You didn’t log into your Facebook page to be confronted with injustices in the world. You came to post a picture of a neat dessert you made, see the pictures of your newborn nephew, and complain about your bad haircut. You needed to get your two cents in that Facebook fight you’re having. You needed to post a photo of your beautiful kids… your dog… your food.
There are things you’d rather not look at. There are crimes committed against humanity… Against children…
O LORD, Why do you make me look at injustice? (Hab 1:3)
I read a startling statistic today. “An estimated 5.3 million children between the ages of five and eighteen are forced into sex trafficking in India.” http://www.rescueher.org/india-prevention
In one country! Sex trafficking happens all over the world. Even in our own country… but we like to pretend it doesn’t happen any more. We like to think that it is something that happened in societies of yester-year. We watch movies with prostitutes in an old western saloon… jaded women who seem to enjoy the “career” of pleasing men.
BUT what you don’t know.
Prostitutes come from broken homes and have deep emotional scars. They feel they have no other option. Many are FORCED into the sex trade at ages that would turn your stomach. Children are kid-napped and forced into the trade. In some societies, once a woman enters the sex trade (willingly or unwillingly) she can never escape that status. She is an untouchable…
These are the things we don’t want to look at. We would rather watch a slasher movie on the silver screen than to look at actual injustice. AND we find violence ENTERTAINING. We are more offended that our movie club double charged us this month than at the crimes committed against the human race.
I have spent more hours watching movies in my lifetime than I have spent reading about current events in my community… my country… the world. I have read more fiction… play more games… twiddled my thumbs… cuddled my cats… thrown Frisbee with my dog… (for crying out loud) blow-dried my HAIR…
Been concerned with my own emotional well-being and physical health… never to consider the emotional scars and life-threatening disease that claims the lives of millions of CHILDREN each year.
I have fallen asleep… and I am a card-carrying Christian. I have been given the great commission. I have been CALLED to care for widows and orphans.
My heart is broken. My priorities are being questioned. Not by any human being… by the Creator of the Universe.
I cannot sleep on this… night after night, I ask God what I can do. I am willing Lord. Wake me up out of this slumber. Move other hearts to make a difference too.
Great post Elizabeth! May many others be awakened by your post…I was so shocked to learn recently that ATLANTA is the #1 city in America for sex-trafficking. AND Georgia has the only rehab facility in our country and maybe the world with beds for these precious women and girls who someone finally fights to rescue from it all. Wellspring, I think. love you.
Yes I am acquainted with Wellspring. I personally know someone who has been through the program. Unfortunately, I fear it is not what it claims to be. As you know, it is hard to make the ideal situation when dealing with such a difficult, multifaceted problem. Maybe we can chat on the topic some time.