Some Stats:
- there are around 27 million slaves in the world today--more than ever in the history
- the average cost of a slave during the African slave trade = $40,000. Today the average slave costs $90.
- Location: all over the world. Specific -> South Asia (India, Pakistan, Nepal), Brazil, Parts of Africa (Sudan, Uganda)
- Human Trafficking = 600,000-800,000 people per year. worlds 3rd largest criminal business (right behind drug selling and arms dealing)
- Slave demographics: mostly women & children
- Slave situations: brick kiln maker/layer, prostitution, rock quarriers, cigarette rollers, match makers, etc.
- REASONS for becoming a slave: kidnapped, sold by family for debt problems, promised better lives, deceived.
why don't more people know about this?
what is going to make this stop?
what is your purpose for this?
who is our modern-day William Wilberforce?
I read the statistics & stories & gringe. Goosebumps arise on my arms & my stomach churns with an overdose of hurt & disgust. It's hard to imagine that people are walking around on this earth, shackled in chains & losing memory on what freedom is. Here I sit, miles away from this, comfortably resting in a coffee shop. I complain of a headache, sore throat. I worry about a currently embarking journey of a directionless life. "life is hard". What a joke. There are living, breathing human beings currently residing on this planet who are 4 times younger than me that have & will continue to endure more unfathomable hardships than I will possibly never endure in an entire lifetime. These children are stripped or sold from their houses, working 16+ hour days to make less than $1....but that is IF they make their work quota. They go & work in early childhood to help with a family debt. I watched cartoons, drank Kool-Aid, & attended preschool at the age of 5. what a stark contrast.
Why is it like this Father?
My heart hurts. It angers me. But more importantly, this convicts me. Father, instead of nullifying this hurt or having the world fill my mind with worldly things of my selfish life, I beg that you make this hurt more. The more I read & learn about these terrible atrocious situations, I please you brand these facts, pictures, & stories in my hart. Let my heart's aches and feelings mirror the feelings of the millions of modern day slaves at this exact moment.
Where can you use me Lord?
I feel like these passionate feelings & desires towards Modern Day Slavery was not coincidental. With everything there is a purpose. What is this supposed to mean & look like in my life? How did Wilburforce keep his passion for 20+ years to eventually abolish slavery?
Why do passions fade away in my life?
These people do NOT deserve this. No living creature does. Kids are experiencing things that no kid at their age should ever experience. These circumstances are abnormally affecting their overall development, reason at life, and their self-worth.
Statistics point that some of these people will take their own lives to experience a "freedom" that they never knew of in the bondages on this earth.
I am just overwhelmed at all of this. There are so many people that need to be saved from the captives that are robbing their lives of all that they are worth.
Can I make a difference?
But I think the greater question is: WILL I MAKE A DIFFERENCE?
I definitely need to research more about all of this. I long to read the pages written by Wilburforce, discovering his secret to passion in his own words. I know even though Wilburforce ended slavery 200 years ago, you will continue to use his words to ignite and intertwine in passionate hearts in this mattter that long to serve your Kingdom.
Where do I begin?
I pray you guide my path. May I absorb knowledge supernaturally. I pray my passion not only burns on my heart, but also burning my tongue & actions. If I seek this to obtain personal gain or in any way have ill motives, I pray I realize my intentions are not pure & I know that I am ineffective to your Kingdom. I need to keep my mindset directed Heavenly, not worldly. I pray you would instill this passion in others' hearts as well.
How can non-Christian people have a passion to help & serve others and be completely on fire for their mission while at times Christians are absolutely complacent with attending church on Sunday and leaving it at that? What is the secret to these non-Christian followers? Are they in it to enhance resumes, build their pride, look better for helping? how can they truly want & crave to help others & 'love' them when their love is no where near comparable to the Love of Christ that should pour out from believers? This perplexes me. If there are non-Christians out there impacting the world & passionately speaking for a truth--how greater can Christians be in this situation? We should blow people out of the water with our service, love, and desire that is solely from our Father.
But we don't.
We follow the crowd.
More & more I am hating this word 'comfortable'. This should not be a word in a Christian's lexicon. The enemy came to steal, kill, and destroy... but Jesus came to give life and give life to the full.
Christians, I urge a challenge as Christ-Followers, we take this verse to heart and give life to the hopeless, the oppressed, and the innocent slaved people that feel like they are living in Hell on Earth.
LET'S BE THE CHANGE.
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