, to clothe the naked, and to provide for the poor not only physically but emotionally, mentally, and spiritually - which are of eternal importance. We ache not to build our castles in the sand that today stand and tomorrow fall, but to further Your Kingdom that will come tomorrow and stand for eternity. In that day, "He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." (Rev. 21:4).
Oh, haste the day! I live for it! But until then I will ache. And though my heart feels so heavy I count the weight as a blessing ordained by God instead of a burden as long as every ounce serves to motivate me to abolish injustice and continues to inspire me deeper into the precious heart of Christ.
Afterall, I can't help but see my youngest brother Nicholas's precious face in the eyes of every little child who's fallen victim to injustice and poverty. If it were really him suffering, wouldn't I give everything I had to rescue him? Even my own life if I had to? Just the thought brings me to tears...and yet why do I pretend to be powerless when it comes to another's baby brother? And then I see in their eyes, His face...the One in whose image they've been made, the One whose heart their stories break, and it brings me to my knees - and I pray... Oh Lord, whether it's a puddle of water or an ocean that separates me from the beggar, the broken, or the baby brother, he's becoming worth my life to rescue because He's worth that much to You!
If you, like me, are wondering how to get involved in fighting this injustice, I think our first step is to become educated. There is a documentary called Call and Response that's coming to theaters on October 10th and all profit is being donated. I'm going if you want to come with me. Please go to http://callandresponse.com/
http://bp0.blogger.com/_XBHXbtDuiKY/RwpDHhYOcsI/AAAAAAAAAQc/9Fj6pQWjobM/s1600-h/human+trafficking.jpg
https://secure.notforsalecampaign.org/images/Not-For-Sale-DVD-Cover-400p.jpg
http://keithmajor.files.wordpress.com/2008/05/call-response.jpg
There is an unspeakable longing in the deepest part of my being for God's hidden glory of justice to be fully revealed. When I think of the victimized and the poor and the abused, when I think about the hopeless and the helpless, when I think about the neglected and the abandoned...I just inwardly groan. I am referring to those who have been neglected in childhood, physically or sexually abused, raped, or most specifically(the 27 million) victims of sex slavery.
Here are some statistics on human trafficking as of January 2008:
(from http://www.state.gov, http://us.oneworld.net/, and pbs.org)
- There are at least 30 million victims of modern day slavery in the world today.
- 600,000 to 800,000 people are trafficked across international borders each year, and an estimated "20,000 women and children are brought into the U.S. every year under false pretences and held in servitude, including for domestic work, prostitution, or agricultural labor."
- Human Trafficking is second only to drug trafficking in international crime, generating approximately $7 - $9 billion per year.
- Estimates as high as 80% of trafficking victims are women and over 50% in slavery are children.
(U.S. Department of State's Trafficking in Persons annual report of 2005: http://www.state.gov/g/tip/rls/tiprpt/2005/ )
"Jesus loves the little children. All the children of the world. Red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in His sight. Jesus loves the little children of the world." I remember singing that growing up, but I had no concept of how that great love pierced His hands and thrashed His back and marred His brow so those beloved little children, after being broken by evil men, could be redeemed.
Usually all I can do is sit alone with God and weep, to appeal to His compassion by crying out to Him, or to wholeheartedly worship Him as the sovereign King...and almost always I write about it, but just to write is not enough. I want to go. I want to be. I want to do. Here am I Lord, send me! If I have been called to be the light of the world, I must shine. If my food is to do the will of my Father, may I starve unless I eat of this food that most know nothing about.
Of my own ambition I would never think to become a living sacrifice for those in need, but Christ bears in me a love for the broken that breaks me deeper day by day. His divine invitation to dine with Him has introduced me to His heart. During our conversations He speaks of the physically poor and abused, the mentally impaired and deceived, the emotionally neglected and bankrupt, and the spiritually asleep as if His joy depends on healing every one of us. The longer I linger with Him, the more my joy depends on it, too...
Actions speak where words cannot
Faith without deeds is dead
If you are hungry I have brought
My body as your bread.
How can God reveal Himself as good and loving to so many suffering, hopeless ones of the world? What is His plan? How will He reach them? WE are His plan, and there is no other! We are the body of Christ, called to be His hands and feet! Hands reach and feet go! We are to embody Him through doing justice, living sacrificially, humbly serving, and loving greatly - all by the power of His Holy Spirit. We are to bring help through our love and hope through our gospel! If we truly follow Christ, He will lead us to love with action and not just with words. He will empower us to loose the chains of injustice, to set the oppressed free, to share our food with the hungry, to spend ourselves on the behalf of the poor, and to bring our Good News to the hopeless! "Then," the LORD says, "your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. The LORD will guide you always; He will satisfy your needs..." (Isaiah 58:10).
And you are the light that this dark world needs so desperately. If you ever sigh to consider your insignificance, just know that to every person you reach you will be of eternal significance and infinite value! And if you, like me, get overwhelmed to consider meeting such a great need, remember that just because we can't do everything doesn't mean we can do nothing. If God can take a boy's 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish and feed 5,000 men, then He can take what we have and change a life, a city, or a nation! We are not responsible for meeting the need, but for giving what we have. He is responsible for the miracle, and we are responsible for the faith.
"Open your mouth for the speechless,
In the cause of all who are appointed to die.
Open your mouth, judge righteously,
And plead the cause of the poor and needy."
Proverbs 31:8-9
Oh Christ, bear in us strength in our weakness by granting us faith in our fear and hope in our hurting and purpose in the pain as we face injustice, in order that we wouldn't lose heart. May Your power be made perfect in our weakness as we step out in the measure of faith You have given us to be Your hands and feet. Go before us to loose the chains of injustice, to set the oppressed free, to shelter the wanderer, to clothe the naked, and to provide for the poor not only physically but emotionally, mentally, and spiritually - which are of eternal importance. We ache not to build our castles in the sand that today stand and tomorrow fall, but to further Your Kingdom that will come tomorrow and stand for eternity. In that day, "He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." (Rev. 21:4).
Oh, haste the day! I live for it! But until then I will ache. And though my heart feels so heavy I count the weight as a blessing ordained by God instead of a burden as long as every ounce serves to motivate me to abolish injustice and continues to inspire me deeper into the precious heart of Christ.
Afterall, I can't help but see my youngest brother Nicholas's precious face in the eyes of every little child who's fallen victim to injustice and poverty. If it were really him suffering, wouldn't I give everything I had to rescue him? Even my own life if I had to? Just the thought brings me to tears...and yet why do I pretend to be powerless when it comes to another's baby brother? And then I see in their eyes, His face...the One in whose image they've been made, the One whose heart their stories break, and it brings me to my knees - and I pray... Oh Lord, whether it's a puddle of water or an ocean that separates me from the beggar, the broken, or the baby brother, he's becoming worth my life to rescue because He's worth that much to You!
If you, like me, are wondering how to get involved in fighting this injustice, I think our first step is to become educated. There is a documentary called Call and Response that's coming to theaters on October 10th and all profit is being donated. I'm going if you want to come with me. Please go to http://callandresponse.com/
http://bp0.blogger.com/_XBHXbtDuiKY/RwpDHhYOcsI/AAAAAAAAAQc/9Fj6pQWjobM/s1600-h/human+trafficking.jpg
https://secure.notforsalecampaign.org/images/Not-For-Sale-DVD-Cover-400p.jpg
http://keithmajor.files.wordpress.com/2008/05/call-response.jpg
